By ARTHUR GREGG SULZBERGER

Who would guess that a calorie-conscious McDonald's patron would be better off ordering four regular hamburgers (1,000 calories) than one large chocolate shake (1,160 calories)?

Or that picking up a blueberry muffin and large latte from Starbucks costs the same in calorie-burning treadmill hours as a five-piece order of extra crispy drumsticks at Kentucky Fried Chicken (both about 800 calories)?

»www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia···&coll=7

By Jennifer Seeker

Oregon health leaders have confirmed the first signs of the West Nile Virus in the state this year.

A pool of mosquitoes in Baker County tested positive for West Nile.

Oregon's wet winter should have discouraged grasshoppers this spring.

But experts in Eastern Oregon say the hopper numbers in Union and Baker counties are alarming.

VANCOUVER, Wash. – How much would you pay to sample one of the world’s finest coffees?

Customers at River Maiden Artisan Coffee in Vancouver are paying nearly $15 per cup of Panama Esmeralda Especial Reserva. story continues..

By JULIA SILVERMAN

PORTLAND, Ore.—Crook County Middle School science teacher Michael Geisen was in the middle of a lesson the other day when he got a message from the school's front office: The White House was on the line.

He was terribly sorry, Geisen responded, but could they call him later? He was with his seventh-graders, and they mattered more. story continues..

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by Dylan Rivera

With two new lines nearing completion, the Portland-area's rail system will add 23 miles of track and grow by 50 percent in the next year and a half.

The Westside Express Service commuter rail line will open this fall, connecting Wilsonville and Beaverton. A year later, the MAX Green Line will connect Clackamas Town Center to the Gateway area and a new north-south transit mall in downtown Portland. story continues..

By STEVE QUINN

It's going to take a lot more than stunning scenery to draw filmmakers and tons of their expensive equipment to Alaska. It's going to take money, and Alaska is willing to put up $100 million.

The question of how and when the first people came to the Americas is one of the great mysteries of archaeology. A find near Paisley in Lake County appears to have supplied an important piece of the puzzle.

More than 600 earthquakes have rattled the central Oregon Coast in the past 10 days, too small and too distant to be felt onshore or cause damage, but anomalous enough to puzzle the scientists who recorded them.

It’s not uncommon for such earthquake “swarms” to occur along the Cascadia subduction zone — the spot where the San Juan de Fuca and North American plates interconnect.

PLUMMER, Idaho -- For sale: one gently used railroad tunnel, natural air conditioning, excellent storage possibilities.

A Tekoa, Wash., company is selling Sorrento Tunnel No.

A white killer whale—fin pictured here— was recently spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, sending researchers and their ship's crew scrambling for cameras.

"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it."

The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson—a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research ship—were conducting an acoustic survey of Pollock, a whitefish, near Steller sea lion haul-out sites.

Continues at: »news.nationalgeographic.com/news···ure.html

For a state known for its pristine forests, mountains and rivers, Oregon has a surprisingly small amount of land designated as wilderness.

Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the last major wilderness expansion in this state — when President Reagan signed the Oregon Wilderness Act, giving permanent protection to 930,000 acres.

(CBS/AP) Custom home builder Grey Lundberg shook his head at the charred remains of the $2 million dream house his company built with recycled waste wood and other environmentally friendly products.

The project earned a five-star "Built Green" rating, granted by a builder's group for making construction choices that help the environment. That effort was mocked by whomever burned down the house and two others early Monday. They left behind a sign that read, "Built Green? Nope black!"


»www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/···58.shtml

We've seen the highway signs that warn of falling rocks, and we've seen the ones that warn of moose crossing.

Now Howard Peterson of the Alaska State Troopers wonders if we need a new sign: Watch for falling moose.

story continues..

UPDATE: As of 8:30 Sunday morning, ODOT is listing Highway 138 as closed, starting 12 miles east of Glide through the junction with Highway 97. The highway is estimated to reopen Sunday, with no expected time listed.

By Craig Medred

Alaska could have a new international celebrity: a nearly 70-year-old retired school teacher who has spent the past two decades hiding from the public eye in an effort to conceal his intimate love affair with a large gang of black and grizzly bears.

After the existence of Charlie Vandergaw's Susitna Valley bear farm was revealed in the Anchorage Daily News last spring, the former high school wrestling coach decided to come clean with his unbelievable story.

British documentary filmmaker Jon Alwen spent 51 days with Vandergaw at the farm last summer. His hour-long documentary, which aired on television in Great Britain earlier this month, provides an up-close view of Vandergaw's life with a collection of black and brown bears that are treated more like, and sometimes behave more like, family dogs than bears.

Continues here: »www.juneauempire.com/stories/012···37.shtml

By MARY PEMBERTON

Daniel Buckingham points out features that come standard with his custom Alaska outhouse.

"This is sort of the basic," the 16-year-old says, standing in front of his 4-foot by 4-foot, nearly 7-foot high plywood and spruce outhouse with pitched, shingled roof.

LACEY, Wash. — Sure, Trevor was a dummy, but police want him back - and whoever stole the uniformed mannequin from a patrol car could face felony charges.

Trevor, outfitted with sunglasses and a uniform, routinely sat in a Lacey police car for a couple of hours at a time as a reminder to motorists to slow at key places in this town north of the state capital of Olympia. On Friday, police said, the driver's side window was broken and Trevor was nowhere to be found. story continues..

Put away that blackberry if you plan to drive south in the New Year. As of January 1st, it will be illegal to read, type, or send a text message from a wireless device if you're behind the wheel in Washington State.

If you're caught, you'll face a fine of $125 - although Bob Calkin with the Washington State Patrol says the new regulation is a "second citation," which means you can't be pulled over if texting is the only thing you're doing wrong.

Continues here: »www.cknw.com/news/news_local.cfm···ocal.cfm

By Taz Alago

The number of licensed fur trappers in Oregon has more than doubled for the 2007 – 08 trapping season. According to the ODFW, 1500 new licenses were issued above the roughly 1,000 already outstanding.