Your Weekly Stimulus Package.

[January 28th, 2009]

• Former Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey, who left office this month after being term-limited, has been hired as associate publisher for Portland-based El Hispanic News. That might raise eyebrows if you recall that a nonprofit run by her new boss, publisher Clara Padilla Andrews, got a $450,000 loan and other perks from the county in 2006, with Rojo de Steffey acting as liaison (see “Citizen Clara,” WW, June 28, 2006). Rojo de Steffey on Tuesday denied any quid pro quo. “You guys are crazy,” she told Murmurs. “I shouldn’t have to get this fucking upset. I’m not even a county commissioner anymore.”

• Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who manages the Portland Police Bureau, had his corner office in City Hall outfitted recently with bulletproof glass. The decision to do this follows a recommendation by the police bureau, which considered Saltzman’s office  “vulnerable,” according to Brendan Finn, his chief of staff. It also came long before the horrific shooting outside the Zone on Saturday Jan. 24. The cost of the renovation? Unclear, but in the low four figures.

• TriMet is renaming the Yellow Line MAX Station at North Interstate Avenue and Rosa Parks Boulevard the “Rosa Parks Station” in honor of the civil rights icon who died in 2005. The rechristening will take place at 10 am on Wednesday, Feb. 4, Parks’ birthday. (She would have been 96.)

• Oregon got some fresh air in the Obama administration’s first week. The new prez signed a memo Jan. 26 that lets Oregon and 13 other states apply tougher tailpipe emission standards to cars licensed in their states. Under President Bush, states—led by California—had sought tougher regs than the federal standards. The Bush administration rejected those efforts on the grounds that letting states manage their own rules would generate too much variance in environmental rules for automakers. Says Rem Nivens, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski : “We’re pleased President Obama is taking steps to address the issue.”

• It’s been an irregular couple weeks for Watch Your Step Productions, the Portland-based maker of faux fecal faves “Doo Drops,” a chocolate gag gift shaped like Lassie’s leavings. Co-owner Scott Brunton is steaming because the World Forestry Center has said his company can’t appear in a ChocolateFest the museum is sponsoring this weekend. “Because of their highbrow, elitist attitude, we can’t participate,” Brunton says, adding that organizers thought his company’s products were tasteless. Center marketing director Jennifer Kent says it’s untrue the center thinks it’s too good for Brunton’s shit, citing a waiting list backed up with previously invited vendors who had RSVP’d.

CORRECTION: WW incorrectly reported the date last week that Mayor Sam Adams and Beau Breedlove ate dinner at the Lotus Cafe (“Why Adams Confessed”). The correct date was June 2, 2005. WW regrets the error.