Tonight on KGW news, nothing to see here.
I'm telling you, nobody
knew anything about this.
As questions swirl over Bourbon Gate,
the board that overseas state
regulators accused of swiping the
best bottles seems to sidestep.
Plus, should Eastern Oregon be part of Idaho?
This would be a solution that would
solve a longstanding problem.
How? The movement.
Quickly gained ground with a vote
in Idaho's State House. But first,
and then that's when I start screaming.
I'm like, Oh my God, you just cut me?
A survivor speaks out after being assaulted.
Why? Police say the man allegedly behind at
least four attacks could have more victims.
Thanks for joining us. I'm David Molko,
and we begin tonight with the arrest of
a grocery store worker. Portland police
are calling a serial assaulter a warning.
Some of the details here may be
disturbing. Our Catherine Cook
talked to one of the survivors.
Police say all
four attacks happen
in this neighborhood near SE
10th and Belmont. In that,
court documents say the suspect worked
right here at this market of choice.
His name is Christopher Luccini.
Here's his mug shot. Police believe
there may be other victims out there
who haven't stepped forward yet.
They hope they do. So does one
victim we met. I don't know.
I'm pretty traumatized in the situation.
I'm just scared like I'm always
looking over my shoulder,
two knees, shoulder is now a constant
reminder of what happened 2 weeks ago.
It was the night of January 30th.
Tooney says she and a friend were leaving
a yoga class near SE 8th and Morrison
when a man approached her from behind
and he tapped me on the shoulder
from behind and then he just,
I think the knife was inside of his.
Sleeve. So he just kind of just
cut me down the shoulder. Police
later identified the man as 27
year old Christopher Luccini.
And it felt like 5 seconds that we
were just staring at each other.
And then he just starts walking away.
And then that's when I started screaming
and like, Oh my God, you just cut me.
Police say it was one of four
similar attacks carried out between
January 12th and February 7th.
All in this neighborhood,
all against women and three resulting
in knife injuries like 2 knees.
Court documents show investigators
found multiple surveillance videos
confirming that Lucini was their suspect.
Then on Tuesday night,
police arrested Luccini
at the market of choice.
They say property found with a search
warrant connected lucini to the assaults.
On Wednesday, Luccini was
arraigned on multiple charges,
including three counts of
assault in the second degree.
In court, a prosecutor read statements
from two of the victims, including
one woman who says Luccini cut her arm.
The person who walks by me
has the potential to hurt me.
I have to sleep with a night
life and my door now open to
stop anxiety attacks at night.
Scars emotional and physical
to knee can relate to.
I just hope that he doesn't do this to
anybody else and I hope he stays behind
there because I'm scared for my safety in
Southeast Portland.
Catherine Cook, KGW news.
And our thanks to Tony for speaking
out there developing tonight. Vancouver
police are looking for help finding
a missing 3 year old boy, Zane.
Alex Taylor was last seen with
his father Kaden Milligan,
who authorities say does not have custody,
and fled with the boy following
a criminal investigation.
Now Zane is 3 feet tall, 26 pounds,
was last seen wearing tan Carhartt
pants and a long sleeve shirt.
Anyone who sees them should
immediately call Vancouver police.
Well to our homeless crisis
now in a grim tally.
And emphasizes how badly
our region needs solutions.
Multnomah County and St.
Roots have released their annual report
on the number of homeless people who died,
and it's the largest number since the
county started counting over a decade ago.
Now, the report says, 193 people
experiencing homelessness died in 2021.
That's up from 126 in 2020.
Substance abuse here continues
to play a significant role.
According to the county,
meth was involved in 93 of the deaths.
That's nearly half.
And you see.
Fentanyl is responsible for 36,
up from only four the year before.
Really, really sad to say
that I'm not surprised by
the findings in this report.
They near larger county trends in
terms of violent deaths
and certainly overdose.
2021 was also the deadliest
year when it came to homicides
among people who are homeless.
The number more than doubled
from 8 in 2020 to 18 in 2021.
Well, to an update now on what
the story team is calling Bourbon
Gate, that's the aftermath
of an internal investigation.
They found executives with Oregon
State Liquor Control Commission
used their positions to keep rare
top shelf bottles for themselves.
And today, for the first time
since this scandal broke,
we heard from the board that
overseas the Commission,
Pat Doris looked into how the chair
seemed to deflect responsibility
and instead complained the
media were asking questions.
1st to set the scene on this,
you need to know that Oregon is
a place where all hard liquor is
controlled and taxed by the state.
The state buys the booze,
then sells it to independently
operated liquor stores.
One of the most coveted bottles that
passes through the OCC is a Kentucky
Bourbon called Pappy Van Winkle.
It's made in small batches,
aged as long as 23 years,
and it retails for about $300.00
according to an investigation
uncovered by The Oregonian.
Top managers at the OCC
had some of the bottles.
Set aside for themselves before the public
had a chance to buy them in a lottery system,
the investigation found.
This practice that we're calling Bourbon
Gate has gone on for at least eight
years and involves 6 top managers,
including the executive director,
Steve Marks,
who resigned effective Wednesday.
