Jackpots won, crackpots exposed

[October 26th, 2005] WINNERS

Fueling yard sales for generations to come, Swedish furniture giant Ikea will open its first Oregon store in 2007. That means a much-needed boost to the long-dead CascadeStation development near PDX airport, and no more hauling ass up I-5 to Renton for Ikea-philes.

Medford's Steve and Carolyn West may have won the $340 million Powerball jackpot, but Oregon bean counters will also cash in from the bounty. State tax collectors will collect 9 percent of the $340 million prize, enough to pay a few teachers and put in a pool at the governor's mansion.

One week you're a loser, the next you're a winner. Just ask Oregon's mushroom hunters, who move out of the Losers column now that a federal judge has ruled the U.S. Forest Service shouldn't have shut down 'shroom gathering and Christmas-tree cutting in national forests.

LOSERS

In the long-running bait-and-switch operation surrounding the aerial tram from OHSU to Homer Williams' waterfront dreams, the city now tells taxpayers that skyrocketing steel prices have again pushed up tram costs from $40 million to $45 million. That's triple the original budget from three years ago.

From the statehouse to the Big House in record time: A judge sentenced former state Rep. Dan Doyle (R-Salem) to 10 months behind bars last week for living off his campaign contributions—and lying about it.

Health nuts and picky 3-year-olds both lose with this nutritional double-whammy: Portland-founded Gardenburger has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the Wonder Bread plant in Lakewood, Wash., will close in December. The latter means no more squishy PB&Js in the Northwest.

Fact-checking, shmact-checking. The Oregonian's The Edge column reported two urban myths as God's honest truth in last Tuesday's Living section. In case you're wondering, that lady didn't win a lawsuit after slipping in a puddle of soda-pop she threw on the ground.

CORRECTION: Last week's Winner item on Portland school custodians screwed up in describing their replacements. The replacements hired three years ago are union members. WW regrets the error.