Man sentenced for dumping RVs — A man who dumped nearly a dozen dilapidated RVs on Portland streets has been sentenced to 25 days in jail. Multnomah County Judge Gregory Silver on Monday also ordered John Maher to perform community service and reimburse the city $7,500 for hauling away and dismantling the junk heaps. This represented a rare criminal prosecution of people who contribute to Portland’s derelict RV problem. The number of RVs involved made this an extreme case. One caught fire, and garbage and intravenous needles began to accumulate around others.

Dead Stellar sea lion washes ashore — People gathered this weekend to watch researchers perform a necropsy on a Steller sea lion that was found dead near Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. The sea lion that washed ashore Feb. 26 was moved south to a more remote section of beach. Stranded animals are typically dissected quickly and quietly to avoid upsetting onlookers. Keith Chandler from the Seaside Aquarium said they decided to wait until the weekend this time so people attending a marine-education conference could watch for educational purposes. Portland State University biology professor Debbie Duffield and volunteers from the Marine Mammal Stranding Network dissected the 8-foot-long creature for tissue samples that will later be tested for research purposes and a cause of death.

Unemployment rate stays steady — Oregon’s unemployment rate held steady in January as employers added 5,000 jobs. The state Employment Department said Tuesday the jobless rate was 4.1 percent — the same as in December. Strong employment gains in manufacturing, construction and private educational services were partially offset by a weak month for leisure and hospitality. Another unemployment measure, known as U-6, was at 8.5 percent in January. That’s also unchanged from December. The figure includes discouraged workers who stopped looking and part-time workers who want but can’t get full-time jobs.