[April 11th, 2007] Pittock Mansion, eat your heart out. Well-placed buzz says Portland's own internationally famous Allied Works Architecture will build a showcase $7 million home for Portland businessman John E. Von Schlegell, managing principal of Endeavor Capital. The house, to be plopped somewhere on Southwest Davenport Street, will have killer views from Oregon City to Vancouver. Allied Works would neither confirm nor deny the rumor.

If U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio ( D-Ore.) feels a draft, it's because the Loaded Orygun blog wants him in the still-dormant Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Loaded Orygun raised $2,228 from 103 donors over Easter weekend for its "Draft DeFazio" movement. Loaded Orygun's new goal by this week's end is 225 contributors or $4,500. Sure, that's a pittance for a multimillion-dollar race, but imagine if people had a declared D to challenge U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). Meanwhile, an actual candidate will surface Wednesday, April 18, when Dem activist Steve Novick ("If I Ran," WW, Jan. 31, 2007) is scheduled to announce his bid.

The Russians have come. As an Oregon House committee this week considered two gay-rights bills (HB 2007 and SB 2), the Oregon Citizens Alliance's belief that the state's growing Russian community would be ripe for anti-gay activism ("God, Gays and Glasnost," WW, Feb. 7, 2007) proved accurate. Hundreds of shouting people in 50 buses from Russian-speaking churches converged on the Capitol steps before the committee hearing. Among the biggest concerns they expressed in their testimony: whether they'd be safe in a public bathroom if gays couldn't be discriminated against.

Scanning through campaign contributions in the May 15 election that asks Portlanders whether they want a stronger mayor shows the union-backed "No" side raising nearly $150,000—or roughly three times the business-backed "Yes" side. Here's who caught Murmurs' attention while we drilled beyond the big-bucks union and business donors: On the Yes side: $2,000 from Powell's Books king Michael Powell ; $500 from Metro President David Bragdon 's campaign account; $500 from Mayor Tom Potter's wife, Karin Hansen ; and $250 from Potter's chief of staff, Austin Raglione . On the No side: $2,000 from Dignity Village benefactor Lee Larson ; $200 apiece from former Commissioners Gretchen Kafoury and Charlie Hales; $100 from ex-city auditor and Portland historian Jewel Lansing. And downtown activist Irwin Mandel tells Potter to "shut up" himself ("As the Charter Turns,'' WW, Feb. 14, 2007) with a $195 donation to the campaign against a stronger mayor.

Murmurs was set to give city Commissioner Randy Leonard this week's "What next?" award for posting on blueoregon.com about getting an official song for Portland. But we put aside Leonard's penchant for Michael McDonald and Tower of Power when the latest breaking news came in from the Federal Register: Portland next month will host the National Tree-Marking Paint Committee. The confab May 15-17 at the Downtown Marriott will "discuss activities related to improvements in, concerns about, and the handling and use of tree-marking paint" by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Anybody else feel like singing, "I see a red maple and I want it painted black?"

WEB-ONLY MURMURS:

Some leftover dirt in the lawsuit WW wrote about last week ("Courting Disaster") detailing a neighbor's allegations against Clackamas County Deputy David Pownall: Larry Linnum's federal lawsuit alleging Pownall harassed and intimidated him also alleges Pownall told Linnum he got off on going to bars while on duty to "piss off patrons" to pick fights. And it alleges that Pownall loved transporting prisoners because he could scare them by telling them he knew a guy who would love to "make them his bitch.

" Pownall also purportedly dished that deputies have "each other's backs"—like the time he allegedly kept mum about a sergeant who had a blowjob in a Hagen's parking lot. Pownall didn't return two telephone messages seeking comment.

The death of Life magazine after 70 years might have many asking, "Who knew it was still alive?" But for some in the Portland area, the demise of the once-dominant photo journal merits a "Thanks for the (Recent) Memories" before dying for good April 20. As reported on wweek.com's WWire, in one of its last issues Life named the National Sanctuary of Our Most Sorrowful Mother—a.k.a. the Grotto in Northeast Portland—the "Most Serene" place in America. Alas, Life's annual "America's Coolest Churches" issue, which has a circulation of 1.5 million, won't reach your Portland doorstep. The mag is now just a newspaper insert available in Oregon only through the Albany Democrat-Herald and Corvallis Gazette-Times.