NATION & WORLD || Dems call for Ore. governor to resign

Dems call for Ore. governor to resign

SALEM, Ore.

Oregon’s top Democrats urged Gov. John Kitzhaber to resign Thursday, saying he cannot lead the state effectively amid a growing ethics scandal involving his fiancee, a green-energy consultant suspected of using their relationship to land contracts for her business.

Senate President Peter Courtney said he and House Speaker Tina Kotek asked Kitzhaber, a Democrat who recently started his fourth term, to step down.

Ukraine cease-fire

MOSCOW

European leaders hoping to avert the infusion of U.S. weapons into the Ukraine conflict heralded a new cease-fire agreement Thursday after marathon negotiations with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents.

But the peace plan’s success hinges on the combatants delivering on promises they’ve made and broken before.

The deal crafted by the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine calls for a halt to hostilities by Sunday and withdrawal of heavy weapons, foreign fighters and their armaments from the battlefields within two weeks. It also requires restoration of Ukrainian government control over its eastern border by the end of this year, contingent on Kiev’s granting more autonomy to the restive regions.

Hormone treatment OK’d for Manning

WASHINGTON

Defense Department officials said Thursday that hormone treatment for gender reassignment has been approved for Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst convicted of espionage for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

The officials said the hormone therapy was approved Feb. 5 by Col. Erica Nelson, commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where Manning is serving a 35-year sentence.

The treatment would enable the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning to make the transition to a woman. Manning changed her legal name in April 2014.

22 Marines hurt

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif.

Military officials say 22 Marines have been treated for exposure to fire- retardant gas at a Southern California desert base after an extinguishing system accidentally went off in an assault vehicle during a training exercise.

Base spokesman Dave Marks says an equipment malfunction caused the release of halon Thursday afternoon at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. There was no fire or explosion.

The Marines were treated at the base hospital.

2 ex-models accuse Cosby of misconduct

LOS ANGELES

Two former models Thursday became the latest to accuse comedian Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct.

Flanked by their attorney Gloria Allred, Lise-Lotte Lublin and Linda Brown told reporters that they were young models at the time Cosby is accused of drugging them in hotel rooms. Brown said Cosby sexually assaulted her.

Ala. county ordered to wed gay couples

MOBILE, Ala.

The federal judge who overturned Alabama’s gay-marriage ban ordered a reluctant county to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, signaling to probate judges across the state that they should do the same.

About an hour after U.S. District Judge Callie Granade’s ruling, Mobile County opened up its marriage-license office and started granting the documents to gay couples.

Combined dispatches