News The battle between former Oregon Department of Energy interim Director Mark Long and Attorney General John Kroger's Oregon Department of Justice continues to escalate.Bill Gary, Long's attorney, filed a lawsuit last week in Marion County Court accusing Kroger of withholding records related to the racketeering theory that Justice Department criminal investigators pursued in last year's probe into the ...   More

News This week, the Washington County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of Oak Hills resident Timothy Dale Bach on 20 counts of encouraging sex abuse. According to a press release (PDF), cops raided Bach's apartment April 12 on Northwest Cornell Road and seized 20 computers and another 20 hard drives that contained thousands of images of child pornography.Bach, 38, has an interesting history. As chronicled ...   More

News The House Rules Committee today held a hearing on House Bill 2442, which would force the Independent Party of Oregon to drop the word "Independent" from its name. The Independent Party's name irks some Democrats, who say the rapidly growing IPO has taken unfair advantage of some voters' desire not to be affiliated with either major party. (Although the IPO has been Oregon's fastest growing political ...   More

News Supporters of the tea party in Oregon will be back in Pioneer Courthouse Square this Friday, April 15 for what's become their annual tax day protest. (U.S. taxpayers this year actually have until Monday, April 18 this year to file because of an unusual circumstance.)Organizers of this year’s tea party’s protest starting at 5:30 pm in Portland don’t know what to expect when it comes to turnout. ...   More

News Brad Avakian, the elected commissioner for Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries, has hired a political adviser from Grant Park Strategies.Avakian's choice of campaign strategist is significant because it strongly suggests an announcement may be imminent about his plans to challenge U.S. Rep. David Wu in next year's Democratic primary.Grant Park Strategies is the relatively new political operation ...   More

News U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) was an early critic of President Obama's decision to aid the international offensive against Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.Now the progressive congressman from Springfield has offered up an amendment to the War Powers Resolution aimed at restricting the president's ability to unilaterally command military action.House Joint Resolution 55, which DeFazio introduced ...   More

News One tangible result of the controversy surrounding U.S. Rep. David Wu emerged today in a statement from the lawyer of Wu's estranged wife.Daniel Lorenz, Michelle Wu's divorce attorney, today issued a press release about his client's new agreement with the Democratic lawmaker to share custody of the estranged couple's two children. Previously there had been no court orders regarding the custody issue, ...   More

Music Nerds like me have trouble choosing a favorite holiday: Halloween is the weirdest, New Year's is the drunkest (though also the douchiest) and Record Store Day...well, Record Store day is the holiday made for music geeks like me. Portland's Record Store Day calendar is coming together slowly—isn't that just like Portland?—but here are some awesome things you can check out on Saturday, April 16. ...   More

News If you're a believer in the existence of a conspiracy that is using marriage rights for same-sex couples to advance an "insidious" agenda, you'd better spend the next 90 seconds watching this new video from Freedom to Marry. The video from an organization devoted to marriage rights nationwide provides clear evidence of the "roadmap to victory" that includes Oregon and other states where gays and lesbians ...   More

News A key committee vote on a slate of proposed reforms to the Oregon Insurance Division's rate-setting procedures has been delayed until Monday, says state Sen. Chip Shields (D-North/Northeast Portland).The vote had been expected to take place Wednesday but was put off because of a delay in getting information from the Legislative Fiscal Office, Shields says.The three bills would bring greater oversight ...   More