By Jayson Jacoby

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The fire, as near as Julia Biggerstaff could tell, was eight miles from her home.

But she was still worried.

Biggerstaff lives on Rye Valley Lane about a mile up the valley from Interstate 84.

The area is in southeastern Baker County between Weatherby and Huntington, about 45 miles from Baker City.

Biggerstaff had taken Rhino, her Rhodesian ridgeback dog, to the vet’s office in Weiser, Idaho, on Wednesday.

She was driving home about 5 p.m. when she saw smoke billowing from the parched hills south of the freeway.

“I thought, ‘that’s up near me,’ ” Biggerstaff said.

Dennis Richardson, a longtime state lawmaker, believes incumbent John Kitzhaber is vulnerable

By Jayson Jacoby

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Dennis Richardson walks into the interview with his back straight, seemingly unaffected by the weight of 32 years of Oregon political history on his shoulders.

Richardson, a Republican state representative from Central Point, hopes to accomplish what no other member of the GOP has done in Oregon since the late Vic Atiyeh in 1982.

Richardson wants to be Oregon’s next governor.

To earn that office in the state Capitol in Salem, Richardson, 64, has to contend not only with a generation of Democratic dominance but also with the man who is responsible for more of the party’s victories than any other candidate.

Richardson is trying to deny John Kitzhaber an unprecedented fourth term as Oregon’s chief executive.