SECRETARY OF STATE

PORTLAND, Ore. — Knute Buehler first dabbled in politics hoping to shake-up the prevailing two-party system. Now, two decades later, the Bend surgeon has instead embraced one of the big parties he used to fight, becoming the Republican Party’s latest hope for breaking Democratic dominance of Oregon state offices. Buehler is challenging first-term Democrat Kate Brown to be Oregon Secretary of State. His fundraising prowess and disciplined campaign have helped him turn a typically low-profile race into an uncharacteristically energetic battle. By Jonathan J. Cooper. Story moving Friday.

Member Exchanges that moved for the weekend as part of the ongoing series on outdoor activities in the Pacific Northwest:

OUTDOORS-HECETA HEAD

FLORENCE, Ore. — We’ve stopped to take photos at Heceta Head Lighthouse many times over the years. Until recently, though, we had never explored the beautiful trails from Heceta Head to Carl E. Washburne State Park a few miles to the north. By Graham Kislingbury of The Corvallis Gazette-Times and Albany Democrat-Herald.

AP Member Photos.

COUNTING COHO

GOLD BEACH, Ore. — Toni and Larry Bates had an epic day on the lower Rogue River bay, but you would never have guessed it by looking at their cooler. One fin-clipped coho salmon lay dead and ready for the barbecue, unlike the 16 wild coho the couple caught and released to get that one legal-to-keep hatchery fish. “Caught wild fish all day, and it wasn’t just us,” says Larry Bates, of Ukiah, Calif. “I bet there were 700 coho caught and released today. ” The Rogue bay is in the midst of an excellent fall coho season, and those trolling anchovies in search of the rare hatchery fish continue to ask when they will join other Oregon coastal anglers in getting a chance to keep a wild coho despite its status as a federally protected threatened species. By Mark Freeman of the (Medford) Mail Tribune.

AP Member Photos.

Other Member Exchanges moving for the weekend:

GHOST TOUR

SALEM, Ore. — The trolley exhaled to a stop, and the doors cranked open. With water streaming down his face and a street lamp as his spotlight, Dawane Harris began to speak. He and his wife, Denise Harris, are taking ghost stories to another level. They want their audiences to experience the sights and sounds of some of Salem’s most rumored haunted spots. The Salem Ghost Tour is one of their newest spooky endeavors. By Cara Pallone. The Statesman Journal.

AP Photo.

SINGING PROFESSOR

CORVALLIS, Ore. — It’s a Tuesday morning, and Kevin Ahern is entertaining a room full of college students in an introductory class to biochemistry and biophysics with a voice that carries and a lesson that is positively lyrical. The class is full of young students, many of them in the second week of their first year of college. They have many reasons to be nervous; their course work is among the most difficult at the university. But Ahern, a senior instructor of biophysics and biochemistry at Oregon State University, has found a way to calm jittery nerves. Music. By Joce Dewitt. Corvallis Gazette-Times.

AP Photos.

The Associated Press

Portland, Ore.