The young male, tracked with a GPS unit, is believed to be the first gray wolf in California in decades, raising hopes that the endangered species may once again thrive there.

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Wildlife Activists Follow Lone Wolf’s Trek Into California

In Oregon, to create geothermal energy.

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Scientists to Pump Water Into Volcano

The minimum wage increases in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington will be 28 cents to 37 cents an hour.

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8 States to Raise Minimum Wage

A new study finds that atheists are among society’s most distrusted group, comparable even to rapists in certain circumstances. Psychologists at the University of British Columbia and the University of Oregon say that their study demonstrates that anti-atheist prejudice stems from moral distrust, not dislike, of nonbelievers. Read full article > >

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Study: Atheists distrusted as much as rapists

L.S.U. decimated Ole Miss to remain undefeated, and Oklahoma and Oregon are both struggling to find an offensive rhythm.

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The Quad: Live Analysis: College Football Saturday

Some football players at the University of Oregon are in the school’s American Sign Language program, where they’ve learned that fans’ use of the “O” sign might be misread.

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American Sign Language Program Attracts Oregon Football Players

The unique cycling event in the city of Portland, Oregon

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VIDEO: What is zoobombing?

At Texas, Oregon demonstrations.

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Dozens Arrested at Occupy Protests

PORTLAND, Ore. — Dozens of anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested Sunday in Texas, where they clashed with police over food tables, and in Oregon, where officers dragged them out of a park in an affluent neighborhood. In New York and many other East Coast cities, it was a snowstorm that was making it difficult for demonstrators to stay camped out in public places. Read full article > >

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Occupy protesters arrested in Texas, Oregon; in many cities, it’s the cold they’re fighting

As far as health-reform boosters go, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber is among the most stalwart. “We want to show that health reform is something real, that it actually works,” he said. “Oregon is a place that can actually make it happen.” His state has aggressively implemented the health overhaul Congress passed last year, taking more than $100 million in federal funding to do so. Read full article > >

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Some states seek flexibility to push health reforms further

Tina Chovanec knew that moving to the D.C. area from the Pacific Northwest would entail some lifestyle changes. Shrinking her commute to under five minutes was not one she expected. Chovanec didn’t have a job lined up when she and her husband, Stephen, sold their house in Oregon and rented a condominium in the Village at Shirlington, a 15-minute bus ride from Stephen’s new job across Arlington in Crystal City. But she bested his travel time when she landed a job as a literacy educator with WETA, three blocks from their new home. Read full article > >

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Where We Live: Walkable, dog-friendly Shirlington

Conference realignment continues to turn college football into a nightmarish hell-scape that would make even Cormac McCarthy hide under his bed, drooling and begging for the end of days. Is there room under there for me, Mr. McCarthy? I realize this toothpaste is not going back in the tube. The time for sanity and careful planning is long, long past. Chaos is a foregone conclusion. Up is down. Black is white. Good is bad. Bad is worse. Read full article > >

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Conference realignment: Who, really, is better off?

Complaining of abdominal discomfort and chronic bronchitis, 22-year-old Toshia Johnson, an unemployed mother on Medicaid, went to a hospital emergency room in Bend, Ore., more than two dozen times in the year that ended in June 2010. She was never admitted to the hospital and used the ER for routine care because, she says, it’s near her home and the care was free. But in the first six months of this year, after entering a state-funded program designed to reduce unnecessary ER use by Medicaid patients in central Oregon, Johnson has gone to the ER just once, after breaking her tailbone. In the first half of this this year, ER visits by the 400 patients in this program have declined by more than half from the same period last year, saving Medicaid $1 million, officials say. Read full article > >

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Hospitals seek more ER patients even as Medicaid tries to lessen demand

SODAVILLE, Ore. — A small city in Oregon has kicked out its mayor for not showing up to work. The Albany Democrat-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/q6i2V5) that Sodaville replaced 35-year-old Brady Harrington with the city council’s president. The newspaper says Harrington missed council meetings in June and July, along with skipping three budget meetings. Read full article > >

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Small Oregon city dumps 2nd-term mayor for not showing up for work

When Mark Emmert was named NCAA president in April 2010, the natural question to ask was this: Who will he choose to emulate in his new role? We now know the answer. He is Don Vito Corleone. Earlier this month, Emmert called for a meeting of the five families — also known as the 50 university presidents — to discuss the seemingly out-of-control cheating going on in college football. With both schools from last season’s championship football game (Auburn and Oregon) joining Ohio State, USC and North Carolina in running afoul of NCAA rules, it was time to put an end to this war. Read full article > >

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Fixing college sports requires less talk, more action