The Oregonian also reported the
scandal came to light last April
after an employee complained.
Which raises the question,
why are we just learning about this now?
A volunteer board overseas,
the OCC, and today the board chair,
Paul Rosenbaum,
addressed the practice publicly
for the very first time.
What did we know? Nothing.
Nothing. There is not one person
up here who knew a thing about.
The process, the procedure, the the,
the thing we're all discussing today,
not one. Not one.
And if we didn't know about it and we didn't,
then how could we participate in it?
We didn't.
So stop asking questions about that.
I'm telling you,
nobody knew anything about this.
He then admitted he learned about the
investigation this past September,
but defended why he did not take
action and instead kept quiet,
I was told. And it was true.
That according to Oregon statue.
These people. We're disciplined.
Now here's the kicker to
this whole thing. To me.
I was told that this employment
record was confidential.
Let me say it again,
it was confidential.
Let me say it a third time
so the press understands
that more than anybody else,
it was confidential.
Rosenbaum said all these months later,
he's still confident he did
the right thing in the end.
The investigation obviously
was not confidential.
It was released to The Oregonian
under the Open Records Law.
Well, we understand.
And we also have a few
more questions for him.
There is more. Much more in fact.
You can find it in the story
section on kgw.com.
A reminder for more in-depth
reporting on the big issues.
You can catch the story every
weekday at 6 only here on KGW.
Alright, let's get you caught up
on tonight's other headlines here.
Clackamas County officials are
set to vote tomorrow on whether to
use state grant money to turn a
hotel into transitional housing.
Now, the proposed spot here is a
quality inn just off I2O5 on Sunnyside Rd.
supporters.
Point out it's close to transit,
the county's Sunnyside Health
clinic and a Kaiser Medical Center
on the battle against Opioids,
2 FDA panels have unanimously voted
to recommend that naloxone be made
widely available and over the counter.
The drug,
also known by its brand name Narcan,
reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
Experts determine the drug
is safe and effective,
with little potential for abuse.
Their recommendations now go to the FDA,
which should make a final
decision by the end of March.
Alright,
we're headed east to the Gem state now,
a place perhaps better
known for its potatoes.
Tonight we have an update on
the movement that wants to see a
state border in effect brought
a whole lot closer to Portland.
Let's bring in Alma, McCarty and Alma.
Of course,
we are talking about the
so-called Greater Idaho movement,
and now it seems lawmakers in
Boise are actually taking action.
What do we know?
Well, David, the Idaho State
House today approved a resolution
not to move the border yet,
but simply to start the discussion.
The idea would still need
similar approval in Oregon.
While it has a ways to go,
the fact that the idea
got this far is telling.
Matt McCall believes that if you've
lived in Oregon for any amount of time,
you can see the east side of the state
can be quite different than the West.
For a very long time there's been this urban,
rural divide and people on the east side
of the state have felt like their state
level government has not heard them,
has not understood their their way of life,
their values, their, their problems.
And that's why a couple of years.
Back, a group of people
began discussing a new idea.
We started going county by County in
Eastern Oregon and asking voters directly,
do you want your elected leaders
to look into moving the border?
McCaw, a spokesperson for the Greater
Idaho Movement, says their plan was
originally met with skepticism.
When we started this two years ago,
I would get that a lot. You know,
like, well, this will never happen.
Why are you wasting your time?
But he says that sentiment is changing.
Several Eastern Oregon counties voted.
To discuss moving the border and now
resolutions are up for a vote in both
the Oregon and Idaho legislatures.
In Idaho Wednesday,
the house approved the measure
following testimony this week. We
want to see the kind of.
Of law that reflects faith,
family, moral virtue,
self-reliance, hard work.
The things that Idaho is based on,
why wouldn't we at least want to
have a conversation about about
increasing the size of our state?
Not everyone was in favor as expressed
by the House Minority Leader.
Have got to learn to get along
better and work together better.
The answer cannot be to just start
carving up the country and redrawing
lines that have been in place for
a century or more just so that we
can only be surrounded by people
that perfectly agree with us.
The vote itself doesn't change the border.
Full approval by both
chambers in both states.
Simply opens the door for serious
conversation between the two
states about moving the border.
I think people in the metropolitan
areas tend to look at it in the paper
and get a good chuckle out of it.
But the fact of the matter is people
in Eastern Oregon are dead serious.
Former candidate for Governor Betsy
Johnson is now a KGW political analyst.
She says while it's far from a done deal,
the discussion of Greater Idaho
raises real questions and concerns.
Treating the symptoms get at the root
problem and try to figure out why would
a portion of Oregon want to leave here?
What has made it so bad that they
are prepared to go through the
administrative and expense and political
hassle of trying to separate a piece
of Oregon and move it into Idaho now,
in addition to the many technical things
that would need sorting out should
something progress further down the line,
Johnson tells me losing a chunk of the state
to neighboring Idaho could have a chilling.
Effect on economic development
in Oregon and in her words,
be a national embarrassment with so
many dissatisfied, dissatisfied here.
To be clear, even if we get to the
point where both state legislatures
agree on moving the Border,
Congress must also approve it. David.
One step closer and a long way to go.