Chris Lehman

More than 700 workers in one of Oregon's largest counties are one step closer to walking off the job. Members of the Marion County Employee Association have voted by a three-to-one margin to authorize a strike.

One of the nation's largest pet food banks is being forced to move. The Pongo Fund distributes tons of pet food to low-income animal lovers each year in Oregon and Washington. But problems at its central distribution center will mean a break in distributing pet food this fall. Correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

Two hunters who were reported missing during a wildfire in eastern Oregon have been located and are safe. But Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer says there's new concern about a pair of hikers who are thought to be in the vicinity of the Parish Cabin Fire.

Oregon lawmakers got some short term good news Wednesday: state revenues are predicted to be a little higher than previously thought. But the long-term outlook remains gloomy.

Most public school students in the Northwest head back to class next week. And that has public health officials on alert. They're afraid that classrooms could be fertile ground for the spread of whooping cough, an infectious disease that's already being called an epidemic in some states.

With the Labor Day holiday weekend approaching, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas has once again topped $4 in Oregon and Washington. AAA says that puts the cost of gas in the Northwest at more than 25 cents a gallon above the national average.

The state of Oregon is on the lookout for fraudulent fertilizer. State regulators say it’s a growing problem for indoor gardeners. The Oregon Department of Agriculture recently cracked down on a California company that it says was selling a potentially harmful product.

This week, we’re taking a look at some of the claims made about marijuana. Voters in Oregon and Washington will decide this November whether to legalize pot. Ballot measures in both states would allow the drug to be sold in state-licensed stores. The Oregon initiative would allow people to grow their own. One of the claims made by opponents of the legalization measures is that the marijuana of today is much more potent than the pot smoked decades ago. Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman looked into whether that’s true.

This fall, voters in Oregon and Washington will decide whether to legalize marijuana. Washington’s Initiative 502 would allow pot to be sold in state-licensed stores. So would Oregon’s Measure 80. But it would go one step further: The Oregon ballot measure would allow people to grow their own marijuana.

The federal government will take the lead in prosecuting an Oregon couple accused in a killing spree that stretched down the U.S. west coast last fall. The U.S. Attorney's office in Portland announced indictments Friday against David "Joey" Pederson and Holly Grigsby.