Oregon Caves legislation — Congress is again considering legislation to expand the Oregon Caves National Monument nearly tenfold. The Medford Mail Tribune reports the U.S. Senate passed the measure unanimously on Wednesday, sending it to the U.S. House. A similar bill failed in 2009. The monument now covers 488 acres in southwestern Josephine County. The new legislation would transfer 4,000 acres from the U.S. Forest Service to the U.S. Parks Service. Supporters say the expansion would improve forest health because the Parks Service has more money for forest restoration. Logging and other operations allowed on Forest Service lands are banned on Park Service holdings. Recreational access to hunters and others would still be allowed. The bill also calls for scenic river designation for the underground River Styx that travels through the caves.

Portland retreat home sold — The couple who restored the Ashland Springs Hotel have bought a quirky house and retreat on a hill above the city for 15 percent of the original $10 million asking price. The Oregonian reports Doug and Becky Neuman won the bidding for the 1,100-acre Circle of Teran, created as a spiritual retreat in 2003 by hand surgeon Scott Young and Robin James, daughter of the founder of the Raymond James company. Inside are 11 bedrooms, a glass conservatory heated and cooled to grow bananas and a 10-sided, two-story great room with marble fireplace, interior balcony and glass domed skylight. Outside is a 200-foot-wide lavender maze. Doug Neuman says they may turn it into a winery or bed and breakfast with winery, keep it as a home, or resell it.

Wildfire near Steens Mountain — The federal Bureau of Land Management says rain showers and retardant drops have virtually brought a southeastern Oregon wildfire to a stop — and it’s smaller than previously estimated. Spokeswoman Tara Martinak said Friday afternoon that despite some interior hot spots and an occasional flare-up, officials expect the fire to remain quiet into Saturday. Lightning touched off the Denio Basin fire in grass and brush south of Steens Mountain, just north of the Nevada border. The BLM says a closer look at the burn perimeter shows the fire has burned across about 1,800 acres, or less than 3 square miles. The initial estimate was about 3,000 acres, or nearly 5 square miles. The agency said the fire was threatening sage grouse habitat, but no ranches. Human presence in the area is sparse.

Child strangulation charges — Lebanon police have charged a 26-year-old man with the assault and strangulation of a 4-year-old boy. The boy is expected to survive. He was not identified. The Lebanon Police Department says in a press release that Hugo Avilez, the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, was charged after days of interviews with the boy’s family. The boy was brought to the hospital in Lebanon on Monday. Based on his injuries, the hospital staff alerted police. The child is still at the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. The Department of Human Services is also involved with the investigation.

Astoria mayor — The city of Astoria’s longest-serving mayor, Willis Van Dusen, says he won’t run for re-election. Van Dusen told the Daily Astorian that at 61, he wants to focus on his family soft drink bottling and distribution business. He has served six terms as mayor, starting in January 1991. He was on the City Council six years before that. He told the newspaper he got into city government to resist plans to close the landfill and put a garbage transfer station next to his business. Nearly 30 years later, the city is now ready to close the landfill at the end of 2014, and Van Dusen said he’s taking that as a signal that it was time for him to move on.