Winners

1 Supporters of Portland Public Schools' Head Start program won big last week. Interim superintendent Diana Snowden suggested privatizing Head Start in her budget proposal, but after weeks of lobbying, parents convinced the school board to keep the program under the district's control.

2 Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Karin J. Immergut has accepted a six-month stint in Kenneth Starr's office. She refused to tell WW what her salary in the free-spending independent counsel's office will be, but she concedes it's more than she makes now. Immergut's current hourly pay works out to about $56,000 a year; salaries on Starr's ship range from $60,000 to $118,000.

3 It's been a big week for local musicians. Reed College composer David Schiff's critique of classical-music radio stations ended up on the front page of the Arts & Leisure section of the Sunday New York Times. At the other end of the musical spectrum, members of Thrillbilly learned that they won a Ralph Lauren contest for unsigned bands, meaning one of their songs will get national airplay in a Polo Jeans radio ad.

Losers

1 Even as the feds accuse Intel of being too powerful (the Federal Trade Commission is readying an antitrust suit against the high-tech company this week), the chip maker's domination may be waning. The New York Times reported this week that the advent of lower-priced microprocessors (less than $1,000) is fueling a startling challenge from Intel rivals like Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

2 Not only has former Portland school honcho Jack Bierwirth become the whipping boy for the district's funding woes, he now has to figure he got stiffed on the job as well. Bierwirth's replacement, Ben Canada, negotiated a pay package worth $200,000 for next year--a 50 percent raise from Bierwirth's package.

3 Oregon wheat growers andthe Port of Portland got smoked when Pakistan loosed its nukes last week. Portland exports more wheat than any city in the country, much of it soft winter wheat, which has traditionally gone to Pakistan under U.S. government subsidy programs. The wheat market is already glutted, and sanctions against Pakistan make it likely that the wheat will stay in elevators rather than going through the port and overseas.