By Lisa Hobbs I’ve been good this year. I want a doll, bicycle, movie and anything else you want to bring me. With Christmas just a few days away last week children around the county were making their wish lists for Santa. For one local boy, his list was slightly different. For the second year,…

By Lisa Hobbs Want to know something about a downtown business? Main Street McMinnville has launched a new Web site filled with information, information and more information regarding areas to shop, play, live and invest downtown. According to Main Street McMinnville director Chris Wilson, the new site provides ample information to anyone on places to…

By DUANE SHERRILL Three were arrested and citations issued to a handful of motorists during a Christmas Eve checkpoint conducted by the McMinnville Police Department. “The idea behind this checkpoint was to promote safety by making sure people were buckling up,” said McMinnville Police Sgt. Mark Mara. “The people coming through the checkpoints were very…

By Lisa Hobbs Rock Island and Collins River fire departments are continuing to monitor the fire while an investigation is under way into numerous items discovered missing from Rock Island Truck and Equipment Sales. Collins River and Rock Island-Campaign Fire Departments responded to a call Wednesday evening reporting a fire which damaged Rock Island Truck…

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON For the first time local farmers and nurserymen devastated by the freeze in April and the drought which continued through the summer will be able to apply for the approximately $3 billion in federal disaster assistance which was made available in May of this year in the ‘U.S. Troop Readiness’ bill.…

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) ‘ Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up. Her death stoked new chaos across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism. At least 20 others were killed in the attack on…

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Two days after an escaped tiger killed a teenager at the San Francisco Zoo, the zoo director said Thursday that the wall around the animal’s enclosure was 12 1/2 feet high – below the height recommended by the main accrediting agency for the nation’s zoos. Police are reportedly investigating whether…

GRAPEVINE, Ark. (AP) ‘ As students ride a Sheridan school bus over rural Arkansas roads for upward of 90 minutes a day, they’re spending that time working on math equations and taking advanced biology courses. Unlike others in the Sheridan School District’s fleet, bus No. 46’s magic comes from a small cellular router and a…

WASHINGTON (AP) ‘ Dig beneath the surface of the raucous Republican presidential race and you will find even deeper turmoil: Four in 10 GOP voters have switched candidates in the past month alone, and nearly two-thirds say they may change their minds again. Mike Huckabee, who has roared to a tie with longtime front-runner Rudy…

WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 3 million people will have to wait until February to get their tax refunds because of Congress’ late fix to the alternative minimum tax, the IRS said Thursday. Congress put a one-year freeze on growth of the alternative minimum tax last week, shielding many middle- and upper-middle income taxpayers from…