News Digest:
Friday, November 2, 2007 10:40 AM PDT
IDAHO — Jury sides with S. Idaho ranchers in lawsuit over dead calves
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A south-central Idaho ranch has been awarded $112,500 after a Twin Falls County jury agreed with the co-owners that Minnesota-based Land O’Lakes, Inc., supplied tainted powdered milk formula that killed 130 calves.
The jury found on Oct. 26 that the company was responsible for the deaths at the J&J Calf Ranch.
‘‘The last thing we ever thought is that it would be the milk,’’ said ranch co-owner John Reitsma. David Maguire, a Pocatello-based attorney for Land O’Lakes, said he’s preparing to request a retrial based on the jury finding that unhealthy conditions at the ranch might have led to the deaths of some of the calves.
OREGON
Oregon school to cut 35 positions to combat falling enrollment
LA GRANDE (AP) — Eastern Oregon University plans to cut 35 faculty, staff and administrative positions as it struggles with falling enrollment, new president Dixie Lund says.
Lund presented a draft plan Wednesday to make $4.8 million in budget cuts over the next three years.
It calls for Eastern to cut majors in geology, mathematics, media arts, physics and global cultures, as well as a German concentration in modern languages.
THE NATION
Cuomo: Appraisers pressured to inflate subprime mortgage values
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday a major real estate appraisal company colluded with the nation’s largest savings and loan companies to inflate the values of homes nationwide, contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Cuomo announced the civil lawsuit against eAppraiseIT that accuses the First American Corp. subsidiary of caving in to pressure from Washington Mutual Inc. to use a list of ‘‘proven appraisers’’ who he claims inflated home appraisals.
