Federal charges for OSU threat — A former student accused of threatening a shooting at Oregon State University has now been charged with a federal crime. Federal prosecutors charged Christopher Strahan with one count of interstate communication of a threat to injure the person of another. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin in Eugene appointed a defense attorney to represent Strahan. Authorities were alerted last month of threatening tweets posted by username “Hard Belly Dorm.” Detectives identified Strahan as the owner of the username and arrested him. The case was initially filed in Benton County Circuit Court, with Strahan pleading not guilty. With the matter now in federal court, the charges filed in Benton County were dismissed Tuesday.

Medford targets abandoned carts — An ordinance intended to cut down on stray shopping carts takes effect Sunday in Medford. Stores will be required to display signs on every shopping cart that removing carts from the property is illegal. The signs also must include information about the owner of the cart and a phone number to report the cart has been abandoned. Stores will be held to a seven-day pick-up deadline. If stores don’t retrieve a cart during that window, the city will remove the cart, and stores must pay a $50 fine to get it back. After 30 days, the fine jumps to $500, and the cart will be destroyed.