News In his State of the City speech last month, Portland Mayor Sam Adams took Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton by surprise when Adams proposed that the city take over the sheriff's duty of providing law enforcement on local waterways.Adams said that by absorbing river-patrol costs (currently $1.8 million, according to city estimates), the city would let the county invest that money in cash-starved mental-health ...   More

News  Next weekend there will be a "Politics of Love"  celebration in Portland to mark the seventh anniversary of when same-sex marriages enjoyed a brief window of legal approval in Multnomah County.And people attending the March 25-27 events presented by the First Unitarian Church will have some fresh news to celebrate. A new Washington Post-ABC News national poll shows a narrow majority supporting ...   More

News We don't know if the corn in this photo was genetically modified. We do know that Saturday, March 26, Oregon will be among a dozen spots taking part in a nationwide protest against Monsanto by people who want labeling of GMOs and factory-farmed animal products as well as independent, long-term studies done on the safety of GMOs. The noon rally on March 26 in Salem outside the Capitol targets Monsanto, the ...   More

News Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced today he is shutting down a Eugene lawyer's firm over complaints about its debt-collection practices.The lawyer, Derrick McGavic, was featured in a 2008 WW news story about lawsuits filed against McGavic alleging violations of the 1978 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.“At a time when many Oregonians are struggling to manage their debt, the Department ...   More

News The earthquake that struck Japan last week was the fourth largest since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  A magnitude 9.0 quake, the March 11 event spawned a tsunami, left hundred   More

News One of the more curious elements of the story surrounding U.S. Rep. David Wu is the series of bizarre emails the Democratic congressman sent staffers in the early-morning hours of Oct. 30 just days before Wu's re-election.Sent from Wu's congressional BlackBerry in the voice of his 11- and 13-year-old children, the emails were in fact written by the congressman. Wu admitted he wrote the emails after ...   More

News Almost one month after reports surfaced about U.S. Rep. David Wu's odd behavior in October 2010, the Democratic lawmaker continues to do damage control. This afternoon, the seven-term congressman sent an email message to supporters from his David Wu for Congress account. That email printed below repeats many of the messages Wu has made to television and some print reporters in Oregon. Wu continues ...   More

News Attorney General John Kroger today announced the hiring of a business advisor. Since the economy tanked, virtually every elected official has become an economic development officer—witness newly elected Metro Council President Tom Hughes heading overseas to scout for jobs. But Kroger's foray into the field may be the greatest example of mission creep to date (although he's clearly got business leaders ...   More

News Answering a looming question from the ongoing catastrophe in Japan, the Oregon Health Authority announced this afternoon that radiation from potential nuclear meltdowns there poses no threat to Oregonians.In a news release, state Public Health Director Mel Kohn says the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the all-clear."Given the thousands of miles between the two countries, Hawaii, Alaska, the ...   More

News A Marion County judge ruled last week on an arcane but important point in the ongoing battle over the results of an Oregon Department of Justice investigation into contracting practices at the state Department of Energy.The Justice Department announced Dec. 29 that it would not charge any of the four agency employees involved in a contract with the engineering firm R.W. Beck with official misconduct. ...   More