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A glamorous Washington state lawmaker bullied a male aide into sex, then made him run her errands and tried to fire him when he reported her, a lawsuit claims. Emily Clouse, 30, is said to have begun a 'mutually consensual dating relationship' with the unnamed man after being elected as a commissioner in Thurston County, which includes the state's capital of Olympia. But the aide alleges he felt unable to reject Clouse's advances because of the power she held over him and says he found the romance 'increasingly unwelcome.' 'It was clear to the Plaintiff, however, that if the Plaintiff...

BY THE OREGONIAN/OREGONLIVE (Compiled from news accounts, court records, public notices) Last week's arrest of a long-sought accused eco-saboteur pushed the spotlight back on a tight-knit cell of radical environmentalists responsible for a $48 million run of firebombings and other crimes across the West in the 1990s and early 2000s. Six men and five women prosecuted in Oregon received sentences ranging from three years to 13 years. They were arrested starting in 2005 in what the FBI called "Operation Backfire," a task force that tracked down the suspects with the help of an informant deep within the underground group....

SPRINGFIELD, Ore.-- A protest turned into chaos in Thurston Wednesday evening. The protest started at Jessie Memorial Park in the Thurston neighborhood with about 200 people peacefully marching and chanting through the neighborhood.

Thurston County commissioners voted 2-1 on Thursday to reopen the county’s three trails and many trailheads it manages, which have been closed along with most of the county’s facilities in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. **SNIP** During this shutdown, he said, mental and physical health are important. “I think it’s critical that we have access to these trails to the extent possible,” Menser said. That opened a discussion that Commissioner Gary Edwards rapidly expanded. Edwards posited that perhaps the county should open all its parks, too. The decision to close county parks was “stupid,” he said, and...

Florida Rep. Perry Thurston failed to disclose $11,000 in donations from gambling interests when he blasted Gov. Rick Scott last week on gaming issues. A subsidiary of a Malaysian-based casino company donated the money to a political action committee listing Thurston as its sole “associated legislator.” Thurston, a Democratic candidate for Florida Attorney General, issued a scathing press release Thursday attacking Scott for failing to finalize a new gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Scott and other Republican lawmakers have said a new agreement with the Seminoles must be completed before passing new gambling legislation that might allow...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Hunters in Olympia say a proposed gun control ordinance is illegal and dangerous, and they're fighting to keep it off the books. The Thurston County Commission is mulling a proposed ordinance that would make it illegal to fire a gun on county shores. "Both the residents and the commissioners are persuaded that discharge of firearms in this area is no longer safe because of population density," said Commissioner Karen Valenzuela. That plan isn't sitting well with local hunters, who say the waters around Olympia are prime locations for duck hunting. The hunters showed up in droves to...

1998 Fires At Vail Ski Resort Cost $12 Million In Damage. Two people accused of setting the 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort will be sentenced in December on eight counts of arson stemming from the blaze that caused some $12 million in damage. Chelsea Gerlach and Stanislas Meyerhoff, both 29, were arraigned Wednesday in federal court in Eugene. They are to enter pleas and be sentenced on Dec. 14, when they are also to be sentenced for other arson-related crimes to which they pleaded guilty in July. Under plea deals, both agreed to have the Colorado charges transferred...

Couple's tie bound tighter by tragedy  The Register-Guard   SPRINGFIELD - The first time Jake Ryker and Jen Alldredge met, they were 11-year-olds. It was a squirt gun fight, and she ended it, dousing him with a pitcher of murky-green Kool-Aid. They reconnected at Thurston High School several years later and when they started dating in 1998, they were a hot item: He was the towering athlete, a wrestler, the guy you'd want on your side in a fight; she was the one you'd be fighting over - slender, with blond hair and blue-green eyesJen Alldredge and Jake Ryker, both...

Four Years LaterShockwaves from the shooting at Thurston High still ripple across America.By Joseph A. LiebermanIt's not an anniversary anyone is looking forward to. Four years ago on May 21, 1998, Kipland Kinkel carried an arsenal of weapons into the cafeteria of Thurston High in Springfield and began shooting. He swept his semiautomatic rifle in an arc firing a 50-round clip into a crowd of over 250 students, hitting more than two dozen in less than a minute. Two died from their injuries. When Kip stopped to reload he was tackled by seven studentsIt could have been worse. When his...