Winners & Losers

[March 14th, 2007]

WINNERS

• Oregon's lightly burdened corporations dodged a tax increase...again. A legislative compromise on a "rainy-day fund" proceeded last week without changes to the annual corporate tax rate, which remains a flat $10 fee for most companies.

• Timber!!! Not. More than 180 acres of old-growth trees (and their inhabitants) in the Mount Hood National Forest were spared when a judge ruled the U.S. Forest Service's proposed Slinky timber sale wasn't based on rigorous science.

• While we don't usually reward second place, we're making an exception for the Roosevelt High boys' basketball team (see "Rough Times at Roosevelt High," WW, Oct. 4, 2006). The Roughriders made their first state final in 58 years, losing the Class 5A championship Saturday to North Eugene High. (See pages 15 and 22 for more.)

• Graphite weapons of mass instruction—No. 2 pencils —are poised for a comeback. On Monday, state education officials confirmed glitches in Oregon's computer-based system for testing schoolchildren and announced the return of pencil-and-paper tests.

LOSERS

• No "profile-in-courage" award for Sam Adams. The city commissioner announced he would vote no on a May 15 ballot question to strengthen the mayor's job, just as two polls came out showing a tough slog for backers of that proposal.

• Portland blues fans lost 55-year-old local harmonica maestro Paul deLay to terminal leukemia. The large, moody and fiercely original bluesman was considered one of the country's finest. (See page 34 for more.)

• It's a hard-knock life for Portland criminals when crack officers are on their tails. Portland Police just arrested three men in a March 4 robbery and shooting at the Belmont 34 Grocery store. And they've caught up with two suspects in the 2002 killing of Asia Renee Bell.