Bridge reopened after backpack scare — Authorities reopened a bridge between Longview, Washington, and Rainier that had been shut down for hours because of suspicious backpacks on the Oregon side. Oregon State Police say authorities responded at about 10:20 a.m. Monday to reports of a man lowering backpacks from the bridge over the Columbia River. The OSP Bomb Unit used a robot to X-ray the bags, but the results were inconclusive. Police eventually found that the bags contained clothing and miscellaneous personal property.

ODOT sweeps Salem homeless camp — The Oregon Department of Transportation cleared Salem’s largest homeless camp Monday. It warned of the sweep two weeks ago, and its crews were joined by police in notifying campers they had to go. The campers were offered a hot cup of coffee and trash bags. The camp, on state property, had 25 tents at its peak. Some people left before the sweep. ODOT spokesman Lou Torres says the agency spent more than $3 million cleaning up homeless camps between 2013 and 2017. Meanwhile, in Eastern Oregon, a tally of the homeless in four counties found 557 people without a permanent shelter — 10 times more than a year ago. Nearly all of the homeless were in Umatilla County, which includes Pendleton, according to a news report Monday.