News The former interim director of the Oregon Department of Energy, Mark Long, has filed a tort claim notice [PDF] with the State of Oregon, threatening to sue for what his attorneys term the "warrantless search and seizure, without probable cause" of his work computer. The tort claim notice, which WW obtained yesterday under a public records request, increases the likelihood that controversy will ...   More

News In this clip from our interview with Gov. Ted Kulongoski, (a fuller version appears in this week's print version of WW) the ex-Marine and soon-to-be ex-governor discusses the Oregon economy and why our lack of a defense industry has come at a cost. Here are links to earlier video excerpts—one where the governor talks about prisons, another where he discusses Iraq, a third where he ...   More

News Gov. Ted Kulongoski has had a strained relationship over the past few years with John Kitzhaber, the fellow Democrat who preceded him as governor and will succeed him on Jan. 10, although the two, who were close during Kitzhaber's two previous gubernatorial terms from 1995 to 2003 have now resolved their differences. Many years ago, Kulongoski commented on how the difference between him and ...   More

News Gov. Ted Kulongoski has received plenty of sharp elbows during his 40 years in public life, and he's thrown a few himself. But in this video clip below from his recent interview with WW, Kulongoski explains why he's had enough with all that—and why he was largely invisible during the 2010 election cycle. The victim of the negative campaigning he cites is State Sen. Frank Morse (R-Corvallis), ...   More

News Although much of today's focus in Salem is on the start of Gov. John Kitzhaber's historic third term, some unfinished business relating to Attorney General John Kroger's investigation of contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy is also inching toward resolution. As WW reported last week, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who leaves office today, has hired retired Malheur County judge Frank ...   More

News The state Attorney General's office has decided that Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian doesn't have to run for re-election in 2010, when his post would normally be scheduled on the state ballot. Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed Avakian, formerly a Democratic state senator representing parts of Northwest Portland and Washington County, to the non-partisan labor commissioner's ...   More

News [youtube KfB62IGls2U&] Here's the state's long-awaited economic forecast (PDF). And in anticipation of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's speech this afternoon at City Club of Portland on "Weathering the Crisis," here are some of the state report's lowlights for us to weather in Oregon: —The first quarter of 2009 marks the fifth consecutive quarter of job losses. The annualized drop of 8.2 percent ...   More

News Hours after Gov. Ted Kulongoski got this predictably gloomy economic forecast for Oregon, the governor spoke at City Club of Portland. Here are the highlights of his speech — which had been scheduled long before the release of today's forecast — and the audience's response to it. With the state facing a 12.1 percent unemployment rate (a number that's expected to climb even ...   More

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News Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed two controversial tax increases today, setting in motion a process that will probably lead referrals of both measures to the January ballot. The bills — one of which raises the state's corporate income tax, the other increases the state income tax on the wealthiest Oregonians — have been on the governor's desk since the Legislature adjourned June 29. In ...   More