News After months of protests opposing the new Planned Parenthood facility in Northeast at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Beech Street,, one group is coming out to demonstrate in support of the future health center. The newly-formed Portland Feminist Action League is holding two events in the next couple of weeks to voice opposition to the anti-abortion protesters that swarm NE MLK Blvd. almost ...   More

News Yesterday, after WW went to press with this story about Commissioner Randy Leonard's allegation that someone in the police bureau had spread damaging information about his daughter, Leonard's latest nemesis, Chief Rosie Sizer, released the results of an internal affairs investigation prompted by the commissioner's complaint. Sizer's summary of the report is meant to close the lid on this story, ...   More

News Last year, I wrote a story about an Oregon prison inmate named Greg Kellcy, formerly known as Greg Johnson. Kellcy provided WW with what he said was the real story behind the mysterious 1989 murder of Oregon Department of Corrections director Michael Francke. Many people, most notably Portland Tribune columnist Phil Stanford and Francke's brother Kevin—but also legislators and colleagues ...   More

News Portland Public Schools' student achievement committee looked at Jefferson High School's progress today, just a couple of weeks after announcing the closure of the Young Men's Academy at Jeff. Here are some highlights from the meeting: • Jefferson may pilot a program to extend the school day to 6 p.m. to provide "real opportunities and choices for kids," some of whom may not be served ...   More

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News Sometimes national reporters parachute into Oregon, rip off local reporters, butcher the story and leave readers no better-informed than they were previously. Other times, they come and do a brilliant job of evoking our strange state and packing a story with killer quotes — as is the case with this story in today's Los Angeles Times about Silverton Mayor-elect Stu Rasmussen. Here's ...   More

News Long Island's Hempstead Union Free School District decided last night to rename Ludlum Elementary School for President-elect Barack Obama. And the change takes effect immediately, according to a receptionist in the Hempstead school-board office today. Which makes Strong Island WAY cooler than Portland (by virtue of its swift action alone.)* You might recall Portland Public Schools is in the ...   More

News Is no neighborhood safe from jolly, boozehound elves? Just as the Portland Cacophony Society announces Santacon 2008 is evading police notice of its public drunkenness by moving from downtown to Hillsboro, a group called Nopdxanticon has declared it will hold its own red-clad pub crawl on Dec. 6 in North Portland. The crawl will start in Kenton under the Paul Bunyan statue at 1 pm on Dec. ...   More

News Now that the federal government has decided infrastructure spending may provide a path out of the recession, the proposed $4.2 billion Columbia Crossing Bridge may be more than just a dream for the Departments of Transportation in Oregon and Washington. Since rolling out the initial Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in May, project organizers — namely the two states' transportation ...   More