Taste the fruit of the grapevine.

[February 2nd, 2005] The hottest rumor in Salem? Republican House Speaker Karen Minnis is warming up for a run for governor next year (press aide Chuck Deister says it's news to him). Second-hottest rumor? Democratic guv Ted Kulongoski might not stick around for the challenge. With the departure of longtime political aide Steve Schneider, wags in the rotunda wonder if Ted really has the stomach for four more years in Mahonia Hall.

To avoid losing his license to practice, local lawyer and Ponzi-schemer Guy Rencher has resigned from the Oregon State Bar. Rencher may still face criminal charges for his part in a globe-spanning operation that cheated thousands of investors out of more than $200 million ("Scammed," WW, June 19, 2002).

Good news for still-bitter Ducks fans: Check out the bill introduced by state Sen. Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton) to ban the University of Oregon and Oregon State University football teams from participating in the Bowl Championship Series , the rotating system of bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar) that the National Collegiate Athletic Association uses to determine a national champion. Many UO fans, including Deckert, went berserk in 2002 when the BCS system denied the Pac-10-champion Ducks a spot in the Rose Bowl in favor of Nebraska -a team that had lost its final regular-season game. Still sore, Deckert wants the Pac-10 to go back to having its champion play the winner of another conference in the Rose Bowl.

More competition for old-fashioned public schools: The Scio school board approved a proposal last week to create a statewide virtual charter school called Connections Academy, combining the charter concept with home schooling. Scio, which is southeast of Salem, would collect 10 percent of the $5,000 that the state sends to local districts for every student and pass the balance along to Connections. Students from all over the state will be eligible for the program.

They don't call us Pornland for nothing. Sarah Dougher, news editor of Just Out, and Joshua Berger, publisher of Plazm magazine, are curating an exhibit at the Big Apple's Museum of Sex. Focusing on the use of sex in advertising and design, the NYC exhibit includes a 125-square-foot wall display with racy rock poster art and adult album covers by noted designer Art Chantry. The Portland duo became visual sexperts with the 2003 publication of XXX: The Power of Sex in Contemporary Design.

WW alum Paul Koberstein, editor of the Cascadia Times, just won a coveted $5,000 Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism for an exposé on slippery arrangements at the federal agencies that are supposed to protect America's fisheries. "The judges applaud the craft and commitment that makes this work of independent, investigative journalism stand out in a field of outstanding contenders," said award judge Joan Konner. "It is an example of how a small, underfunded, independent publication can make a difference."

CORRECTION

In last week's story "Anybody But Texas Pacific," we stated Oregon Mutual Utility would be eligible for low-priced power from the Bonneville Power Administration. It would not. WW regrets the error.