News According to a post on the Portland Mercury's site, a ticked-off City Auditor Gary Blackmer exploded at the Merc's Matt Davis in City Hall, telling him "I think you're despicable" and "fuck you." What drove the mild-mannered auditor to profanity? Davis says it was a disagreement over a "no comment" line in one of his stories, but we suspect Blackmer may have been inspired by a new movie in which ...   More

News Okay, you're almost there. Less than two hours of staring intently at the computer screen and moving your mouse hand around, and you're home free. Let us help: BLOGS: Out in the Portland blogs, Metroblogging is talking about a class-action suit filed here against one of the biggest ticket scalpers, and Lefty Lane slaps KATU for cutting John Edwards out of its presidential poll (thanks, Jack Bog). ...   More

News I know Portland is bike-friendly, but when I heard about a plan for nighttime bike escorts I thought we'd moved to a whole new level. Well, turns out, it's "not that kind of escort!" according to a post by the the Wildebeest Bike Militia on the Portland Indymedia website. The group is looking for feedback on its plans for a bike escort service that will meet up with cyclists who don't want to ...   More

News 10:09 pm Manu Chao played in the background at the Democratic Super Tuesday shindig, and WWire was looking for a political candidate who would admit who they support in tonight's race: Obama or Clinton. In our search to find an honest person running for office (ie, one who would admit whether they support Obama or Clinton), WWire finally struck success. Her name: Cyreena Boston, candidate ...   More

News If you're looking to take your date to new heights this evening, head on over to Bluehour for a perch on one of two white and pink be-ribboned homemade swings specially built for two. The swings have been installed near the front door and in the private dining room just for the night, and will hover above a mound of rose petals and shimmer in candle light all evening. The idea of a private moment ...   More

News About time he opened his mouth: Over at portlandfoodanddrink.com, anonymous food blogger/mastermind Food Dude has named chef Troy McLarty's Lovely Hula Hands as his Restaurant of the Year 2007. The Dude praised current location of Hula Hands as "self-assured, understated, non-trendy, and just top-notch in all respects." The Dude also nodded to two of his runner-ups, Pok-Pok and Toro Bravo, ...   More

News Today, Slate bravely charts the "stupidest bike lane in America"—a block-long dead-ender in Los Angeles. Portland has about 170 miles of bike lanes, some of them stupid. Nominations? The Slate video is short and funny—unlike the City of Portland's four-and-a-half minute training video for our new bike box, also available for viewing over at BikePortland.org. [youtube WntSobDhVlI] Not ...   More

News Jeff Merkley's campaign for U.S. Senate showed signs last week it has a quickening pulse and a sense of humor. In response to the unveiling of a new Republican-backed website (pictured above) that calls Merkley a tax-and-spend liberal, the Portland Democrat's campaign responded gleefully. What's there to be gleeful about, you ask? A lot, a representative of the Merkley campaign said at the ...   More

News While nosing around on MySpace this morning (that is, working), WWire turned up this profile: Hey, isn't that Mayor Tom Potter's wife, Karin Hansen? And—wait a sec—what's it say down here? Holy hell! It says she's single! Does Potter know? Fortunately, perhaps, Potter and Hansen are traveling in China until next week. So we called Potter spokesman John Doussard for an explanation ...   More

News OK, so WWire is a little late to this. But last month over at The New York Times a Portland geohazards expert talked extensively with science writer Andrew Revkin about the potential impact of a big earthquake on Oregon's aging public schools. The expert, Yumei Wang, made a second appearance on May 27 in the print edition of the paper. An excerpt from that sobering article, "Turning Schools From ...   More