Oregon Government News

Just before Thanksgiving, Sen. Ron Wyden released his long-awaited plan to reform management of Western Oregon's O&C timberlands.

At a penny a gallon in 1919, Oregon became the first state to impose a tax on motor fuels, beating Uncle Sam to the punch by 13 years.

Thomas Vaughan , the longtime executive director of the Oregon Historical Society , died Friday afternoon of congestive heart failure in Portland.

Cover Oregon will have to be self-sufficient once the federal grants that are paying its bills run dry at the end of next year, but the organization is now projecting higher costs and lower revenue.

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia told the federal government they could run their own health insurance exchanges , but three people leading their states' exchanges have now left following problem-plagued rollouts of the online marketplaces.

Readers of The Oregonian's recent series on Video Lottery could be forgiven for concluding that the Oregon Lottery is an independent entity whose leaders determined on their own, with no oversight or direction from state leaders, to offer Video Lottery games.

A lawyer for the Oregon Legislature says the state insurance commissioner overstepped her authority when she allowed insurance companies to extend policies that had been canceled because they don't meet standards under the federal health care law.

Among the many interesting talks scheduled at Monday's Oregon Business Plan summit are two that health care folks may want to know about, one of which will be delivered by Oregon Health & Science University's Dr. Brian Druker .

Outside a Whole Foods store in Seattle, a cyclist rides past a car promoting a failed November ballot measure in Washington to require labeling of genetically engineered foods.

The Oregonian's Tom Hallman Jr. reports this morning that Bill Porter has died. He was a door-to-door salesman for the Watkins Company in Portland, Oregon.

Last week, the deadline came and went for Oregon's lawmakers to submit new ideas for next year's short legislative session.

Since its early settlement, Oregon's natural resources have formed the basis of its economy.

Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, right, asked the legislature's lawyers whether it was legal for Oregon to allow insurers to extend policies that didn't meet coverage standards under Obamacare into the new year.

Southern Oregon University President Mary Cullinan today announced the university will enter retrenchment, a process in which the administration can cut programs and faculty without breaching contract with the faculty union.

Gov. John Kitzhaber joined hundreds of Coordinated Care Organization representatives today in sharing success stories and outlining the challenges ahead in reducing costs, while delivering better quality care to Oregon's Medicaid population.

The federal gasoline tax, last raised in 1993 to 18 cents per gallon, would increase five cents per year over three years and have future increases tied to inflation, under legislation proposed Rep. Earl Blumenauer .

A Hanjin Shipping Co. vessel berths at the Port of Portland's Terminal 6, where comparatively slow loading and unloading of ships is causing the South Korean ocean carrier to threaten pulling out.

WBUR: AG: Caremark To Pay MassHealth $2.6M For Not Reimbursing Pharmacy Claims This just in from Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley: Caremark, the national pharmacy benefits manager that also operates mail-order pharmacies, will pay $2.6 million to MassHealth -- and $4.25 million in a multistate settlement -- for failing to reimburse ... (more)

Mike Pieti's recent opinion column carries the often-repeated message that rural counties are suffering because of a lack of management in our public forests, and defends legislation to greatly expand logging in Western Oregon forestlands.

Clean Energy Works, the nonprofit that's working to promote affordable, energy-efficient home improvements throughout Oregon, is pretty good at promoting women and people of color as well.