NATIONAL BRIEFS

OREGON: Scout abuse files released

The State Supreme Court's decision Thursday to approve the release of 20,000 confidential Boy Scouts of America documents will give the public its deepest look at people flagged by the organization as suspected child molesters and show how Scouts kept them out of leadership. The ruling could make it easier for other secret Boy Scout files to be used in pending and future lawsuits from former scouts who claim they were molested by troop leaders. "All arguments about confidential files and whether they're required to be produced publicly, all those issues are now off the table," Kelly Clark, the Portland attorney involved in the landmark case that led the court to decide that the 20,000 files are public records.

NATIONWIDE: More planes to fight fires

President Barack Obama signed a bill this week hastening the addition of seven large tanker planes to the nation's rundown aerial firefighting fleet, at a cost of $24 million. The same day, two C-130 military transport planes designed for that very purpose sat on a tarmac in Cheyenne, Wyo., shrouded in an eye-watering haze from a raging Colorado wildfire. In all, eight workhorse C-130s stand ready to fight wildfires around the country, but all are grounded by rules governing the use of the nation's aerial firefighting resources. The new purchases won't help in fighting destructive blazes going on for weeks in Colorado, New Mexico and elsewhere. "There's just not enough [aircraft] to go around in the current state," said Chuck Bushey, past president of the International Association of Wildland Fire.

IOWA: $241M winner is sought

A Powerball ticket sold at a Cedar Rapids grocery store this week is worth $241 million, but whoever bought it has yet to claim the jackpot, state lottery officials said Thursday. The store's director, Jamie Franck, was presented with the $10,000 bonus check the store receives for selling the winning ticket.