Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken is dropping out of the race for the Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield. Leiken plans to run for a seat on the Lane County Commission representing Springfield instead.

Congressman Peter DeFazio won this year's 'Reuse-A-Shoe' drive by a landslide, thanks to donations throughout his district. For the past couple of weeks, people had been asked to donate their old sneakers for the campaign put on by Nike.

The Boys & Girls Club, along with several other local organizations have been collecting shoes for the past couple of weeks. There were so many shoes donated that they ran out of boxes to store them in, but the final count for Douglas County was 692 pairs.

Several thousand people came out Wednesday to see the big parade in downtown Roseburg, including a Veteran from Pennsylvania. Dennis Bieak, a Vietnam War Veteran, said that it was nice to see all the people supporting the Veterans.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced a crop of timber sales for Bureau of Land Management lands that will help keep Oregon mills open while the Obama administration works on a long-term forest management strategy.

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.

Former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury is entering the race to be the state's next governor. Bradbury is scheduled to make a formal announcement Thursday. He will be the second Democrat to enter the fray.

Congressman Peter DeFazio and former Gov. John Kitzhaber met privately Friday to discuss the 2010 gubernatorial race, but DeFazio wouldn't say whether he will take on Kitzhaber for the Democratic nomination.

Democrat John Kitzhaber has announced he will run for a record-setting third term as Oregon governor. Only one previous Oregon governor has tried a political comeback.

While U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio and former Gov. John Kitzhaber have not yet said whether they will run in the 2010 Oregon governor's race, two lesser-known politicians are trying to get a head start.

Hundreds of tractor-trailer and bus companies ordered to shut down because of federal safety violations ranging from suspended licenses to possible drug use have stayed on the road by using different names, investigators say.

Oregon congressional members have proposed new protections for three areas in southwest Oregon. A series of bills introduced by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Peter DeFazio seek wilderness designation for nearly 30,000 acres in the Siuslaw National Forest known as the Devil's Staircase.

The 30,000-acre paradise is squeezed between the Smith and Umpqua rivers in the heart of Oregon's Coast Range. "It's the last remnant of what the Coast Range once looked like," says an official working to protect the area's wild ecosystems.

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.