BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- Governor Ted Kulongoski announced on Monday that Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler will take over as State Treasurer.
In a press release announcing the appointment, Kulongoski stated, “Ted Wheeler brings the perfect balance of expertise from both the public and private sectors to this job with an impressive record managing the county’s budget [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- Unemployment numbers released Tuesday by the Oregon Employment Department showed Oregon’s jobless rate has began to hover around 11 percent for January.
The numbers showed Oregon maintaining a 10.7 percent unemployment rate, which is up from 10.6 percent in December and 9.9 percent in January 2009.
The areas with the highest unemployment numbers included [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- Shortly after the gavel dropped Thursday on February’s special session, leaders for the state’s two legislative bodies spoke on the progress, or lack thereof, which was made in February.
Senate Minority Leader, Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, spoke about the partisan politics which he says played into the policies passed.
“The majority party has spent [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- The legislature ended their 25 day special session Thursday, passing a controversial constitutional amendment calling for annual legislative sessions.
The bill, SJR 41, created heavy controversy in the past few days which were filled with clear divides not only among parties but also among the two legislative bodies. House leaders were arguing for [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
PORTLAND- Lewis and Clark Law Professor, Jim Huffman, has scheduled his announcement to run for Ron Wyden’s US Senate seat for Thursday, March 4th.
Huffman has been rumored for weeks to be the GOP’s choice candidate to run against Wyden in this coming November’s senatorial election. A facebook event created by the Huffman for [...]

SEE THE EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEWS with Sen. Whitsett and Sen. Atkinson.
BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- In a signing ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday morning, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and other interested parties came together to sign a restoration agreement for the Klamath Basin region bordering Oregon and California.
The [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- An amendment to guarantee health care to all Oregonians narrowly failed in a House floor vote Friday morning.
The amendment proposed by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, would have put forth a constitutional amendment to be voted on by the Senate and then brought to the ballot for a statewide vote from the citizens. [...]

Update- This six week extension of benefits was passed on the House floor Thursday morning and passed through the Senate on Friday morning and was recently signed by the Governor.

BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- The House Committee on Business and Labor approved an extension of unemployment benefits Wednesday, passing the bill along to a later vote on [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
PORTLAND- With the passage of tax Measures 66 and 67 on Tuesday, a concern for business migration and job loss has begun brewing.
One study headed by Oregon Politico’s parent organization, Cascade Policy Institute, found that with the passage of both measures, 8,000 additional taxpayers per year are expected to migrate out-of-state due to [...]

BY SARAH ROSS
SALEM- Senate Republicans are calling for an override of Governor Ted Kulongoski’s veto of Senate Bill 897.
This bill, introduced last March, passed almost unanimously in both the Senate and the House and was subsequently vetoed by Gov. Kulongoski in August. It covers a range of Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) protections, including the [...]