News WW wrote a couple weeks back about state and federal officials calling a summit in response to what they called a nationwide prescription drug problem. We went to the summit today and learned the following three things from the gathering called by Attorney General John Kroger, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Acting U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton: 1) Drug-induced deaths are on the rise, especially among ...   More

News Attorney General John Kroger today rejected Gov. Ted Kulongoski's request to hire an independent lawyer to investigate contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy. Kulongoski, whose term ends Jan. 10, made that request yesterday. The governor cited a "potential conflict of interest" that could affect the AG's office to conduct such a probe. It remains unclear what that conflict ...   More

News When Gov. Ted Kulongoski introduced his $16 billion budget for 2009-2011 on Monday, he noted these are tough economic times will require sacrifice and hard choices. "The budget...has gotten if not small – certainly smaller than any of us would like," Kulongoski said. "This – without doubt – is going to cause real hardship for many Oregonians." The House Republicans have ...   More

News When government budgets tighten, budget-writers are sometimes tempted to raid stable sources of funding to cover other expenses. That's what Gov. Ted Kulongoski stands accused by 9-1-1 providers of doing with the state's 9-1-1 funds. First a little background on how we pay for 9-1-1: every landline, portable phone and voice-over-Internet line pays 75 cents per month to cover the cost of ...   More

News Judging from the comments left on my original post reporting on Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford shooting a medical drama in Portland (sample comment: "I was one of the lucky ones to be an extra on this film. Happiest day of my life!"), some of you are somewhat excited about the ongoing presence of The Untitled Crowley Project. And now you can count Gov. Ted Kulongoski among the fans. Was this the ...   More

News Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced a number of new appointments this week. At a time when his predecessor and possible successor, former Gov. John Kitzhaber, is running on a vision of a "post-partisan" Oregon, a couple of Kulongoski's choices are noteworthy. He named Larry Campbell, a Eugene Republican who was Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives in 1991 and 1993 to the Ethics Commission. ...   More

News Gov. Ted Kulongoski said today that the quarterly economic forecast to be released next week for Oregon is expected to show a further decline in revenues of another $200 million to $500 million. That lousy news from Kulongoski comes on top of the $577 million state budget shortfall that sprung up in the spring. And it ensures that the state's hemorrhaging budget will remain front and center ...   More