Your All-Encompassing Guide to the Week (Except for the Election)

[November 3rd, 2004] WINNERS

Sure, the Oregon National Guard may be stuck in living hell without the right war-fighting equipment. But at least 60 Minutes cares--the iconic CBS Sunday-night show plumbed the plight of Oregon's citizen-soldiers this week, highlighting the gear shortages that embattle our Baghdad battalion.

It may be like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. But Mayor Vera Katz's re-routing of $400,000 from the police budget to a multipronged approach to chronic homelessness and crime in Old Town is a rare bit of good news for the central city's armpit.

Portland cops on Thursday nabbed a third suspect in the murder of prominent lawyer Douglas Swanson and appeared well on their way to cracking his murder--the third time an apparent prostitution customer in Portland has been killed in the past three years. Granted, the alleged murderers look like some of the dumbest crooks around, but the quick turnaround of the high-profile case made the bureau look good.

Saturday was hella-kind to Oregon college football: The Ducks whacked the hated Huskies; OSU laid waste to Arizona; and, finally, Portland State, the team our town forgot, scored a major Division I-AA upset, snuffing fourth-ranked Montana.

LOSERS

Oregon's zombie army of meth heads could be heading for its Waterloo. Starting Nov. 15, retailers will hide cold remedies containing meth's prime ingredients behind the counter and demand identification from buyers. Worse, the White House drug czar wants a crackdown on the trade in crank's precursor chemicals.

As if things weren't murky enough already for repeatedly busted Blazer Qyntel Woods, the (alleged) dog-fightin' forward got smacked again. Once the animal-cruelty case gets sorted out, he can look forward to a five-game suspension for violating the NBA's substance-abuse policy. Woods, already suspended indefinitely, stands as good a chance of playing in a Blazer uniform in the future as owner Paul Allen.

Eight thousand renters scraping by on Section 8 vouchers in Multnomah County face some pretty frightening rent increases this coming year. Local housing officials, facing $700,000 in federal cuts, will fashion a plan likely to tack an extra $11 to $20 onto many poor folks' rent.