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A man who tried to hire a prostitute learned a tough lesson. Moments after she began to give him a striptease at her Southeast Portland apartment, her boyfriend and nephew burst in and robbed him at gunpoint.

Authorities believe the three conspirators never thought Brian Lee Horst would call police -- out of embarrassment or fear he'd be charged with soliciting a prostitute.

Authorities have found a new way to get Salem residents involved in finding criminals: electronic billboards.

The FBI arranged for images of a pair of armed bank robbers, accused of hitting the same Salem bank twice, to appear on digital billboards owned by Lamar Advertising Co.

WARM SPRINGS -- A Warm Springs man died when he ran into a burning house to save his young child, authorities said. The child also did not make it out alive.

The blaze started late Wednesday at a single-story house.

Multnomah County sheriff's deputies arrested a Northeast Portland man wanted for bank robbery about 1 p.m. today while he was looking at cars for sale.

Deputy Paul McRedmond, a sheriff's spokesman, said Michael C. Deloney, 44, was accused of the robbery of a U.S. Bank branch at 16002 S.E. Division St. in November 2008.

Portland-area Plaid Pantry stores began pulling a popular peanut butter snack off their shelves on Thursday as the list of people sickened in a nationwide salmonella outbreak grew longer.

"We are sending out a memo tonight," said Tim Cote, vice president of marketing for the Beaverton-based company, which has 95 stores in Oregon and four in Washington.

The owner of a Portland electro-plating company was sentenced to a year in prison for illegally storing cyanide and other hazardous waste without a permit and letting hazardous pollution flow into storm sewers.

Larry Anson, 62, the owner of Columbia American Plating, had already pleaded guilty to violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act. He admitted that he operated his company in violation of industrial wastewater standards imposed by the city. He also admitted storing spent cyanide plating bath solutions from electroplating operations without a permit.

Clackamas County authorities called of their search tonight after investigating a report that a man using a parachute landed in the Willamette River about 5 p.m. south of Milwaukie.

Emergency workers from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, American Medical Response and Lake Oswego Fire Department searched the area but found no sign of a parachute or person in the water.

-- Rick Bella; rickbella@news.oregonian.com

Oregon will join California and seven other states Friday in a lawsuit seeking to block changes the Bush administration made in endangered species rules.

The states say that the changes weaken protections for endangered species. The changes, enacted by the Bush administration in December, make it difficult to use the federal Endangered Species Act as legal leverage to curb pollution that contributes to global warming.

SALEM -- Local officials Thursday generally praised the state's response to the winter
storms that battered northwest Oregon last month and urged lawmakers to replenish an emer´
gency fund that local govern´ments can use as matching money to obtain federal disaster
grants.

At a hearing of the House Veterans and Emergency Services Committee, the officials said there should be a uniform statewide procedure for local governments to declare an emergency and that trees that closely line some of the state's highways in heavily forested areas are a safety hazard and should be removed.

The emergency fund was set up with $500,000 by Legislature last year. It now contains about $200,000, said Kenneth D. Murphy, director of Oregon Emergency Management.

Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde said that in some cases local governments have missed out on federal grants because they lacked the required 25 percent in matching funds.

One complaint was voiced by Sen. Martha Schrader, D-Canby, who was a Clackamas County commissioner until her recent appointment to the Senate seat that was vacated when her husband, Kurt, was elected to Congress. She said Clackamas County declared an emergency during the storm but did not get requested snow removal help
from the state.

"There needs to be clarification on the procedures for declaring an emergency," she said.

Describing a "squabble" over access to equipment that delayed a snow removal operation, Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, said "it is imperative that there be snow plans at every level of government. We'd like to know where that stuff is prior to 18 inches of snow being dumped on us.
-- Edward Walsh

The Sherwood School Board approved four make-up instructional days for students who missed a week of school in December due to weather.

Students will attend school on Feb. 16, which is President's Day; March 30, which was a staff development day; and June 11 and 12.

The board approved the plan 3-0 on Wednesday. Members Mark Christie and Connie Hansen were absent.

1. The Virtual Congress

If you're a Gen X-er, you probably learned about lawmaking from Schoolhouse Rock's cuddly little cartoon bill. Now YouTube wants to update that lesson with a live-action version: the real thing.

The Internet video behemoth has created new pages for the U.S. House and Senate that are designed to be a "central hub" for Congress' efforts on the site. "People out there don't really know what senators and congressmen do on a daily basis," YouTube's Steve Grove told the New York Times. "This will give them a sense of what they are doing."

And there, of course, is the rub. Members of Congress should remember Bismarck's warning about laws: Like with sausages, it's better not to see them being made. At least not without a singing cartoon guide.

Sonia Marie Ulness

A Gladstone woman who ambushed and killed her former boyfriend at his Milwaukie workplace pleaded guilty today to manslaughter and was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison.

Sonia Marie Ulness, 41, who appeared in Clackamas County Circuit Court, had faced a murder charge that required she serve 25 years in prison. She said she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to spare her family further emotional pain.

A registered sex offender wanted on accusations of sodomy, kidnapping and assault turned himself in at the Lincoln County Jail, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said today.

Michael Bowers, of the Siletz area, surrendered Wednesday and is scheduled to be transported to the Polk County Jail. He's being held on bail of $500,000. Bowers also faces an accusation of felon in possession of a weapon.

On Nov. 14, deputies of the Polk and Lincoln County Sheriff's offices responded to a kidnapping and sexual-assault call near Green Mountain Road, a rural wilderness area in Polk County. A warrant was later issued for Bowers' arrest.

--Stephen Beaven; stevebeaven@news.oregonian.com