Murmurs Portland Public Schools’ department for teaching English to immigrant and refugee students, already under state scrutiny for its performance, faces a new controversy. The department wants to shi ...   More

Murmurs Now that City Council has voted 5-0 to spend $20 million from the Bureau of Environmental Services on the Bicycle Plan for 2030, the question is where to spend the money in Portland. On that question ...   More

Murmurs The campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams started using paid signature gatherers last weekend. But that’s not the only news coming from the mostly volunteer group. Earlier this month, the campaign ...   More

Murmurs Commissioner Randy Leonard has a new plan to arm Water Bureau security guards. Using an obscure state provision, Leonard wants the guards to become “special” police officers, according to ...   More

Murmurs The Portland Development Commission is preparing to buy out some employees and lay offothers because the agency has few projects. PDC showed union reps draft plans this week and hope to finalize a pac ...   More

Murmurs Grant High School’s student newspaper reports that principal Joseph Malone, who is retiring at the end of this school year, wants every Grant student at school dances to take a breathalyzer ...   More

Murmurs Mountain bike advocates who hope to open Forest Park to more cycling face a contentious meeting with critics this week at City Hall. That’s because, in advance of the meeting Feb. 25, one member ...   More

Murmurs Usually a well-financed incumbent like senior U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) would only face token opposition. But with Dems playing defense after Republican Scott Brown’s upset victory last month ...   More

Murmurs Portland cycling advocates have correctly noted that building hundreds of additional miles of bike lanes over the next 20 years is cheap compared with other mega-transportation projects, such as the C ...   More

Murmurs Multnomah County wants to tax your smokes. During this month’s special legislative session, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham) will introduce a bill at the county’s request that woul ...   More