Don’t send Mike Bellotti his kicker. He doesn’t know how to use the one he has.

[December 5th, 2007]

Monday, Dec. 3, was a professional development day at Portland Public Schools, meaning teachers were supposed to be in training starting at 8 am. So what was Benson High School teacher Bill Diss doing in Southwest Portland until noon? Diss, a leader for the anti-abortion group Precious Children of Portland, was staging a protest with pictures of fetuses. Their target? Walsh Construction, a potential contractor for the developer of the new Planned Parenthood clinic, an abortion provider, in North Portland. Diss, a tech teacher, says he took a personal day Monday. The district says management will determine whether that’s proper.

Portland attorneys for Guantánamo prisoner No. 940, Adel Hamad , who’s been held in Cuba since 2002, have damning new evidence against the U.S. government. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, an experienced California lawyer, spent six months in 2004 and 2005 assigned to the board that conducted hearings on detainees’ status. In a new 18-page declaration, Abraham condemns the reviews, calling into question the experience of administrators in charge of the hearings, among other things. The declaration is available online at scotusblog.com/wp/?s=hamad+adel.

Portland Art Center may keep its home in the Goldsmith Building. PAC exec director Gavin Shettler had until Dec. 1 to prove he could raise the $26,000 in back rent owed to landlord David Gold (see “Curtain Call,” WW , Nov. 16, 2007). Shettler hasn’t raised the money yet. But he’s gotten a helping hand from the family foundation of local philanthropist and art lover Henry Hillman Jr. The foundation has offered a $20K matching grant for funds generated from art sales during PAC’s current show through December. Shettler says that, plus a constant stream of donations, will help to keep his org in its current home.

Ah, the holidays…when your mind turns to being a drunken ass at the office party. But we’re here to remind you that there is actually something good you can do this month . Donate to our annual holiday Give!Guide , which features 49 local nonprofits that could each benefit from whatever money you can donate. As of Tuesday, readers had donated more than $100,000. To give—and to see all the cool prizes you can get for doing so—go to wweek.com/giveguide .

Scott W. Ballo, a longtime spokesman for Democratic political campaigns and former communications director for Oregon’s Economic and Community Development Department, pleaded guilty last week to three misdemeanor charges relating to child pornography found on his state-issued laptop in 2004. The delay in resolving the Marion County Circuit Court case stemmed from the difficulty of confirming the ages of those portrayed in the images. Ballo was sentenced to 60 months supervised probation, with restrictions on computer use and interaction with children. He must also register as a sex offender . His attorney, Larry Matasar, was unavailable for comment.

Support your local corporate titan: U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) is sponsoring a bill that could save his benefactors in the footwear industry $2 billion in import tariffs—but it’s really all about the children . The Affordable Footwear Act, brought to the Senate by Smith and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on Nov. 15, is backed by Nike, Columbia Sportswear and industry groups claiming that protective tariffs on imported footwear burden low-income families who buy their kids’ shoes at Wal-Mart and Payless ShoeSource. Of course, it’s uncertain whether shoemakers would pass on any of the bill’s tariff reductions to consumers. But it’s clear Nike is Smith’s third-largest campaign contributor in this election cycle, with company affiliates having given him $37,400 as of Oct. 29. A Smith spokesperson says the bill removes an outdated, regressive tax “that serves no current purpose.”

The Housing of Authority of Portland has answered City Council’s call to buy the Grove Hotel in Old Town-Chinatown and provide 70 units of affordable housing. The authority will buy the hotel for $1.8 million and be reimbursed by the city for the purchase price and all rehabilitation and renovation costs. The council is committing about $5 million for the project, $1 million from the Portland Development Commission and a float loan of $4 million from a Community Development Block Grant.