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WINNERS
1. Major League Baseball fans who want
to see a team in Portland got some help from state Rep.
Ryan Deckert, who introduced a bill to use $200 million
in lottery-backed bonds to renovate Civic Stadium. Deckert's
plan is timely: The Montreal Expos may soon be looking
for a new home.
2. Franklin High teacher Bill Bigelow took
a lot of heat from the Oregon Department of Education
earlier this school year. Bigelow publicly questioned
the draft version of a social studies test students must
pass to obtain a Certificate of Initial Mastery. His criticism
was vindicated in a big way last week when ODE suggested
that social studies tests not be included in the CIM requirements
until 2003.
3. The folks at Portland Arts & Lectures
are still trying to find a replacement for Lion
King director Julie Taymor, who canceled her February
gig. Word is that the literary lecture series is pursuing
a deal that would bring author Salman Rushdie to town.
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LOSERS
1. Contract negotiations for the 950-member Portland
police officers union took a turn for the worse last
week. The union was already on the defensive about its
request for a 40 percent pay boost (over three years).
Then news leaked out that some Central Precinct officers
are being investigated for scamming overtime pay. Finally,
Mayor Vera Katz announced her plan to use $4.4 million
in surplus city funds for schools rather than pay raises
for cops. "We're disappointed that the city can find money
for other groups while they're telling us they don't have
any," says union secretary-treasurer Tom Mack.
2. Former Trail Blazer Cliff Robinson will
have to dish out the $517,000 he owes on a Connecticut
home built for him while he played ball in Portland. A
federal appeals court ruled Monday that Uncle Cliffy had
to make good on the home loan despite his claims that
his former agent conspired with lenders to defraud him.
3. The Institute of Medicine handed opponents
of medical marijuana a major bummer last week when
it issued a report showing pot is effective in treating
pain, nausea and poor appetite. The report is especially
galling to Rx-pot critics because White House drug czar
Barry McCaffrey commissioned the report to debunk pot's
benefits.
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