Myrtle Point fire injures four
Medics took four people to the hospital this morning after a Myrtle Point apartment building caught fire around midnight.

 Activists: Blockade won't end
ELLIOTT STATE FOREST — Environmental groups said they were calling in reinforcements after police arrested activists who blockaded a remote logging site nearly 20 miles from Reedsport.

Hauser school cuts its staff
HAUSER — Although it’s tucked away in Hauser far from many of the other schools in its parent district save one, The Lighthouse School is hardly immune to public education’s budget woes.

Fighting leaves 22 insurgents dead; British lose two soldiers
KABUL — Fighting overnight between international troops and Taliban militants in central Afghanistan has left as many as 22 insurgents dead, police said today.

 Obama: World avoided economic disaster, urges global unity
L’AQUILA, Italy  — Lasting worldwide recovery “is still a ways off,” President Barack Obama declared today, but he also said at the conclusion of a global summit that a disastrous economic collapse apparently has been averted.

AIG seeks OK on employee bonuses
NEW YORK — American International Group Inc. is consulting with the federal government about its plans to pay millions of dollars in retention incentives and bonuses, a person familiar with the situation said.

Officials: Apartment fire was human-caused
MYRTLE POINT — Firefighters have determined a blaze that damaged an apartment building early Thursday morning was human caused, though they aren’t sure if it was accidental or arson.

Blagojevich appointee will not run in 2010
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Roland Burris gambled that he could accept a U.S. Senate appointment from a political pariah and still be seen as an honest, hardworking public servant. He lost.

L. A. police focus on singer's drug history
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Detectives investigating the death of Michael Jackson are looking at his prescription drug history and trying to talk with his numerous former doctors, the Los Angeles police chief said.

Geithner: Derivatives market's risk and power blindsided government
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is telling lawmakers the U.S. economy stumbled last year in part because the power and risks of an explosive derivatives market blindsided the government.

 Take me home, please!
COOS BAY — People visiting the Coos County Animal Shelter these days to adopt kittens won’t encounter just a few choices, but an entire wall of cages full of felines.

CB bank robbery suspect in jail
A former Coos Bay resident, wanted in two bank robberies, walked out of a Eugene motel room with a stripper and into the arms of federal agents.

 Arrests clear site of protest
REEDSPORT — Timber operators are free to return to work on the Umpcoos Ridge No. 2 timber sale on the Elliott State Forest. But 27 demonstrators who disrupted logging this week at the remote site 20 miles from Reedsport are headed to court, charged with interfering with an agricultural operation.

Arrested
Arrested

NOAA chief talks up removal of old crab pots
NEWPORT (AP) — The head of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration — former Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco — is visiting the Oregon Coast.

High-profile senator gets parole post
SALEM — An outspoken Democratic state senator who once considered running against Gov. Ted Kulongoski is quitting the Legislature to become head of the Oregon Board of Parole and Supervision.

GM exits bankruptcy; CEO vows to do better
DETROIT — A leaner General Motors arose today, making an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy.

South Slough celebrates 35 years
It’s been a year of momentous birthdays. One hundred and fifty for the state, 106 for North Bend, and now 35 for Charleston’s South Slough Estuarine Research Reserve.

LNG is not on FERC agenda
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission won’t consider an application to site a liquefied natural gas terminal in Coos County at its meeting next week. Jordan Cove Energy Project had petitioned the agency to rule on the case, but those efforts proved fruitless.

Not much can be done for pigeons
Question: My boyfriend and I recently found a wounded pigeon next to his house, but when we called a number of organizations, including local veterinarians, for help on how to care for it or have it put down, no one seemed to be able to help much. We don’t want it to die in a cardboard box, or have to put it out its misery ourselves. What should we do? Why won’t anyone help?

 Earthquake forces evacuations
BEIJING — More than 400,000 people have left their homes after an earthquake rocked southwestern China, killing one person and destroying thousands of houses, state media said today.

CB native considers a run for governor
He may not have declared his candidacy, but Coos Bay native Brian Clem is testing the waters for a run at the governor’s office.

Oregon hustles to spend stimulus money
PORTLAND — With a one-time injection of federal stimulus dollars, Oregon’s annual state spending on highway projects has nearly tripled since 2001, a state official said Wednesday.