News At Friday night's mayoral candidates forum at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus on North Killingsworth Street, there was...well, at least there was food. Naw, it wasn't that bad. Just predictable. Not much energy. The forum was moderated by KOIN anchor Ken Boddie and hosted by the Urban League. The seats were filled largely with middle-aged black people—unlike the candidates on stage, ...   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 There are many reasons too hate this season's American Idol. Eventually I hope to discuss that. But, right now, I have one big gripe: Selma Oregon's Kristy Lee Cook. In a show jam-packed with way too many seasoned pros, who look to this show as their last chance at music superstardom, Kristy Lee Cook really takes the cake. It's sad, really. And nothing was sadder than what she said to ...   More

News (Image: Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images/La trahison des images, 1928-29) The Regional Arts and Culture Council's candidate questionnaire, with candidate responses posted on their website, is perhaps the single most revealing document produced by Portland's City Hall races, so far. We offer a selection of responses, with WWire's own helpful (read: fabricated) translations of candidate-speak. ...   More

News The Jeff Merkley U.S. Senate campaign has outdone Willamette Week with a Willamette Week-style video mashup -- to highlight opponent Steve Novick's pause heard 'round the blogosphere. [vimeo 903044] It's based on the paper's endorsement interview with the Democratic Senate candidates from earlier this month, so we can claim some credit for its cleverness. Right? Maybe? Possibly? Is Ralph ...   More

News Today's WW endorsement video comes with a teaser: Check out tomorrow's Willamette Week for a story sparked by our interview with Oregon secretary of state candidates Kate Brown, Rick Metsger and Vicki Walker. Candidates for Secretary of State: Kate Brown, Rick Metsger, Vicki Walker Thanks to Portland Community Media for the fine video work. For video of more WW endorsement interviews, tune ...   More

News Chris Stamm reports from a late screening of late Pacino: 88 Minutes Twenty interminable minutes into this wheezing folly, renowned forensic psychiatrist Jack Gramm (Al Pacino in Crayola Peach skin) gets a phone call from the “bad voice”—that familiar pitch-shifted garble of thriller villainy—and learns he has 88 minutes to live. The mangy remainder of the film will ...   More

News When we reported last week that Portland mayoral candidate Kyle Burris was arrested and charged with threatening to bomb IKEA, the police report was withheld as "classified" info. Well, that report apparently has been declassified, because WWire just obtained a copy. Burris, an unemployed 21-year-old English major at Portland Community College, has declined to comment until the case is completed. ...   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 First, a correction of sorts: WWire just reported that mayoral candidate and "life-long Democrat" Sho Dozono had only donated $500 to Republican causes. That was wrong. We forgot to run his companies...and that the Secretary of State's tricked-out new campaign finance database doesn't go back that far. Duh. The correct figure is more like $14,300. That includes contributions Dozono made, in his own ...   More