Local voters will face choices in primary races for governor and U.S. senator in May, but not for local seats in the state Legislature.

KLAMATH FALLS (AP) - Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he expects to sign a drought declaration for the Klamath Basin next week, but it will not be enough to keep farmers from hard times.

MEDFORD (AP) - A 54-year-old man has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for growing marijuana valued at about $6 million on his rural property in southern Oregon.

BEND (AP) - Hundreds of central Oregon residents have made the trip out to Dry Canyon east of Bend to see a Rocky Mountain goat that's taken up residence there and is often visible off Highway 20 East.

ASHLAND (AP) - All first-grade students in Ashland School District will begin learning Spanish next school year and continue with lessons each year through 12th grade.

STEVENSON, Wash. (AP) - About 40 ground searchers plus Coast Guard and Washington National Guard aircraft have completed another day of looking for a 24-year-old Portland woman missing on a hike near Bonneville Dam in Washington's Skamania County. The search will resume Wednesday.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A Sacramento jury has found an Oregon company liable for $24.3 million in damages after an employee accidentally ran over his daughter with his big rig.

EUGENE (AP) - Police arrested a 31-year-old man accused of trying to start a fire at a Eugene church.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans and their lawmakers are dramatically out of sync on health care, with large majorities of people looking for bipartisan cooperation that's nowhere in sight.

PORTLAND (AP) - A Texas man has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of interference with a flight crew on a plane traveling from Kansas City to Portland.

LOS ANGELES - Fans of "The Cove," the environmentally themed film that won the feature documentary Oscar Sunday night, will be happy to know there's more where that came from. A new television series about the controversial dolphin trade in Japan, tentatively titled "Dolphin Warriors," has been green-lighted by Animal Planet.

PORTLAND (AP) - Nurseries in Oregon and California teamed up to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, seeking to overturn a new regulation they say unfairly blocks shipments of their plants to South Carolina.

PORTLAND (AP) - Consumer complaints to the Oregon attorney general's office jumped 13 percent last year, with phone companies leading the list for the fourth straight year, Attorney General John Kroger said Tuesday.

VERNONIA (AP) - State police say a woman survived a crash in which her car traveled off a 40-foot embankment and landed in a creek.

Oregon State Fire Marshal Randy Simpson urges residents to check their smoke alarms when changing their clock to Daylight Saving Time Sunday.

Although official visits to see the lambs at the Oregon State University Sheep Center ended March 3, it doesn’t mean that lambing season is finished. As Democrat-Herald photographer David Patton discovered Monday afternoon, it’s in full swing. There are plenty of lambs still to be seen  throughout Linn and Benton counties. The two youngsters above were enjoying the springlike weather, racing through a field off Three Lakes Road south of Albany, while another preferred nuzzling with its mother in the sunshine. Although the sun had the lambs in a playful mood Monday, many mid-valley residents woke up this morning to frosted windshields and even snow flurries, reminding everyone that winter isn’t over. The National Weather Service said more snow isn’t likely as daytime temperatures rise into the 50s, but there is a 50 to 80 percent chance of rain predicted through Friday. Spring doesn’t officially arrive until Saturday, March 20.

Charges filed against James Brawley in connection with an Albany shooting early Sunday were reduced Monday at his arraignment in Linn County Circuit Court.

PORTLAND — Gov. Ted Kulongoski has named Multnomah County Commission Chairman Ted Wheeler as state treasurer, succeeding Ben Westlund, who died Sunday of lung cancer.

Superintendent Maria Delapoer will continue to head Albany schools through 2013.

People arrested are innocent unless proven otherwise in court. Initial charges often change as a case progresses.