A Good Time to Invest in Washboards: Tent city “Hoovervilles” pop up all over California.

Safe! Hard-fought national land conservation bill passes, preserving thousands of acres around Mt. Hood and elsewhere in beautiful, beautiful Oregon.

“Friends” and Foes: Is Pakistan helping the Taliban fight American forces in Afghanistan? Our government thinks maybe.

The English at Fault? NEVER! Britain investigates whether its MI5 agents were complicit with torture in Guantanamo.

Supersize That Coke for Me: Hillary Clinton admits that the U.S.’s “insatiable demand for drugs” is partly to blame for increasing Mexican drug violence.

Open Books: At the end of February, the Oregon Historical Society axed its entire library staff and shut down the research library. But now the library will reopen to the public for 12 hours a week.

Whoa Doggie: PETA gets in legal trouble for comparing animal abuse to the Holocaust.

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.