Q & A Who watches the watchers? Lately, it’s been Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).  Who watches Wyden? Zeke Johnson. Johnson is the director of Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights    More

News Environment & Energy Daily, a trade publication that tracks Congress, reported today that Josh Kardon, the former chief of staff for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has a new client—the oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. Kardon, worked for Wyden for 18 years, many of them stationed in Portland. When Kardon left Wyden's office in 2011, the senator was glowing in his praise. “Josh is the most gifted political ...   More

News Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is waging a fight against two legislative priorities of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in a disagreement over the reach of government when it comes to intelligence and surveillance.In fact, reports Roll Call, Wyden has put a hold on "every major bill coming out of her [Senate] Intelligence Committee in the past two years."The Capitol Hill newspaper has the latest about his ...   More

News The choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate has been an uncomfortable development for Oregon's senior U.S. Sen., Ron Wyden. In 2011, Wyden co-authored a Medicare reform proposal with Ryan that was criticized at the time because it introduced competition and choice as part of Medicare reform that some thought was an attempt to gut the system. The brickbats tossed Wyden's way multiplied ...   More

News U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley does not face his first re-election race until 2014, but there's already a lot of speculation about who Republicans will field to challenge him. Merkley, who narrowly defeated GOP incumbent U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith in 2008, has made a lot of powerful enemies in Washington, ripping Wall Street and big oil, among other well-heeled interest groups. Some Republicans had hoped ...   More

Murmurs Having failed to secure a sit-down interview with President Barack Obama during his quasi-flyover, in-and-out visit to Portland on July 24, WW is very pleased to have landed an interview instead with    More

News Military surveillance drones of the kind used to spy on Taliban targets for U.S. forces in Afghanistan are now based in Portland, but U.S. government officials are unclear how or when they might   More

News Speaking of money in politics… U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is among those speaking on the Senate floor today in favor of a legislative effort to roll back the unlimited corporate donations permitted by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision."The Supreme Court, with #CitizensUnited, attacked the heart of our Constitution," Merkley Tweeted this morning.You can watch the speechifying live over ...   More

News U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is getting all Web 2.0: He'll be doing a live Q&A on YouTube next month, and he wants your questions. Much like mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith did last month, questions are being solicited via social news site Reddit. Unlike Smith, he won't be answering all of them—just the ones Reddit users vote as the 20 best. So anything involving Minecraft, pot or cat photos, ...   More

Features Each week our culture scientists rank their 10 favorite things in the universe. The resulting list is infallible. The list is perfect. If you don't agree with the list, you are wrong. Some items may stay atop the list for weeks, others may only make a brief appearance. Some items are Portland-centric, but only because Portland is at the center of the universe. Please do not write to us, asking ...   More