PDX passengers - LOSERS

Big Brother and his G-men haven't heard the last from Portland-area lawyer Brandon Mayfield. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled last week that Mayfield's challenge to the Patriot Act may go forward and that the FBI must disclose spying techniques and tactics leading up to Mayfield's mistaken arrest on terrorism charges.

Oregon's road and transportation projects will get their share of federal bacon, thanks to the state's congressional delegation hauling home $2.7 billion. The cash, part of a massive national transportation bill, includes $7 million for renovating Portland's Sellwood Bridge, pet project of Multnomah County Commish Maria Rojo de Steffey.

Old-school Portland Trail Blazers fans will see a familiar face this season with the hiring of former power forward Maurice Lucas as an assistant coach. Note to new-school Blazers: Don't even think about giving any crap to Lucas, a noted enforcer on the Blazers' 1977 championship team.

OHSU stem-cell researchers picked up a surprising new ally in U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a heart surgeon from Tennessee. Frist, a potential 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, broke with President Bush and the GOP right wing when he announced his support for a bill expanding the scope of embryonic stem-cell research.

LOSERS

Exiting Portland Development Commission executive director Don Mazzioti couldn't close one of his last deals. The Oregonian reported last week that the PDC denied Mazzioti's last-day $2,193 reimbursement request for a holiday "Management Team Event" at his private tennis club.

PDX passengers will be waiting in longer lines (or taking Amtrak) with news that the feds will cut about 30 percent of the airport's security screeners. Oregon's congressmen and senators (hey, they fly, too) promise a fight to get those screeners back confiscating cuticle clippers.

Michael Speck, the Portland Fire Bureau's senior facilities maintenance manager, got suspended for four weeks without pay for sliding some $85,000 in contracting work to his son's business. The investigation, begun after WW started raising questions, found Speck violated bidding rules. He'd better have gotten one hell of a Father's Day present for this.