Separating the stuffing from the fruitcake.

Fantastic news! This week, new stats showed that life in Oregon is marginally less miserable than it has been of late! The Beaver State is no longer America's hungriest--there are now seven other states with higher near-starvation rates. And the Portland-Vancouver metroplex gained 7,700 jobs in October, surging like it hasn't surged since 1999, when, just coincidentally, George W. Bush wasn't president.

Nike may be all about fun and games, but give the Beaverton behemoth this: Phil Knight planned and executed his succession about as cleanly and efficiently as imaginable. Even if his successor--former SC Johnson exec William Perez--knows more about Raid than running shoes, Knight spared shareholders the lingering goodbye and uncertain future that many CEOs leave in their wakes.

Amid the punches, beers and insults flying about in last week's basket-brawl between the Detroit Pistons (and fans) and the Indiana Pacers, the national media missed one important observation: None of the Trail Blazers was there! Not one! Sure, former Blazers like Jermaine O'Neal and Rasheed Wallace (who, amazingly, was playing peacemaker) were there, but for the first time in recent memory, the phrase "thuggish basketball players" doesn't conjure up an image of the Portland team.

LOSERS

Your Tax Dollars at Work: The state Department of Agriculture took a $425,000 hit when a federal jury in Portland decided a couple geniuses at Ag had singled out an employee of Indian descent for termination. The ruling comes just a year after the department got dinged $1 million for discriminating against a Hispanic employee. The managers at the center of both bias suits are--wait for it--STILL EMPLOYED BY THE STATE.

A cracked metal-halide light in the gym at Lake Oswego's Bryant Elementary School scorched 60 hapless teachers with waves of menacing ultraviolet rays, causing nausea, temporary blindness and peeling skin. In Portland schools, halide lights without safeguards to prevent UV leaks are gradually being phased out. But in the meantime, students and teachers can always buy sunscreen.

Michael Miller, head of the regional branch of Goodwill Industries, got caught in a hailstorm of bad press when Portlanders learned that he earned a cool $785,446 in 2003--quite a nice chunk of change for a guy who sells clothes by the pound and broken eight-track players. Miller's is one of the nation's most profitable Goodwill organizations, employing about 1,700 mostly handicapped or disadvantaged workers, many of whom earn sub-minimum wage.

WWeek 2015