INTEL - LOSER

The Amalgamated Forces of Law & Order miffed meth entrepreneurs this week, with emergency state rules restricting the sale of cold medicines slapping a clamp on speed's raw materials. Now, you must show ID when buying products containing pseudoephedrine. But since buyers' names aren't recorded, no one knows if the move will stop ever-resourceful Homo sapiens tweakerus.

Portland Public Schools bigwigs and teachers showed MultCo tax-haters that they can work together to slice health-care costs, agreeing to a new contract. The deal gives teachers raises but also makes them contribute cash to their health plans for the first time. Both sides hope the pact helps squelch the crusade to repeal the county's school-funding income tax.

The City of Portland mainlined a $4.9 million shot in the arm last week after winning a battle against Qwest. The phone company's defeat in its qrusade to dodge franchise payments will set a precedent for cases of its kind for other municipalities nationwide.

LOSERS

Whazzup, Intel? Lately, Oregon's biggest private paycheck mill can't seem to buy a break. Soggy sales have buffeted its stock, while its tech strategists seem to be perfecting their Little Red Riding Hood impressions. This week, the company scrubbed plans to launch an ultra-fast 4-gigahertz chip. While the Silicon Forest's anchor tenant sez it has a Plan B, analysts aren't so sure.

Democracy in peril! Registration numbers may be up, but some fear evildoers are screwing John and Jill Voter as Choice-a-Roni '04 comes down to the wire. First, a right-wing voter group operating in Oregon has been charged with trashing Democratic registration cards. Then, proponents of Measure 35--the medical-malpractice reform amendment--sent out propaganda disguised to look like the state's official voter's guide.

Portland Public Schools board member Derry Jackson found himself in the news this week--his estranged wife got a judge to slap Jackson with a restraining order. Jackson's wife, Bernel Michael Jackson, claims her husband told her to improve her behavior, or "they'll find my body in the Willamette." Whoa.