Samurai sword attack — Police in Southern Oregon are looking for a man they say attacked his brother with a samurai sword. State police said 23-year-old Preston James Sweaney got into an argument with his brother in a motor home in Grants Pass and cut him on the arm and side with the sword. Twenty-one-year-old Nathaniel Sweaney was taken to a local hospital. A cousin who tried to intervene was cut on the hand. State police said Preston Sweaney fled wearing jeans and no shirt. He is described as white, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with a mohawk haircut, hazel eyes, a scar on his chin and tattoos on his chest, shoulders and calf. He is also reportedly wanted on other outstanding warrants.

College tuition reduced — The State Board of Higher Education has voted to reduce tuition costs for students in Oregon’s seven public universities. The board’s move on Friday is the second cut in tuition rates this year. It follows the Legislature’s September approval of tax increases and $25 million in additional funding for higher education. Tuition for Oregon residents was initially slated to rise an average of 4.8 percent. Starting in January, it will instead be up 2.5 percent from last year. The Oregon University System said that amounts to an average savings of $150 per student.

An independent BPA — U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says the federal government will not micromanage or “take over” the Bonneville Power Administration because of a hiring scandal at the agency. His letter Friday came in response to one sent by 23 lawmakers last week that asked about the extent of federal oversight of the agency. In response, Moniz said “the role of BPA management in making policy and business decisions for Bonneville is not being displaced.” An inspector general report found widespread discrimination in hiring veterans and retaliation against whistleblowers at BPA. In October, the Department of Energy ordered Bonneville’s human resources director and legal counsel to report directly to department headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Manslaughter charge — A Medford man now faces manslaughter charges in a Sept. 15 reported beating of his roommate, who died from injuries a month later in a Medford hospital. A Jackson County grand jury on Thursday indicted John Troy Lopes, 50, on charges of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter, as well as second- and third-degree assault stemming from the death of Charles Ward Puzak, police said. Lopes was originally arrested and jailed on suspicion of felony assault after the Sept. 15 incident at the home the two shared, according to the Medford Police Department.