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Jordan Schnitzer Wins Sole Custody of His Son
Portland businessman Jordan Schnitzer has won a round in his court battle to retain sole custody of his son. WW first reported this spring that Schnitzer was being sued by Cory Sause, the biological mother who provided eggs for a surrogate pregnancy. Schnitzer had a written contract with Sause saying he would not accept just any baby—he'd only take a boy. On Aug. 8, The Oregonian first reported that a Multnomah County circuit judge upheld the agreement. "This ruling reassures thousands of Oregonians and hundreds of thousands of Americans annually," Schnitzer said in a statement, "who rely upon these time-tested documents that allow many to fulfill their dreams of becoming parents." Sause's attorney, Thomas McDermott, says she will continue the legal battle. "Ms. Sause is deeply disappointed by the court's ruling," McDermott says, "and will continue to fight for her son to know that she is his mother and that she cares for him."
The Oregonian Praised and Buried by John Oliver
The Aug. 7 episode of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver prominently featured the work of The Oregonian in a 19-minute segment on the demise of print media. Oliver's HBO series demonstrated how it relied on former Oregonian reporter Harry Esteve and his 2013 series on the Oregon Lottery to produce its own segments about state-sponsored gambling and addiction. Oliver then recounted the cutbacks made by The O's owner, New York-based Advance Publications, and Esteve's departure from the paper. "So his work bolstered our lottery piece, and now the lack of his work has bolstered this journalism piece," Oliver cracked. "So you can't say that we don't use every part of the Harry Esteve." Esteve, who's now in the communications department at Portland State University, says it's "really flattering" to get the HBO spotlight. "But the thing I like most: It inspired a really good conversation about the state of newspapers." Watch the video here.
Homer Williams Wants Ibrahim Mubarak to Run Homeless Campus
The Portland City Council is scheduled to vote this week on the early stages of developer Homer Williams' proposed 400-bed, $100 million homeless shelter on the Northwest industrial waterfront. Williams' proposal has been criticized by both the business lobby and homeless advocates. But on Aug. 8, Williams said he'd recruited two big names to run the campus: Right 2 Dream Too co-founder Ibrahim Mubarak and Union Gospel Mission executive director Bill Russell. Mubarak says he hasn't agreed to run anything. "I'll be interested," he tells WW, "if it gets passed and the houseless community has at least 70 percent say in running the intake facility—with pay." Mubarak is perhaps the city's most prominent champion of self-run homeless services. More than a decade ago, he founded the city's first authorized homeless camp, Dignity Village, then launched Right 2 Dream Too, the city's most prominent camp, on an empty lot in Chinatown.
Willamette Week