300 million, 300 million and one, 300 million and two.

[October 18th, 2006] Longtime Portland progressive Dave Mazza is experiencing health complications from high blood pressure and sleep apnea. Formerly a private investigator, the 53-year-old Mazza since 1999 has edited The Portland Alliance, a monthly, nonprofit newspaper with a circulation of about 8,000. Mazza suffers from a buildup of fluids caused by an inability of the heart to maintain blood circulation. A tube inserted directly into his windpipe has helped Mazza, but it's also cost him over $73,000 in hospital bills . Much of that expense is covered by his partner Marjorie Elliott's insurance. But what's not covered is the estimated $400 to $500 a month for Mazza's in-home care. Mazza is accepting donations of help directly as well as through the Alliance office at 2807 SE Stark St.

The power struggle between City Hall and the Portland Development Commission is heating up. In a rare conference-call meeting Monday, the four PDC commissioners voted to make two major changes to a plan pushed by city Commissioners Erik Sten and Randy Leonard that would require PDC to spend 30 percent of its budget over the next five years for affordable housing . The PDC board voted to make 30 percent a goal rather than a hard number, and to average the 30 percent across urban renewal districts rather than requiring 30 percent in each district. "The commission has adopted a plan, and we're moving forward," says PDC spokeswoman Elissa Gertler. City Council is headed for a showdown with the PDC when it votes on its own version Wednesday, Oct. 18. "Their approach undercuts the entire measure," says Sten.

The president of a Portland-based substance-abuse prevention group was featured Monday in The New York Times' business section for her efforts to remove "Beer Pong" T-shirts from every Macy's and Bloomingdale's store in the country. Oregon Partnership president Judy Cushing was quoted objecting to a Macy's ad run in The Oregonian on Aug. 11 for back-to-school clothes that showed a shirt with the slogan, "Beer Pong Legend, Sink it and Drink it." After Portland's Fox 12 News covered the story, the shirts were removed from stores. Other local TV stations then covered the stores' decision. But The Oregonian never mentioned the controversy involving Macy's, one of its biggest advertisers.

Portland Public Schools Superintendent Vicki Phillips borrows a page this week from politicians' annual "State of the (Fill in the Blank)" speech. In Phillips' case, she'll deliver her remarks at what's billed as the inaugural "State of the Schools" luncheon Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 11:30 am at the Oregon Convention Center (admission is $40). Lest anyone accuse Phillips of going into "campaign war room" mode as ballots hit the mail for the district's local-option levy request, the event's purpose is listed as giving the community an opportunity to hear from the supe, who's still dealing with fallout from last spring's school closure talks, and for her "to look ahead to future challenges and possibilities," i.e., possible cuts if voters reject the levy.

^WEB-ONLY MURMURS:

What's in a name? For supporters of letting docs help terminally ill people die at a time and place of their choosing, a lot. Compassion & Choices is applauding a decision made last week by the Oregon Department of Human Services to replace the word "suicide" with "death" in all future reports under Oregon's Death and Dignity Act referencing "physician-assisted suicide." Says Kathryn Tucker, director of legal affairs for Compassion & Choices, of the more value-neutral terminology: "There is a dramatic difference between 'suicide' and the choice of a dying patient."

The state medical examiner won't have to give an autopsy report from a January police-involved shooting to a Portland lawyer ("Body of Evidence," WW, Oct. 11, 2006). A Marion County Circuit Court judge ruled last week against lawyer Craig Colby, who was seeking to open the autopsy of Dennis Lamar Young, who was killed by Portland Police Lt. Jeffrey Kaer. Colby believes the autopsy might show that the shooting in his Northeast Portland neighborhood, outside the home of the officer's sister, happened differently than the police version of events. But Judge Albin W. Norblad ruled that the autopsy report should remain confidential. Kaer was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a Multnomah County grand jury earlier this year, and departmental proceedings continue.