This is KGW news at noon. Hello,
I'm Devin Haskins, and thank you
for joining me for the news at noon.
The Oregon Legislature is back in
session today, lawmakers officially
convening the 2023 session after
swearing in new members last week.
They also took the time to
appoint committees and highlight
what issues they want to tackle.
In the New Year's top of mind are
things like education, housing,
transit and public safety.
Veteran lawmakers also say
this group of legislators.
Are the most diverse in Oregon history.
This session we start off with 19
people of color.
Six African Americans,
two Native Americans,
5 Vietnamese Americans,
and seven Latin X folks.
They say the number one issue is the
state's budget for the next two years
and new this year for Democrats,
they no longer hold a super majority.
So what that means is,
is is that in order to pass any taxes,
they'll need support from at
least a couple of Republicans.
Sessions scheduled the last 160 days.
Meanwhile, lawmakers.
In Washington are considering a bill that
would lower the legal limit for a DUI.
If it passes, the legal limit
would drop from .08 to point O 5M.
Benner brings us the reaction from
those that weighed in during a public
hearing on Monday, February 2018, Sr.
14 in Vancouver.
A suspected drunk driver crashes,
killing himself and two others.
If anybody understands the
magnitude of something like this,
it's Linda Thompson in the late 80s.
She lost her own. Done.
Just three years old at the time.
To a drunk driver.
In the courtroom. At sentencing,
a woman told our family we knew he was
gonna kill somebody sooner or later.
Sorry about that. It was your family
that encounter. The experience of
losing a child is why Thompson's
in favor of stricter laws when
it comes to drinking and driving.
We need to be able to count on public
policy that will save lives and not
promote alcohol as as a product over lives
on Monday. Thompson was one of many
who testified at a public hearing
on Senate Bill 5002. If passed,
it would lower the legal blood alcohol
level from .08 to point O five.
It is very clear to me that drunk driving
is impacting the safety of our communities,
and it is time that we do something.
Senator John Lovick,
the bill's prime sponsor,
acknowledges the more than 600
people who died on Washington
roads as recently as 2021,
many of the crashes.
Were a result of driver impairment.
The purpose of this DUI law is not so law
enforcement can go out and make more arrests.
The purpose of this DUI law is to change
driver behavior and therefore save lives.
At least that's been the case in Utah,
where the legal limit was lowered
to .05 in 2019. Since then,
the number of fatal crashes in
Utah has dropped by more than 19%,
and the number of people killed
has decreased by more than 18%.
Washington wineries take the privilege
given to them to serve their wine
in their taste rooms very seriously.
Josh McDonald is the executive director
of the Washington Wine Institute.
He's in opposition.
Senate Bill 5002HE fears it'll
negatively impact wineries.
Without the ability to offer on
premise tasting of our product to
our customers including local and
state tourists discovering our
wine for the first time sometimes
many times in choosing it,
choosing our wine over other
States and other countries,
wine Washington wineries
will not be able to compete.
Among those who disagree is Linda Thompson.
This is legislation that will save lives.
We have the systems in place.
We know that it is not going to
affect our. Our tourist industry.
I'm Mike Benner for KGW news.
Also want Olympia,
a group of high school girls testified
in front of state lawmakers for a
hearing on a gender pricing bill.
The students are in an AP civics class
at Lake Washington High and found
several products and services were
more expensive for women than for men.
Our bill is not to punish businesses,
but to encourage businesses to
end discriminatory pricing and
support the progress of equity in
the market that has already been
started by businesses themselves.
If anything is a burden,
it is the economic burden added on women
due to discrimination and pricing on top
of existing gender based inequality,
which is why I am full support of this bill.
A representative for the Washington
Food Industries Association says
the organization opposes the bill.
Alright, let's talk weather rod.
It was nice yesterday. No rain.
How's the rest of the day looking out?
Well you know today's been
nice for the most part.
Just hasn't been as sunny as yesterday.
We are looking at some showers
increasing and and the reminder
coming up into my complete forecast.
I'll talk more about what you're
looking at right there and that's
a pretty good rainmaker cold front
that will come in tomorrow morning.
We are gathering light rain up along
a story and some of this is pushed
inland up over the coast range.
