Break out your surge protectors.

[January 17th, 2007] Break out your surge protectors.

WINNERS

If you want Oregon's political voice to have more national oomph, the way is simple: Be fruitful and keep multiplying. A new analysis of U.S. population growth shows the state could gain a seat in the U.S. House and an additional vote in the presidential electoral college, if current trends continue through the 2010 Census.

Sorting through state regulators' ruling Friday on PGE's rate hike request could give you a headache, but here's the good news: The Public Utility Commission listened to ratepayer advocates and cut general rates by 1.4 percent. Other adjustments will cause a slight overall increase for PGE's 793,000 Oregon customers, but the PUC gave the utility far less than it wanted.

Nike burnished its corporate image last week by announcing a $9 million donation to the Portland, Hillsboro and Beaverton school districts. Nice thing for the Swoosh to do with its extra cash, given how the state Legislature has handed Nike and other Oregon companies a corporate tax break, and exempted it from annexation by wannabe tax-grabbers in Beaverton.

LOSERS

A Portland Fire lieutenant declined to press charges against a restrained man whose body struck his boot three times last week. But while the lieutenant may be trying to put it all behind him, the city's investigation continues.

Picture it: Ron Chinn's mouth with the caption "insert foot here." Chinn, a Multnomah Education Service District board member, was quoted in The Oregonian as calling special-education students served by the countywide agency "a bunch of slabs, slow, low and belows."

Jim Jeddeloh needed nearly two years to read the handwriting on the wall. That's how long it took him to finally resign as chair of Portland's Citizens Crime Commission. The litany of reasons is long ("Crusader Failure" WW, July 20, 2005), but they include drunken driving, charges of spousal abuse and very public wife-related troubles with Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto.

Trekkies are setting their phasers to "stunned" after U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) sullied the sci-fi series. Did Wu violate the prime directive? No, but he did compare Klingons to Republicans in a speech last week on the House floor.