Separating the Gonzagas from the Alabama - Birminghams.

[March 24th, 2004] WINNERS

Despite crowd estimates ranging from 6,000 to several times that size, peace marchers and cops were both on their best behavior Saturday for the one-year anniversary of our country's "re-branding" of Iraq.

Oregon's beleaguered public schools breathed a sigh of relief when the balance sheet for this school year turned out to be a little better than expected. Thank all the kids who were predicted to enroll, but didn't.

Portland State University is crowing--and deservedly so--about racking up the largest single donation in its history. The school on the South Park Blocks clocked an icy-cold $8 million from an alum, to be dedicated to PSU's burgeoning engineering programs and a shiny new building.

LOSERS

After a distressing absence, we welcome YOUR PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS back to our Losers column! This week brought word that youthful Blaze-dawgs Darius Miles and Qyntel "Einstein" Woods got mixed up in a parking-lot brawl at the Northeast strip club Exotica late last Wednesday night. We love a good strip-club parking-lot brawl as much as anyone, but come on--didn't you guys turn over a new leaf, or something like that?

It's never a very good time for Oregon's thousands of meth-heads, but the news this week added to their woes. Meth-related deaths jumped 20 percent in 2003, fueling an overall increase in drug fatalities at a time when heroin deaths held level and coke ODs were on the wane.

Hundreds of innocent elderly Portlanders apparently fell prey to a nefarious pyramid scheme, losing almost $6 million in the process. According to a claim filed with the National Association of Securities Dealers, a Tigard company lured PDX residents into a high-risk scheme promising exorbitant rates of return.

The editorial page of the Northwest's largest newspaper doesn't often go on a jihad, but The Oregonian called on Sunday for the recall of the four Multnomah County commissioners (all but Lonnie Roberts) who put civil rights before public process in OKing same-sex marriage.