BEND, Ore. – Today, April 14, at 6 p.m., the Obama presidential campaign will open an office in Bend, Oregon, bringing the total number of Obama offices in the state to eight.   “We are excited about the growing support for Senator Obama across this state. This office in Bend will give local residents an opportunity to play a more personal role in building the Obama campaign and reaching out to their friends, families and neighbors ... [full story]

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Obama campaign will launch an ambitious new field program across Oregon this week designed to empower volunteers to support the campaign with innovative internet tools.  The campaign will identify and train Obama Oregon Community Organizers (Obama OCOs) in an effort to assist supporters in reaching out to their friends and neighbors to talk about Senator Obama’s commitment to bringing change we can believe in to Washington. Today, the campaign is unveiling ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi returned fire Monday on U.S. President George Bush's criticism of her denying a vote on the Colombia free trade agreement.Bush showed he is "out of touch" with U.S. families by proposing to make permanent tax cuts "to the wealthiest people in America," Pelosi said in a statement. "That is one of the President's top priorities -- those tax cuts to the wealthy."Bush criticized the California Democrat's announcement last week ... [full story]

DETROIT -- Lawyers in the "straw donor" trial of lawyer Geoffrey Fieger agreed on six jurors in Monday's opening round of jury selection in Detroit.Fieger and partner Vernon Johnson are on trial in federal court for illegally contributing $127,000 to the 2004 presidential campaign of John Edwards.The jury is being culled from a pool of 40 prospects. The process resumes Tuesday.The Detroit Free Press said the only juror who was rejected Monday said he had ... [full story]

AKRON, Ohio -- Akron, Ohio, police say they are trying to determine if a weekend robbery at a college fraternity party is connected to a string of other holdups.Two men with a gun strolled into a party at Kappa Sigma frat house at the University of Akron and began relieving the revelers of their wallets."I blocked my wallet from him, then he pushed me up against the wall and put the gun between my eyes, ... [full story]

PITTSBURGH -- Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton told a gathering of manufacturers in Pittsburgh Monday U.S. trade laws need fixing.Clinton outlined her trade stance at a forum arranged by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which unveiled a set of proposals it contends would strengthen trade enforcement and crack down on China's unfair trade policies."We need solutions to fix our trade laws, build a strong manufacturing base, and stand up to China and say that unsafe ... [full story]

ROME -- Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi has swept back into power, winning a third term as Italy's prime minister, election results Monday showed.Berlusconi, 71, defeated center-left challenger Walter Veltroni by a wider-than-expected margin, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. Projections showed Berlusconi's coalition winning in the House by 45.9 percent to Veltroni's 39.1 percent, with similar margins in the Senate prompting Veltroni to concede in a phone call to Berlusconi, ANSA said.Berlusconi succeeds Romano Prodi, ... [full story]

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Canada's laws governing car theft and organized crime are being toughened, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Wednesday.He made the announcement in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which has the highest per-capita rate of car thefts in the country, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.Harper said at least 20 percent of vehicles stolen are taken by organized rings that remove vehicle identification numbers, and that many of the altered cars and trucks end up resold elsewhere in ... [full story]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A Canadian judge in Vancouver slapped three members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club with jail terms Monday for refusing to testify against another biker.David Giles, 58, was charged with cocaine possession and being part of a criminal organization. However, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie was forced to acquit him when the three witnesses appearing by a video link refused to testify, the Vancouver Sun said."Contempt of court strikes ... [full story]

MONTREAL -- A Montreal-area school board is to begin expanded emergency drills this year for nearly 130 other safety threats besides fire.The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board spent more than $200,000 and two years developing an analysis of about 130 situations that could threaten its schools, board Chairman Steve Bletas told The Gazette newspaper.This year, every classroom will have a detailed manual on safety procedures dealing not only with fires, but bomb threats, armed intruders ... [full story]