Oregon News

By WARREN RESEN - Member North American Travel Journalists Association Driving north on the coastal highways of California and Oregon and then through the redwood forests is an unforgettable adventure.

Gov. John Kitzhaber decided this week that Oregon will be the fourth state to avoid food stamp cuts included in the federal farm bill.

If your 22-pound cat clawed your infant, then went on a yowling rampage that ended with your family barricaded in a bedroom on the phone to 911 , you'd think a little, er, tension might result.

Oregon State Penitentiary is one of the more than dozen prisons Bryan Denson will cover as the new beat reporter covering state and federal corrections in the state.

A variety of new exhibits at coastal history museums will have you riveted. From the slightly spooky to the just plain mind-boggling, museums on the north and central Oregon coast are featuring tidbits about the abundance of regional shipwrecks, a coastal ghost town you probably knew nothing about, and a legendary lighthouse.

New concerns swirled this week that Cover Oregon would not get the extension it asked the federal government for in order to give Oregonians more time to enroll for coverage beyond the March 31 deadline.

It starts with a translucent Thomas, all 5-feet, 9-inches of him, and then a giant is superimposed on top of him.

Large class sizes: How much have large class sizes affected your Hillsboro student's education? The Oregonian's Andrea Castillo has set up a poll for parents in the Hillsboro School District , home to the biggest average class sizes among the largest 11 districts in the Portland metro area.

Update: Gov. John Kitzhaber announced Wednesday afternoon that Oregon, too, will allocate enough energy-assistance dollars to avoid food stamp cuts under the farm bill.

Paulann Petersen will read and discuss her own work, and that of the late William Stafford at a reading for National Poetry Month.

Paul Stanford, one of the nation's leading marijuana legalization advocates, doesn't only want Oregonians to have the right to smoke pot.

At this past weekend's Dorchester Conference in Oregon, young Republicans convinced their fellow attendees to support marriage equality, which they did by a vote of 233-162.

Sixteen members of the Oregon Legislature aren't seeking re-election. Two will face primary challengers.

Portland police got a very strange call Sunday: A family was cowering in a bedroom after their 22-pound Himalayan cat went on the rampage, the Oregonian reports.

If you still need to sign up for health insurance through Cover Oregon, the clock is ticking on open enrollment.

Elected officials, political junkies and the just plain curious crowd on the House floor at the state Capitol in Salem to watch names of primary candidates go up on the big boards, a longtime, low-tech tradition.

The office of Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum issued a certified ballot title for an initiative that would allow businesses to opt out of serving gay weddings if it violated their religious beliefs.

Former Oregon Republican Party Chairman Allen Alley says he won't be running for governor or any other elected office this year.

A Supreme Court ruling could open the door for lawsuits from landowners adjacent to popular rail-trails like the Banks-Vernonia State Trail.

The state Legislature voted Friday to approve funding for cancer research facilities at Oregon Health & Science University, got the budget back in balance and then adjourned the 2014 session.