[June 25th, 2008]

WINNERS

1. John Kroger , the Democratic nominee for state attorney general, wasn’t quaking in his loafers last week after learning the name of his Republican opponent: John Kroger. No Republican ran in the May primary, which let Kroger get the GOP nomination when 13,000 Republican voters wrote in his name. “Woo hoo!” we wish Kroger had said. “Gimme a terrorist fist jab!”

2. You don’t have to say you love me… All U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) needs to do to win the fawning praise of a certain Portland daily—not the Tribune—is say he has a plan. For evidence, see the June 22 Oregonian editorial on Wyden’s proposal for preserving Oregon’s old-growth forest and logging industry. The plan, as the paper notes, isn’t a bill yet. Take off the kid gloves, O.

3. The brand plays on. When Nau closed up its shops earlier this year, it looked like the progressively minded sportswear company was all but kaput. But as reported on WWire, Nau finalized a deal on Tuesday, June 24, to have like-minded Santa Barbara-based outdoors outfitter Horny Toad buy the bulk of Nau’s assets. The aim: to relaunch Nau as a separate—but very equal—brand sometime later this summer.

LOSERS

1. Instead of dumping more of his fortune into his increasingly pointless quest for the 5th District Congressional seat, Republican nominee Mike Erickson might give the money to charity instead. An Oregonian investigation this week provided even greater certainty that Erickson, who claims to be strongly anti-abortion, paid for a woman’s abortion in 2000.

2. Oregon’s faith healers got more unwanted notoriety following the death of another child in the Followers of Christ church. Neil Beagley, 16, died after shunning medical treatment for a blocked bladder. Clackamas County officials will probably not press charges against his parents, as they did against the parents of Beagley’s 15-month-old niece, who died at home in March from untreated illnesses.

3. Former Multnomah County prosecutor-turned-all-star defense lawyer Randy Ray Richardson—a.k.a. “R Cubed”—is in trouble again (see “Randy Richardson was a hotshot criminal defense lawyer. Now he needs one,” WW, May 28, 2003). After being acquitted in 2005 of bribery and witness tampering, Richardson faces new charges of aggravated theft and deception for allegedly helping cheat an elderly woman out of the title to her home.

4. Portland’s free wi-fi service, MetroFi, died last week after a long illness. No one attended the funeral. The Score missed the Evite, because we couldn’t get a signal.