In fact if you're running out to Hwy.
26 banks right now probably
starting to feel a few sprinkles
on this light precipitation.
It's going to slowly make its way
a little bit more and a little bit
more to the east toward downtown
Portland in the coming hours.
So this afternoon we will see our
clouds start to bring an increasing
threat of some light showers,
Stoller family vineyards,
estate much like Portland over the hill,
just overcast skies.
And there is downtown Portland a little
bit warmer than I thought we'd get to today.
Despite the cloud cover we are setting at
50 with some light showers starting to
take hold through the afternoon hours,
I don't really expect the numbers
to go up anymore.
48 at 4:00 and then 47.
8:00 o'clock again tomorrow.
Pretty active weather day with some
solid rain and some heavy mountain snow.
That part of the forecast coming
up. Alright. Thanks rod.
For the first time,
we're hearing from the Washington County
deputy badly hurt in a crash last April.
Five teenagers were inside of a car that
ran a red light and T boned his patrol SUV.
Two of the teens died,
the driver of that car charged
with manslaughter and DUI.
I sat down with Deputy Michael
Trotter to learn about how the
crash has impacted his life.
We're going to get going for you.
Can I get a large vanilla Chai?
Even something as simple as standing
waiting for his drink to be
made is painful. OK,
thank you. For Mike Trotter
coming to this coffee shop, it's
about as far as I can get by myself.
He's limited in mobility
after what had been just
any other routine day
on graveyard around 12:24 in the
morning on April 27th of 2022,
Deputy Trotter was on his
way to help assist with the.
All about a possible drunk driver.
And I remember one of our canine
handlers getting on the Radio
6 that just tried to go head on with me.
Almost gonna have itself down Murray.
And then that's the last thing I remember.
A Nissan Altima filled with five
teenagers coming from the north heading
South on Murray at the same time as
Trotter was heading east on TV Highway.
Trotter says he was told that
Nissan Altima was going around 100
miles an hour when it hit him right
on his driver's side of his SUV.
Go through medical, he
discretionary. Deputy Trotter
was pinned inside
his vehicle, bleeding.
We've got one conscious alert.
Are also heavily thinking
inside the other car, five teenagers from
Beaverton South Ridge High School $0.54.
But you can see there's
also three in the back.
17 year old Matthew Amaya and
16 year old Juan Aguilera died.
The three other teens,
including the driver,
18 year old Xavier Rodriguez,
were critically injured.
Rodriguez was charged with manslaughter,
assault and DUI.
Like I've been at. Hundreds
of those crashes on I don't
know how I'm alive
try to remember his waking
up in the hospital a week or
two later after the accident.
He knew that his life had changed.
He says he thought of giving up,
but what kept him going?
Was his three-year old son Harley?
I remember one point telling
myself like it would just be so
much easier to die right now.
Like this sucks, but I wouldn't do it
because it wouldn't be fair for him.
Almost six weeks later,
he was moved from the hospital to
a rehab center and finally went
home around the beginning of July.
You want to say here, buddy,
his days now are anything
but routine. Yeah, they're
filled with physical therapy
and doctor's appointments.
So I broke both both bones in my right arm.
My pelvis was on the left side,
was just completely shattered.
And due to that injury,
I have a bunch of damage to my
sciatic nerve on the left side
and muscles in his left leg. Don't work.
I'm in such excruciating pain,
it's not even that enjoyable.
He says doctors have told him
his career as a law enforcement
officer is likely over.
I still can't do a full thumbs up,
but he's working each day to prove
them wrong better than it was.
What has kept him going and
helped him get stronger?
Yeah, about to before end of this month
are his family.
Trotter is working to finish his
associates degree so he can have
a backup plan for what's next.
He says the Sheriff's Office is
trying to find a position for
him once he's able to return.
Portland reported its first
deadly shooting of the year.
It happened yesterday afternoon at a 76
gas station on NE 102nd and Gleason.
Portland police tell us the victim
was taken to the hospital but
later died from his injuries.
Officers haven't said what led
up to the shooting,
and they haven't released any
information about the suspect.
Last year,
Portland broke the previous year's
record for the number of homicides.