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What you read: KGW's most popular local stories of 2018

Here are your 10 most-read local stories of 2018.

From a controversial proposal to ban assault weapons, to a viral video of a teen being pushed off a bridge, to Oregon’s first fatal cougar attack in the wild, 2018 had its share of remarkable news stories.

Here are your 10 most-read local stories of 2018.

Warning: Some of the stories contain graphic details.

1. Oregon initiative would ban assault weapons

A proposal to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in Oregon was submitted as a ballot initiative petition in March.

An interfaith religious group in Portland filed the petition, which also carried a requirement for legal gun owners to surrender or register their assault weapons or face felony charges. The goal of the proposal, supporters said, was to prevent mass shootings.

The initiative also required owners of assault weapons to sell, surrender or remove the weapons from the state, or render them inoperable, within 120 days of the bill’s passage.

Gun advocates said the proposal was an attack on their constitutional right to bear arms.

The initiative never made it to the November ballot. Supporters said they will set their sights on 2020.

This story came to us from our news partners at the Statesman Journal.

2. Is an Oregon marijuana shop haunted? Watch surveillance video

Employees at Five Zero Trees in Oregon City saw some strange things in the days before Halloween. Some thought their shop was haunted.

Surveillance video showed a glass tip jar slowly begin to slide off the edge of a level counter, then fall off. Video later showed pens moving in a cup when no one was around.

To skeptics who think the video was doctored, the store’s general manager said as a cannabis shop, that would be against the law.

3. DA: Meighan Cordie may have fallen out of car and died while mother was driving drunk

The Meighan Cordie investigation captivated the region in 2018. Cordie, 27, was missing for several days near Dayton in August. The Yamhill County District Attorney said she later died from jumping or falling out of the car while her mother was driving at a high rate of speed.

The district attorney ruled Cordie’s death an accident.

Her mother, Jennifer Weathers agreed to plead guilty to DUII.

Meighan Cordie. (Photo: Yamhill County Sheriff's Office)

Prosecutors said Weathers was driving drunk with Cordie and her 3-year-old granddaughter on the night Cordie went missing.

Weathers told investigators that she and Cordie got into a heated argument that night, and her daughter jumped out of the moving car, leaving her daughter, shoes and cellphone behind. Weathers drove away.

Family, friends, sheriff’s deputies and hundreds of volunteers spent days searching for Cordie. Her body was found down an embankment five days after she was reported missing and roughly nine miles from where her mother said she was last seen.

4. 'She fought hard': Oregon hiker killed by cougar fought for her life, sister says

It was the first fatal cougar attack in the wild in Oregon history.

Diana Bober, 55, was found dead in the Mount Hood National Forest. The medical examiner's office said Bober's injuries were consistent with that of a cougar attack.

“She had a sharp object she used,” said Bober’s sister, Alison. “She had mace, she had a stick so the evidence is clear she fought hard.”

Wildlife officials shot and killed the cougar that they believed was responsible for the attack and ended their search for the animal. However, DNA evidence could not confirm whether that cougar was responsible.

5Goats replacing humans as caddies on eastern Oregon golf course

Why carry your clubs when you can get a kid to do it?

The Retreat & Links at Silvies Valley Ranch in Seneca, Oregon, announced the opening of a new seven-hole course this year that gives golfers the option to use trained goats as professional caddies

The goats are raised on the ranch and trained to carry golf balls, tees, clubs, and, of course, drinks.

6. ‘We don’t want this here’: Mayor warns against violence at Portland rally

A Patriot Prayer rally and counter-protest put Portland in the spotlight last summer.

Portland police announced beforehand there would be an increased law enforcement presence due to past acts of violence. Mayor Ted Wheeler condemned violence at past protests.

Controversial radio host and activist Alex Jones hinted that he would join Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson at the rally. He did not show up.

7. Child welfare probe opened into family prior to fatal crash

The Hart family tragedy captivated the region, and the nation, this year.

On March 23, Jennifer and Sarah Hart left their Woodland, Washington home in the family's SUV, the same day Child Protective Services visited the house to check on a child welfare complaint involving the couple's six adopted children.

Three days later, the SUV was found at the bottom of a cliff on the California coast. Jennifer, Sarah and four of their children died in the crash. Two children are still missing and presumed dead.

Credit: KGW from social media
Photo of the Hart family members, including their six adopted children

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services confirmed to KGW that Child Protective Services had identified the children as “potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect”.

Child services had tried to contact the family on three separate occasions after neighbors made a call claiming the children in the home were not being fed, but officials were unable to reach the family.

8. New earthquake research shows where Northwest ‘Big One’ could strike

New research from the University of Oregon provides a clearer picture of where the earthquake known as the "Big One" could strike along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

According to the study, possible locations include a stretch of the Washington shore off the Olympic mountain range and to the south, and a second along southern Oregon and northern California.

Scientists expect the next quake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone to reach a magnitude 9.0 or more and last more than five minutes.

This story came to us from KING-5, our Seattle sister station.

9. ‘Look what I brought for show and tell’ Jailers laugh at veteran suffering from overdose

In 2016, 31-year-old Bryan Perry had an apparent drug overdose inside his cell at the Clackamas County Jail. He was later taken to a hospital where he died.

In cellphone videos released by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office in 2018, deputies can be heard mocking Perry as they watch him make incoherent noises and flail uncontrollably. Watch the video (Warning: disturbing)

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said the office conducted an internal investigation. He said the deputy who filmed the videos resigned by the time the investigation began. Roberts said the deputies who still worked at the sheriff's office were disciplined, but he didn't specify the punishment.

10. New video shows leadup to girl’s push off Moulton Falls bridge

Another local story that captured the nation’s attention: A teen’s infamous push led to a viral video and criminal charges in Washington.

Taylor Smith, 18, pushed Jordan Holgerson, 16, off the bridge near Moulton Falls on Aug. 7. Holgerson plunged out of control for more than 50 feet before awkwardly hitting the river. The impact broke five of her ribs, punctured one of her lungs and left bruises all over her body.

The push was caught on video and quickly went viral.

Smith was charged with reckless endangerment. Her trial is scheduled to begin in February.

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