News  Former University of Oregon track star Ashton Eaton won gold in the Olympic decathlon yesterday, taking the coveted title of "World's Greatest Athlete." Maybe you heard.There is little we can add to the praise being heaped upon this prodigious Duck. But let's see if we can't take some shine off the moment with a little trademark WW negativity, eh?Because earlier this week, time-waster website ...   More

News Look for some unhappy Portland Democrats after today's announcement that PGE Park will be renamed Jeld-Wen Field when the Timbers begin play in Major League Soccer.Not because there's any great sentiment for PGE, the state's largest utility and a subsidiary of Enron when it hung its name on the old Civic Stadium a decade ago.But rather because of the political activities of Jeld-Wen's founder, the ...   More

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News It's way too early to call the Oregon governor's race. But since we are sitting around, bored of Wolf Blitzer, we'll offer this bit of analysis: Despite the Republican wave rolling over America, supporters of Democratic candidate John Kitzhaber have reason to be cautiously optimistic. Why? As of 30 minutes ago, almost 100,000 more Democrats than Republicans had voted in Oregon. Assuming most ...   More

News Update, 11:25 pm: Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley, leading a tight race against Democrat John Kitzhaber, walked downstairs at the Rose Garden after 11 pm tonight to tell his supporters that final results would probably not be known until tomorrow. But he said those final results will show him the winner. "Sometimes good things just have to wait," Dudley declared to a throng ...   More

News Seven weeks ago, Steve Marks, a longtime aide to Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber, was worried about the strength and financial advantage Republican nominee Chris Dudley was displaying. "I was nervous," Marks said in a sweltering Hilton Hotel ballroom Tuesday evening at Kitzhaber's election night party. Shouting above Bruce Springsteen, Marks added that such concerns were new ...   More

News Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley will meet reporters at 7:15 in downtown Lake Oswego, where he will issue a statement. Dudley has led his opponent, Democrat John Kitzhaber nearly since results began being released at 8 pm last night but the large number of Democratic ballots remaining to be counted in Multnomah County make a Kitzhaber victory virtually certain. The Oregonian and ...   More

News In a long-awaited decision, the U.S. Tax Court ruled yesterday against a Wisconsin homeowner who claimed a $76,000 income tax deduction for donating to his local fire department the right to burn down his house for the department's training purposes. The underlying circumstances in the Wisconsin case mirror those in the case of Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley, who, as WW reported ...   More

News We had a pretty civil discussion yesterday (thanks everybody) in response to the question of what advice you'd give Gov.-Elect John Kitzhaber heading into his term next year. So in that spirit (and because it's a slow-news Friday), let's try something similar today with Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley. Dudley didn't mention politics in his concession remarks the evening after ...   More

News For much of the gubernatorial campaign, Republican Chris Dudley enjoyed a massive fundraising lead over Democrat John Kitzhaber. Dudley tapped connections from his 16-year NBA career, large out-of-state donors as well as wealthy Oregonians and their companies in impressive fashion for a first-time candidate. One local forest products company, Stimson Lumber, gave the rookie candidate $510,000. ...   More