| National update |
Today
Saturday Sunday
High: 55 High: 55 High: 53
Low: 40 Low: 42 Low: 40
Precip: 100% Precip: 20% Precip: 90%
IN BRIEF
Man arrested for alleged
plot to kill parents
PENDLETON — Police in Pendle
ton have arrested a 24-year-old man
for allegedly plotting to kill his
parents.
Jonathan Flaiz is facing charges
of attempted aggravated murder,
burglary and manufacture of a con
trolled substance.
He was arrested Wednesday, after
police raided a Umatilla home and
uncovered drug paraphernalia, au
thorities said.
The arrest followed an investiga
tion by Umatilla County Sheriff’s Of
fice detectives, who believed Flaiz
was an “immediate threat to his par
ents and had taken a substantial step
toward completing a plan to murder
them,” according to District Attorney
Chris Brauer.
Teen on Interstate 205
caught driving 142 mph
OREGON CITY — State trooper
Matt Klare’s beat is Interstate 205,
and he’s used to clocking drivers
who are cruising along at 10,15, even
20 miles over the posted 55 mile per
hour speed limit.
But 87 miles over the limit? That’s
another story.
Klare clocked Ryan Allan Champ,
19, of Oregon City, driving 142 mph
early Wednesday, the second fastest
stop ever record by the Oregon State
Police. (The record is 159 mph, set in
1993 on the Astoria Megler Bridge.)
Klare said Champ was driving his
souped-up 1992 Honda Civic with
out insurance and with a suspend
ed license.
According to Klare, Champ said he
was trying to catch up to someone
who had thrown a bottle at his car.
Champ was arrested on an accusa
tion of reckless driving and taken to
Clackamas County Jail. The charge
carries a maximum penalty of up to
one year in jail and a fine of $6,250.
Former student pleads
guilty to rape charges
SALEM — A former Willamette
University student has pleaded guilty
to rape and sodomy charges.
Scott Jason Sierra, 20, is accused
of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old
woman last September in a Salem
park.
A separate charge, of attempted
rape, comes from an alleged attack
on a second woman sometime be
tween August and December 2003 in
Marion County, Deputy District At
torney Jodie Bureta said.
Walter Todd, one of Sierra’s attor
neys, said that Bureta agreed to ask
for nearly 11 years in prison for Sier
ra, but that Todd and co-attorney Jef
frey Jones are free to argue for a little
more than eight years.
Sierra is being held without bail in
the Marion County jail. He is sched
uled to be sentenced next month in
Marion County Circuit Court.
— The Associated Press
Spring ahead
Remember
to set your
clocks an
M hour ahead
m on Sunday.
AP
262,000 new jobs
in February; gains
shown in incomes
BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON. D.C. — Amer
icans’ incomes, bolstered by
strong gains in hiring, rose by
0.3 percent in February while
consumer spending climbed at
an even faster pace of 0.5
percent, the government report
ed Thursday.
The Commerce Department
said the gain in spending fol
lowed a much smaller 0.1 per
cent increase in January and re
flected the fact that auto sales
rebounded last month after hav
ing fallen in January.
The 0.3 percent rise in in
comes was attributed to a surge
of 262,000 new jobs in February,
the biggest increase in four
months. Further solid gains in
both incomes and consumer
spending are expected in the
months ahead as the consumer
continues to be a driving force in
the economy.
Analysts said the February
gains in incomes and spending
showed the economy was being
propelled this year by continued
strength in employment growth
and consumer spending, which
accounts for two-thirds of total
economic activity.
“Strong payroll gains over the
next few months will surely
boost the numbers” for incomes,
Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S.
economist for High Frequency
Economics, said in a note
to clients.
On Wall Street, a new jump in
oil prices outweighed the good
economic data. The Dow Jones
industrial average lost 37.17
points to close at 10,503.76.
In other economic news, the
Commerce Department reported
that orders to U.S. factories rose
by 0.2 percent in February as
strong demand for commercial
aircraft, steel and computers off
set a drop in demand for new
cars and industrial machinery.
The gain was weaker than the
0.5 percent increase that many
economists had been expecting,
but it still represented an im
provement following no change
at all in January orders.
Meanwhile, the Labor Depart
ment said the number of Ameri
cans filing new claims for unem
ployment benefits rose by 20,000
to 350,000 last week. It was the
highest level for jobless claims in
11 weeks. However, the four
week moving average for claims
rose by a more modest 8,500 to
336,000 last week, a level still
low enough to signal continued
job creation in the economy.
Analysts are expecting anoth
er strong gain in employment of
around 220,000 jobs when the
March jobs performance is re
ported today.
Starting with the recession in
2001, the country suffered
through two years of outright de
clines in employment and then
weak job growth in 2003. How
ever, job gains accelerated last
year, pushing employment up by
more than 2 million workers, an
increase that analysts expect to
be matched this year.
The economic rebound was
fueled by four rounds of tax cuts
Personal income
Here is a look at Americans’
personal income.
Seasonally adjusted
$10.4 trillion
10.2
MAMJJASONDJF
2004 2005
SOURCE: Department of Commerce AP
promoted by President George W.
Bush and easy credit from the Fed
eral Reserve. With the impact of the
tax cuts waning and the Fed now
raising interest rates to make sure
the reviving economy does not fuel
unwanted inflation, analysts believe
that economic growth will moderate
somewhat this year.
For all of 2004, the economy grew
by 4.4 percent, including a 3.8 per
cent growth rate in the final three
months of the year. Analysts believe
the economy in the first three
months of this year probably grew
at a 4 percent rate.
The 0.3 percent increase in in
comes in February followed two
months of huge swings. Incomes
had soared by 3.7 percent in De
cember, reflecting a one-time $32
billion dividend payment to stock
holders by computer software giant
Microsoft Corp., only to drop by 2.5
percent in January. Without the div
idend payment, incomes would
have grown by 0.6 percent in De
cember and 0.4 percent in January.
The 0.5 percent increase in con
sumer spending was the strongest
gain since a 0.9 percent jump in De
cember, a month when car sales
were spurred by attractive end-of
year sales incentives. Taking out the
effect of inflation, consumer spend
ing rose a more modest 0.3 percent
in February.
A gauge of inflation preferred by
the Fed, which tracks the rise in
prices paid by consumers excluding
food and energy, showed an in
crease of 1.6 percent for the 12
months ending in February, a mod
erate reading that helped ease in
vestors’ concerns about inflation.
The report on factory orders
showed that demand for durable
goods, items expected to last three
or more years, rose by 0.5 percent in
February, even better than an initial
estimate of a 0.3 percent increase
made last week. Demand for non
durable goods fell by 0.2 percent in
February following a huge 1.4 per
cent jump in January.
Disposable income, the amount
left over after taxes, grew by 0.3 per
cent in February. The personal sav
ings rate as a percentage of dispos
able income dipped slightly to 0.6
percent in February compared to 0.8
percent in January.
DINNER
LIGHT PLATES
DESSERTS
COCKTAILS
MICROBREWS
WINE BAR
541.485.6268
OPEN DAILY 5P
TRIOMPHE MIDTOWN
1591 WILLAMETTE
EUGENE
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