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--> --> Oregon in brief PUC denies rate request from groups SALEM - State regulators Friday denied requests from three business and consumer groups to reconsider an about 30 percent rate increases for Portland General Electric customers. The requests were filed Monday by Associated Oregon Industries, Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities and the Citizens' Utility Board. In their requests, the groups claimed the Oregon Public Utility Commission didn't consider the economic effect of such large and sudden increases. The groups said the increases, due to take effect Oct. 1, should be suspended until the PUC decides whether to take another look at the issue. On Friday, the commission said the petitioners did not prove they would face irreparable harm from the increases. The increases -originally announced Aug. 31 - will raise rates by about 32 percent for residential customers, 37 percent for small business and as much as 53 percent for industrial consumers. PGE is the state's biggest electric utility, serving about 730,000 customers. Prison populations expected to increase SALEM - The number of people incarcerated in Oregon is expected to grow over the next decade, with state prisons expecting a larger increase than county jails. According to state records, 10,694 people were being held in the state prison system, including prisons, camps and the state's intake system, as of July 1. That population is expected to reach about 15,000 by July 2011, an increase of about 4,300 inmates. Prisons are used to house those sentenced to longer than a year. Meanwhile, there were about 1,905 people in local jails in Oregon on July 1. The jails are projected to hold about 2,500 in a decade, an increase of about 600. Suzanne Porter, a state prison analyst, said more cases of identity theft and forgery will boost prison populations in coming years. The increase is expected despite a national trend in the first half of this year of a slight decline in state prison populations. Corvallis men held in murder KLAMATH FALLS - Two 18-year-old Corvallis men are being held on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a man at a San Francisco motel, officials said. Jason Scherrer and Scott Miles are being held without bail at Klamath County Jail until San Francisco authorities can obtain arrest warrants for murder, according to Klamath County District Attorney Ed Caleb. Scherrer and Miles, along with several others, were under investigation by the Klamath Interagency Narcotics Team for drug trafficking when investigators learned they may have been involved in the shooting of two men at a San Francisco motel. One of the men, Jason Baker, of Spokane, Wash., later died. Associated Press Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing