Within hours Tuesday after Gov. Ted Kulongoski named Ted Wheeler as state treasurer, a couple of others — including Salem's Jim Hill, who held the job for eight years — jumped into the race as filing closed for the May 18 primary.

There were no big-name, last-minute entrants Tuesday for the Democratic and Republican nominations for governor in the May 18 primary.

WASHINGTON -- Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden begged the federal government Tuesday for ``immediate and coordinated'' assistance to help Klamath Basin farmers and the environment cope with a drought of ``historic magnitude.''

The Oregon attorney general's office has put its complaints database online, meaning consumers can better research companies before deciding where to take their business.

The State Board of Higher Education will ask the Legislature for authority to let its campuses hire trained public safety officers with all of the powers of sworn police, but the board is not so sure it wants to let the officers pack guns.

As detectives work to solve the puzzle of why a trip to the dentist left 47-year-old Viktor Merezhnikov dead of a gunshot wound, investigators with the Oregon Board of Dentistry say the homicide has brought one of their longest-running cases back to life.

Sen. Margaret Carter, who retired from the Oregon Legislature last year, has filed papers with the Multnomah County Board of Elections to replace Chairman Ted Wheeler. Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed Wheeler the new state treasurer this morning.

In Michigan, where many enterprises are struggling to survive, the renowned University of Michigan is in the midst of a construction boom and hiring spree. Michigan State University, on the other hand, plans to lay off faculty and cut programs, blaming state funding that is lower than it was a decade ago. Flagship universities in other states are also prospering, while their lesser-known counterparts suffer from vanishing state appropriations. 

So, why not change the arrangement and require big-name universities to take responsibility for their own financing, leaving more state money to support the other state schools? As legislatures face their toughest budget year since the recession began, the idea of giving a few universities autonomy to control their own finances has some appeal.