No more "sweet deal" jokes about Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey. The state ethics commission last week cleared the commish of conflict-of-interest allegations (see "Sweetheart Deal," WW, July 5, 2006) raised over her actions involving a company her husband works for and the former Martha Washington Hotel on Southwest 11th Avenue.

The University of Portland women's soccer team refuses to be "roadkill'' in this year's NCAA championship tournament. The Pilots have advanced to the quarterfinals this Friday, Nov. 24, against UCLA even though the NCAA made the Pilots defend their 2005 title by playing this year's tourney games away from Portland.

Heads up, Hillsboro! Plane lovers and daredevil pilots got a lift with the announcement that the Oregon International Airshow will return next Aug. 11-12. That decision about the aerial stunt show comes despite a deadly plane crash into a home last year.

Even the animals are coming home for the holidays. A seal attacked by a pit bull on the Oregon Coast in September is returning to the wild after gaining more than 35 pounds since police found the seal with the dog in the back of a van that cops had pulled over.

LOSERS

There's snow in the Cascades, but Mount Hood Meadows is hosed for the time being. Oregon Highway 35, the main road to the resort, isn't tentatively scheduled to reopen until Dec. 15 after being closed by a washout two weeks ago.

Right up there with those who steal candy from babies is the loser (or losers) who broke into Free Geek Friday night and ripped off valuable computer equipment the nonprofit would have used to help more poor people get their geek on.

After 16 years moonlighting as a standup comedian, Portland Police Detective Willie Halliburton was poised for his big break. But The Oregonian reports that Mayor Tom Potter said Halliburton couldn't star in a police reality TV show because it would hurt the Police Bureau's image. Potter says his decision has nothing to do with when he was police chief in the early '90s and two cops were on ABC's American Detective.