News U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley came by our office last week for a chat. The first-term junior Senator is not up for reelection for two more years (The political blog Roll Call has suggested that he may be vulnerable) and, refreshingly, he seemed more interested in talking issues than to...   More

News This afternoon, if all goes according to plan, University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere will be told by the state Board of Higher Education that his contract will not be renewed. All, according to his legions of supporters, because he did his job.Since his arrival o...   More

News Hours after recently ousted University of Oregon president Richard Lariviere received cheers at the 116th playing of the Civil War, Governor John Kitzhaber issued an unusually blunt statement, backing the decision by the State Board of Higher Ed to release Lariviere on the grounds of bad behavior.In an affirmation of the board's decision to terminate Lariviere's contract (The actual vote will take...   More

News Ken Mieske, a racist skinhead whose 1988 baseball bat killing of an African-American man in Southeast Portland shocked and galvanized the city, and led to a civil trial that riveted the nation, died Tuesday, reportedly of complications from hepatitis C.  He was 45 and was serving his sentence at Oregon State Penitentiary.
Mulugeta Seraw was a 28-year-old Ethiopian immigrant and student at ...   More

News It's way too early for normal people who have balance in their lives to pay any attention to the mayoral race.  And then there are reporters. The primary is 10 months away and incumbent Sam Adams has not even announced yet that he will be seeking reelection. Still, here are some interesting (to us) details about the money that announced candidates Charlie Hales and Eileen Brady have raised.La...   More

News In our lengthy interview with Mayoral Candidate Charlie Hales, the subject of hiring bureau chiefs came up.  Without mentioning any names, Hales fired a shot at Mayor Sam Adams' January promotion of his chief of staff Tom Miller, to become the head of the Portland Bureau of Transportation.  The $150,000 job involves the management of 700 people and Hales thinks that the lack of a search ...   More

News  Next January, the sale and possession of shark fins will be illegal in Oregon.  House Bill 2838 passed the House and Senate and the Governor has signed the bill, which means that Oregon becomes one of a few states that will ban the Chinese delicacy from menus.Shark Finning, targeted in recent years by conservationists, involves slicing the dorsal fins off of the fish and tossing the sha...   More

News Oregon may soon join Hawaii and ban the sale and possession of shark fins, giving new energy to an environmental campaign that was galvanized by a story that appeared in WW last year. 
Late last month, Oregon's House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass House Bill 2838, w...   More

News Bob Ryan may want to wear a fake nose and glasses the next time he comes to Portland. 
The longtime sportswriter for The Boston Globe called Portland Timbers fans a "civic joke" on ESPN's "Around the Horn" because of last night's informal singing of the national anthem by the crowd at the    More

News  Nothing much to say, other than this gave us a late night chuckle, a necessary respite from an evening of Japan, nuclear rods, Glenn Beck and Qaddafi(courtesy ABZ):
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