NPR News

SALEM, Ore. - Oregon lawmakers say the latest round of economic bad news for the state won't mean more cuts, at least for now. But the revenue forecast issued by state economists Thursday leaves very little wiggle room over the next year and a half.

And state economic analysts are keeping a wary eye on Europe's financial turmoil.

The Idaho man accused of trying to assassinate the president had a history of minor arrests in his home state and recently developed conspiracy theories about the end of the world. Those are some of the details that are beginning to emerge about Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez.

Ortega-Hernandez's arrest record includes petty theft, possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor domestic violence. He also appeared in court in 2010 for a child support hearing.

The Associated Press reports Ortega-Hernandez has a 2-year-old son with his ex-fiance.

It's not the final word, but scientists at the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics report today that "new tests conducted at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of INFN by the OPERA Collaboration, with a specially set up neutrino beam from CERN, confirm so far the previous results on the measurement of the neutrino velocity."

When you ask a lot of the Occupiers questions about their ideal government, they tell you then want an "organic" government or a "true democracy." Something a lot like what they created at Zuccotti Park, they say.

That's probably why there's been so much press coverage about the confusion of the movement's message. But, walking around and talking to many of the protesters today, it's obvious that it's a movement that has brought together a lot of people with very different ideologies.

A group of four public utilities has cancelled a wind farm development that would have been one of the first and the biggest on the Northwest coast. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

The Radar Ridge Wind Project would've had as many as 32 turbine towers on state forestland near the southwest Washington coast. The partners in the project quietly scuttled the wind farm last week before a single foundation was dug.

The American Civil Liberties Union says Idaho is violating a federal court's ruling on execution procedures. The state is set to execute convicted murderer Paul Ezra Rhoades by lethal injection on Friday morning.

The Idaho Department of Correction allows witnesses at executions, including members of the press. But only after the execution team has secured the inmate to the table and inserted two IV lines.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A special budget panel lead by Washington Senator Patty Murray remains gridlocked as it nears its deadline next week. Some Northwest lawmakers are urging the so-called “super committee” to exceed its goal of cutting $1.2 trillion from the nation’s debt.

If the “supercommittee” fails to reach a bipartisan solution by next Wednesday, deep spending cuts are slated to fall on nearly all of the federal budget. That puts a lot of pressure on Murrray, a co-chair of the panel.

Facebook moving toward changing its policy about privacy settings, abandoning an "opt-out" approach for one in which its members would have to "opt in" to allow strangers to see personal information stored on their profile pages, according to reports.

The shift is seen as a response to the Federal Trade Commission's accusation that the social media network deceived its members when it changed its policies in 2009.

The powerful storm thrashing Alaska is losing strength as it moves inland from the northwestern part of the state. The National Weather Service warns coastal flooding is now the main concern, although hurricane strength winds are dying down.

This probably isn't going to satisfy many of those who think of The X-Files as a documentary series, but the Obama administration has now put the White House on record as saying the government doesn't have any evidence of life "out there."

And the Obama team doesn't believe anything's being hidden from us.

Idaho is releasing a new plan that seeks to combat the state's high rate of suicide. Idaho ranks sixth in the nation for suicide, according to the latest figures. Oregon's not far behind at number 12. It's part of a trend in the West, where the suicide rate is higher than the national average.

Alaska typically tops the list, followed by the Lower 48's intermountain states. Experts say, frankly, they're not sure why. But many have a hunch about the factors: isolation, depression-inducing climates, and lack of access to mental health services.

Organic Italian olives are the unlikely suspects in a new botulism outbreak, which has sickened two people in Europe. The Food and Drug Administration has urged people not to eat Bio Gaudiano organic olives stuffed with almonds, and the United States distributor has recalled the product.

Shopping online can be a real time-saver, and you can get some great deals. But skip lollipops that come with the virus that causes chickenpox.

This caution comes after a woman in Nashville, Tenn., advertised lollipops contaminated with the varicella virus on Facebook. The tainted pops were intended for parents who want to expose their children to the disease.

SEATTLE - When it comes to air pollution citations and fines, two companies stand out from the rest in the Northwest. That's according to an investigation by public radio and the non-profit Investigate West. Both penalized companies say they've made major progress in cleaning up their acts.

Over the past five years, a pair of Northwest companies racked up more citations than any other for air pollution and recordkeeping violations. It's around 100 each.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Six months ago, JPMorgan Chase said it wasn't "technically feasible" to alert Washington welfare clients to an 85-cent ATM fee. But as of last month the bank has now programmed its cash machines to warn of the fee at the time of the transaction.

In May of this year, we reported that JPMorgan Chase was collecting more than $100,000 a month in ATM fees from Washington cash assistance clients. But the 85-cent charge to withdraw cash didn't show up on the ATM screen or the client's receipt.