Northwest News

SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon lawmakers have passed legislation to help six southern Oregon counties that are near insolvency. The bill allows the counties to dip into money currently socked away in road maintenance funds. Amelia Templeton reports.

SANDPOINT, Idaho - Republican presidential contender Ron Paul paid a visit to north Idaho Monday on the eve of the state’s Super Tuesday caucus. Political analysts expect Mitt Romney to do well in Idaho. But Paul’s campaign say their loyal supporters could garner a good share of Idaho’s 32 delegates.

RICHLAND, Wash. – A Benton County Washington Republican is considering a lawsuit because he is so disgruntled over voters being turned away from overcrowded caucuses. This happened in Kennewick on Saturday. Correspondent Anna King explains.

SALEM, Ore. – Oregon lawmakers appear to be on track to wrap up their legislative session Monday evening. A budget committee approved a package of measures Monday afternoon designed to bring the current spending plan back into balance. There are no new taxes and public schools are shielded from further cuts.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has approved the Whistling Ridge Wind Energy Project in Southern Washington.

Competition in the nascent market for person-to-person car rentals is heating up. The latest entrant regionally says it can help any car owner in the Northwest temporarily rent their wheels to a friend or stranger.

White bread, like vanilla, is one of those foods that's become a metaphor for blandness. But it wasn't always that way.

Aaron Bobrow-Strain, professor of food politics at Whitman College, tells Weekend Edition's Rachel Martin that white bread was a deeply contentious food — ever since the early 1900s' ideas of "racial purity" up to the cultural revolution of the 1960s. He documents that cultural legacy in his new book, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf.