Highway contractor agrees to penalty — The contractor on an ill-fated project to straighten a hazardous section of U.S. Highway 20 east of Newport has agreed to pay a $735,000 federal penalty to resolve allegations that it allowed muddy water from the work to flow into Coast Range streams. The Oregonian reported Monday the agreement between Granite Construction of Watsonville, Calif., and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It has been filed in federal court in Portland. The state has taken over the troubled project, and state officials are to decide later this month how to proceed. The estimated cost has increased from about $150 million to nearly $400 million. Landslides that have plagued the project continue to be a problem.

Chief justice calls it quits — The chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court marked his last day Monday on the high court. Paul De Muniz is retiring from the court at age 65 after 12 years. He has been chief justice since 2006. In his legal career, De Muniz has been a public defender, a lawyer in private practice in Salem and a member of the state Court of Appeals. The Salem Statesman Journal reported that De Muniz has written notable opinions on the state public-pension system and, last month, on new standards for eyewitness identification in criminal cases. De Muniz plans to teach law at Willamette University, where he was a law student in the 1970s.

2 women die in crash — Two women were killed in a collision Sunday on Highway 101 north of Waldport. Oregon State Police say their van collided with a trailer that fishtailed and broke loose from an oncoming pickup truck. The trailer was hauling a four-wheel off road vehicle that came off the trailer and hit the van. Both women in the van died at the scene.

Police seek missing man — Police have expanded their search for a Portland man who hasn’t been seen since the early morning hours of Dec. 22 when he was sleeping on a friend’s couch after celebrating another friend’s birthday. Police have distributed bulletins nationwide about Matthew McConnell-Heglund. Friends and family members became concerned after he failed to return home and did not see his children on Christmas. McConnell-Heglund is a 29-year-old white man, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds with brown hair. He has a tattoo of a black five-point star on his right bicep.

Walden seeks stop to trillion-dollar coin — There is no plan to mint trillion-dollar coins to pay the federal government’s debt, and Congressman Greg Walden wants to keep it that way. The Oregon Republican said Monday he will introduce a bill to prevent a maneuver that has been suggested by a New York congressman and debated in multiple media reports. A legal loophole allows the U.S. Treasury to mint platinum coins in whatever denomination it chooses — even $1 trillion. Minting such high-value coins to pay the government’s bills would allow President Obama to sidestep a showdown with Republicans over the federal debt ceiling. Although the coin idea has yet to gain any political traction, Walden says the scheme is dangerous and he’s introducing the bill “to stop it in its tracks.”

Arson suspected in Woodburn fire — Police suspect arson in an explosion and fire that burned a parked car Saturday night in Woodburn. Witnesses told police the car was unoccupied and parked on a street when it exploded and burst into flames. Three men were seen running away. Oregon State Police are helping with the investigation.

Collision kills woman — Oregon State Police say a woman was killed in a collision Sunday on state Highway 207 just south of Interstate 84 in Umatilla County. The woman was identified as Judith Burns, 63, of Bit Timber, Mont. Burns was driving a pickup and was attempting to pass a flatbed truck when it made a left turn. She died at the scene. Burns was living temporarily in Ione. A passenger in the pickup, Evan Delacruz-Mesa, 45, was not injured. The occupants of the truck were identified by police as Scott Madison, 55, and Katie Pettyjohn, 45, both of Echo. Neither was injured. — From wire reports