MONROE, Wash. (AP) -- Bill Pawlyk considered himself a conservative before he went to prison.
His political leanings changed after he lost the ability to vote and began serving a life sentence at the Monroe Correctional Complex.
"I shifted more toward the center," said Pawlyk, 68 ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Washington state lawmakers are feeling deficit deja vu.
A $2.6 billion deficit awaits them as they return to the state Capitol on Monday to convene a 60-day session, and it's the second straight year they've had to face making cuts to state programs.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Since Thanksgiving week, Oregon's airwaves have been flooded with TV ads from both sides in the battle over tax increases the Legislature imposed on corporations and higher-income earners.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- A non-English-speaking Chinese college student disputes a Eugene police officer's account of events that led the officer to shoot the student with a Taser stun gun, the student's lawyer says.
Eugene attorney Ilona Koleszar also said Thursday that her client intends to sue the city over the Sept. 22 incident.

After being convicted of murdering Christopher Monnet by a jury on New Year's Eve, exactly two years after the crime was committed, Jerrin Hickman received a sentence of 25 years to life at a hearing on Monday.

If tax Measures 66 and 67 pass, tens of thousands of jobs will leave the state. But if tax measures 66 and 67 don't pass, our entire economy will collapse. That's at least according to the opponents and proponents of two tax-increasing ballot measures to be decided by voters this January. About the only thing that will prove anyone right in their predictions is the implementation – or not – of the two measures.

A spike in fatal domestic abuse cases in Oregon and Washington has triggered a regional drive to toughen legal penalties, reporting requirements and outreach to vulnerable victims suffering in the home...

After being convicted of murdering Christopher Monnet by a jury on New Year's Eve, exactly two years after the crime was committed, Jerrin Hickman received a sentence of 25 years to life at a hearing on Monday.

ORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon state troopers say they were encouraged by a drop in the number of arrests on impaired driving charges this New Year's Eve.
The police say the number of people accused in Oregon of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was down by a third...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- With the beginning of 2010, a three-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in Oregon's territorial sea is expiring.
Environmentalists say they will push the Legislature to adopt a permanent ban...