Cindy Sheehan has quit, but we go on.

[May 30th, 2007]

The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee is twisting the arms of several Oregonians in its hunt for a D other than Steve Novick with the cojones to take on U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in 2008. On that list: retired Air Force Gen. Merrill McPeak of Lake Oswego, state Treasurer Randall Edwards and Portland developer John Russell . McPeak has told WW he has no interest in elected office. ("I don't suffer idiots," he said.) Edwards has repeatedly said he's not running. Russell confirms he was tapped but isn't exactly charging out of the gate. "I was hesitant to even call you back,'' Russell tells Murmurs.

Last week, The Oregonian's ed board hammered a bill sponsored by state Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) that would let the state claim gift cards' unused balance after three years. Although such unused balances are a windfall for retailers and more than 20 states have already done what Westlund proposes, the O editorialized that the measure would "rip off consumers." Interesting coincidence: Last year, the state audited the O for compliance with abandoned-property laws, which require companies to give unclaimed checks to the state. The audit found the O had "never reported unclaimed property," and was sitting on $424,000 in such checks from the years 1999-2002 (the paper didn't provide information for 2002-2006). The O turned over the dough and is now in compliance. Says editorial page editor Bob Caldwell: "The audit had no bearing on the editorial. We were unaware of it."

Say goodbye to abuse of non-compete clauses in contracts for Oregon workers (see "Unreleased Rage,'' WW, May 23, 2007). A new deal limits non-competes to salaried managerial employees who make more than the median income for a family of four (currently about $62,000) and limits the duration of non-competes to two years. The bill still must clear both the Senate and House, but Commissioner Dan Gardner of the state Bureau of Labor and Industries says opponents have signed on to the measure. Says Gardner: "It protects the people at the lower end of the wage scale who've really been hurt by non-competes."

For a class of Jefferson High School students trying to explain missing grades to their parents, there's a new excuse: It's called "my teacher never returned my homework." Last month, students discovered two boxes of ungraded assignments in math teacher Yaw Osei's classroom. When third-quarter report cards went out in April, Osei's students got "NGs" for "no grade," according to a letter from Macarre Traynham of the school's Academy of Science and Technology. The students will get semester grades based on their fourth-quarter work, but Yollanda Johnson, whose grandson was in the class, wonders if he might have performed better if he'd had appropriate updates on his progress. District spokesman Matt Shelby says he can't comment on personnel matters but notes the principal has options for helping Osei in the classroom.

Self-proclaimed "community wireless activists" Caleb Phillips and Russell Senior released their report last week dispelling the idea that MetroFi's new free wireless network is performing up to snuff. Among the report's claims: Only 58 percent of randomly selected locations within 500 feet of an active access point actually offered a live connection. That's far less than the 90 percent rate originally mandated by the city. Phillips and Senior figure there's a "2 in a billion" probability MetroFi's network actually works like it's supposed to. So...you're saying there's a chance? MetroFi says its network usage has tripled since December and "takes all feedback into consideration." The report is available at unwirepdx-watch.org/files/report.pdf.

WEB-ONLY MURMUR:

Combining the political tumultuousness of Argentina circa 2001 and the ugh factor of Jessica Simpson and John Mayer's on-again-off-again canoodling, Portland State University's student government re-declared its old new president the new new president last week. Junior Rudy Soto won the student-government election April 20. But his victory was quickly challenged by his opponent Patrick Beisell, who claimed Soto was ineligible for the job. After a series of contentious meetings, Beisell was named the true victor on May 15. On May 22, the student government's elections board renamed Soto the rightful president. Now back to class—may we suggest Elections 101?