After nearly 30 years of non-stop court and political battles, the Obama administration hopes two of the authors of the Northwest Forest Plan can show federal agencies a new path forward.

Senator Jeff Merkley informed the Douglas County Commissioners that the EPA will exempt biomass from new clean air act regulations for three years.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar met with the timber industry and conservation groups Monday to find a way out of decades of bitter conflict over logging in Western Oregon.

State Treasurer Ben Westlund, an independent spirit in Oregon politics and a passionate advocate of health care reform, has died of lung cancer. He was 60. "He worked right up to the end," an aide said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced mounting Senate opposition for another four-year term Friday, and the White House worked aggressively to keep his nomination afloat.

A federal program that began as a safety net for Pacific Northwest logging communities hard-hit by battles over the spotted owl in the 1990s has morphed into a sprawling entitlement that ships vast amounts of money to states with little or no historic connection to timber.

Vandals splattered feces on a window in front of a life-size cutout of President Barack Obama. The News-Review newspaper reports the excrement coated the window and covered the eaves Tuesday at the Democratic party office in downtown Roseburg.

Serving on three key committees, the Stanford- and Princeton-educated Jeff Merkley has become deeply immersed in crucial and heady issues. Those include health care reform, global warming and finding solutions to the nation's financial crisis.

Les Schwab Tire Centers is gathering Oregon political support in its effort to stop curbs on tires from China.

The vast majority of Les Schwab's $1.6 billion in annual tire sales comes from private-brand tires, as opposed to name brands like Goodyear or Michelin, the company wrote in its brief. Those brands are more likely to come from China or other foreign plants.

The military had originally ordered the members of the Oregon brigade to be broken up into more than 20 smaller units and attached to other active Army brigades under different commanders.