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A map from NOAA shows warm and cool spots globally in February 2015.

(Courtesy of NOAA)

Your mixed feelings about the sunnier-than-usual, warm weather Oregon has been getting for months are confirmed.

This has been Earth's warmest winter on record. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its monthly State of the Climate report this week, confirming that the period from December through February was warmer than it's ever been. February alone was the second-warmest February in history. A map of the world shows abnormally warm temperatures almost everywhere in the world, except the Northeastern U.S. where this winter came with record snowfall and frigid temperatures.

Lawmakers in the state House voted unanimously Wednesday to outlaw the use of drones for hunting or fishing in Oregon. Though there's no evidence that Oregon hunters or anglers have been using drones, the bill's proponents said it's happened elsewhere, the Associated Press reports. Supporters of the bill argued using drones violates the concept of fair chase. The bil, sought by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, orders the agency to adopt a rule banning the use of unmanned vehicles to track, harass or scout fish and wildlife. It passed in a 59-0 vote, sending it to the Senate.

The owner of an oil train terminal near Clatskanie has agreed to pay a reduced fine for moving six times more crude oil in 2013 than was allowed. Massachusetts-based Global Partners will pay $102,292 as part of a settlement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the state's top environmental regulator. That's $15,000 less than the agency originally proposed last year, The Oregonian/Oregonlive's Rob Davis reports. DEQ reduced the fine because the agency believed it could prove Global acted negligently in exceeding the limits but not intentionally, said Jenny Root, a DEQ environmental law specialist. The initial fine considered the violation intentional. Global admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

A federal judge has declined to limit the number of juvenile spring chinook salmon state fish managers can release from a McKenzie River hatchery. But he ordered the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to set a deadline on when it will significantly cut the number of hatchery-bred fish that mingle and spawn with wild native salmon above Leaburg Dam, the Register-Guard reports. State wildlife officials must submit their proposal setting that deadline within 90 days. Two flyfishing groups brought the lawsuit, contending the interbreeding of hatchery fish with wild fish is weakening the gene pool to create fish less capable of surviving and reproducing in the wild.

Two bills in the Oregon Legislature aim to set starkly different courses for the Elliott State Forest: log more, or leave it alone. The 92,000-acre Elliott is among 780,000 acres of Oregon trust lands, designated in the state Constitution as moneymakers for K-12 schools. The state's inability to make money off the Elliott has left officials scrambling to end the financial bleed. House Bill 3474, sponsored by Rep Tobias Read, D-Beaverton, would create a framework for transferring the land into another government agency's hands. Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, wants the Department of State Lands to keep the Elliott. His Senate Bill 806 would require the department to cut enough timber to generate $40 million in revenue each year.

--Kelly House

khouse@oregonian.com

503-221-8178

@Kelly_M_House