News Attorney General John Kroger's office sends out a lot of press releases that have varying degrees of interest to the general public. But today's information [PDF] could save Oregon consumers money and keep them from getting fleeced. Kroger's staff compiled a list of the 20 "worst" charities, using as the criterion the percentage of revenue those charities actually devote to their ostensible ...   More

News Yesterday, Attorney General John Kroger released his list of the 20 "worst" non-profits operating in Oregon. The absence of any Oregon-based non-profits from the list could generate concerns Kroger is going easy on local outfits. But here's a story from the (Eugene) Register Guard about a fascinating lawsuit Kroger filed against the natural foods company making Yogi Tea that suggests Kroger's ...   More

News Attorney General John Kroger today announced a settlement with the Dannon yogurt company, which has apparently been making unsupportable health claims, some of them through these TV ads by actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Here's one of the ads: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j9nRJgX5iQ[/youtube] And here's the statement by Kroger's spokesman, Tony Green: Attorney General John Kroger ...   More

News As The Oregonian reported earlier today, a Marion County grand jury decided not to charge former Assistant Attorney General Brent Foster with a crime for his conduct in a Hood River County case. Foster, formerly the director of Columbia Riverkeeper and one of Attorney General John Kroger's highest-profile hires after Kroger won election in 2008, greeted the Marion County announcement with this ...   More

News Gov. Ted Kulongoski ratcheted up the pressure today in his desire to see a thorough investigation of the Oregon Department of Energy's contracting practices. Last week, the Oregon Department of Justice completed its investigation into one ODOE contract that involved Gov.-elect John Kitzhaber's longtime companion Cylvia Hayes, finding it "could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any state ...   More

News Attorney General John Kroger today rejected Gov. Ted Kulongoski's request to hire an independent lawyer to investigate contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy. Kulongoski, whose term ends Jan. 10, made that request yesterday. The governor cited a "potential conflict of interest" that could affect the AG's office to conduct such a probe. It remains unclear what that conflict ...   More

News For a guy leaving office in less than a week, Gov. Ted Kulongoski is pretty busy. After Attorney General John Kroger on Jan. 5 rebuffed Kulongoski's request that the governor be allowed to hire an independent counsel to investigate contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy, it looked as though Kroger had effectively blocked the governor. And that meant Gov.-elect John Kitzhaber, ...   More

News The former interim director of the Oregon Department of Energy, Mark Long, has filed a tort claim notice [PDF] with the State of Oregon, threatening to sue for what his attorneys term the "warrantless search and seizure, without probable cause" of his work computer. The tort claim notice, which WW obtained yesterday under a public records request, increases the likelihood that controversy will ...   More

News Although much of today's focus in Salem is on the start of Gov. John Kitzhaber's historic third term, some unfinished business relating to Attorney General John Kroger's investigation of contracting practices at the Oregon Department of Energy is also inching toward resolution. As WW reported last week, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who leaves office today, has hired retired Malheur County judge Frank ...   More

News Oregon Attorney General John Kroger jumped into the discussion today over whether Portland should rejoin the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force. Kroger said this morning on OPB's Think Out Loud that it's better if "local police are at the table”when the feds are sorting through threats. The City Council is scheduled to decide on Feb. 24 whether to rejoin the task force, a question raised ...   More