IMAGE: TOM OLIVER

Romain's rules? In a legislative-committee hearing last week, powerful beer-and-wine lobbyist Paul Romain casually noted that a restaurant of which he's part owner (the Paragon in Portland's Pearl District) buys wine directly from out-of-state wineries. By law, that wine is supposed to go through distributors. Romain's admission on Feb. 19 came in front of several Oregon Liquor Control Commission employees, including Donna Vandall of the OLCC's technical services group. Vandall tells Murmurs she heard Romain admit his restaurant was breaking the law. Did Vandall report the violation to her agency? "No, but neither did any of my colleagues," Vandall says. Romain was unavailable for comment.

Some people attending the Portland Schools Foundation's annual roast last week emerged with two impressions: state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), a business-friendly Dem, used her podium time to establish dibs on the 2010 gubernatorial sweepstakes. Second, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer's red power tie (instead of his standard bowtie) reflects a sartorial clue that tipped more than a few insiders into thinking the Hamletesque Portland Dem is de-geeking himself to challenge U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore) statewide in 2008. Blumenauer spokeswoman Hillary Barbour acknowledges her boss "started mixing" up the neckwear last fall. So, will Earl (pictured here sporting a turtleneck last Sunday) run? Says Barbour: "That's not a question I can answer."

Watch your wallets, Nike. Just a few weeks after the shoe giant announced a $9 million donation to area school districts, one of the beneficiaries—Portland Public Schools—has begun a $15 million private fund-raising campaign to redo its playing fields, tracks and bleachers, according to school-board member Doug Morgan. Nike spokesman Bob Applegate says the company hasn't yet committed cash to the cause. But sources tell Murmurs that Nike, which lobbied the 2005 Legislature for a corporate tax break that cost schools money, has already participated in talks about the new fundraising, and put up $50,000 to study the issue.

Think you made a lot of noise while cavorting on Mardi Gras? Well, city Noise Control Officer Paul Van Orden found a couple of higher-profile noisemakers while patrolling downtown around midnight. One was S.D. Deacon, the contractor working on the lower levels of Macy's facelift. Van Orden heard loud crashes coming several blocks away from the Macy's work, a late-night noise problem that Van Orden says has been longstanding with S.D. Deacon. Also slapped for a noise violation that night was the Greek Cusina, which Van Orden says chronically pumps out bass at up to four times the legal limit. Both businesses received $300 noise citations.

Eleven new laptop computers worth $22,418 were stolen from Jefferson High School over the Presidents Day holiday weekend. Guards with First Response, a private security company that's paid $108,000 a year by the Portland Public Schools, "found nothing suspicious" when they responded Sunday, Feb. 18, to an alarm and discovered a broken window and door propped open with a hat, according to a Portland Police Bureau report. But when classes resumed Feb. 20 after the holiday, Jeff staff members found a broken window in the door leading to the school's art classroom where the new computers had been stored. The investigation continues.