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PENDLETON, Ore. — Authorities have arrested more the five dozen suspects in an aim to take down drug trafficking organizations in northeast Oregon.
Pendleton police Chief Stuart Roberts, head of local anti-drug team’s board, told the East Oregonian the goal was to dismantle drug dealing operations in Umatilla, Morrow, Union, and Gilliam counties.
The focus in this week’s bust was on places reported as drug houses.
Roberts reported the investigation used 116 undercover drug purchases that resulted in the arrests of 65 suspects Wednesday.

PORTLAND — An Oregon man claims Portland police hit him in the face with possibly a rubber bullet or gas canister, causing a broken nose during a protest of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports John Rock filed a $10,000 lawsuit against the city this week, saying he was hospitalized, received stitches and missed several days of work following the January 2017 protest.
City Attorney Tracy Reeve declined comment, citing the pending litigation.

LONGVIEW — After spending 12 days with at least a third of the school’s bathrooms closed, Kelso High School students can now use any of the restrooms in the school, according to a district news release.
The school closed six of the 12 bathrooms from Dec. 17-21, and four of the 12 from Jan. 7-15 due to “reasons related to student safety and illegal behavior.” District officials declined to elaborate on the cause for the closures.

YAKIMA — A financial supervisor in the Yakima County Clerk’s Office has been charged with multiple counts of theft and misappropriation of money.
The charges against Emmilee C. Lennart-Hassanin, 32, stemmed from a state audit that found $13,029 missing from the clerk’s office’s cash receipts for 2017. The audit report found Lennart-Hassanin directly responsible for deposits that came up $2,760 short.

HOUSTON — Houston police say a 9-year-old child was fatally shot by a 9-year-old cousin while playing with a gun the children found in a local apartment.
Police Lt. Larry Crowson says the Wednesday shooting was a “tragic accident.” He says the cousin cannot be charged because state law does not allow charges for anyone younger than 10.
Police say investigators are trying to determine how the children got the gun. Police say the Harris County district attorney will decide whether parents or guardians face charges in the shooting.

TSA officials say the rate of airport screeners missing work during the partial government shutdown has stabilized — but still at unusually high numbers — just before a three-day holiday weekend that is likely to bring bigger airport crowds.
The Transportation Security Administration said Thursday that 6.1 percent of its airport screeners missed work Wednesday.
That’s higher than the 5 percent absentee rate on the same day last year but the second-straight decline after the sick-out rate surged to 7.7 percent Sunday.

BOGOTA, Colombia — At least nine people were killed and dozens more injured in a car bombing at a heavily guarded police academy in Colombia’s capital on Thursday, recalling the high-profile attacks seen during the bloodiest chapters of the country’s drug-fueled guerrilla conflict.
The scene outside the General Santander police academy in southern Bogota was chaotic in the immediate aftermath of the midmorning attack, the biggest against a police or military facility in the capital in years.