Dr. Know Paper or plastic? —Nick G. You’re clearly a wiseass, Nick, but I do admire your brevity. I’ll assume, charitably, that you’re not just flinging linguistic poo at the answer monkey and you re   More

Murmurs Former State Rep. Brent Barton (D-Clackamas) has moved out of his old legislative district so he can run for the seat being vacated by former House Speaker Dave Hunt (D-Gladstone), who’s running    More

News Proponents of banning single-use plastic bags in Portland will testify in front of City Council Wednesday morning and stage a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday afternoon. Mayor Sam Adams -- who supported a ban or a tax in 2007 as a commissioner, then backed away from the ideas in 2009 amid the recession -- is keeping mum about his latest idea for moving Portlanders away from the petroleum-based ...   More

News Portland City Commissioners today adopted a compromise resolution in support of a proposed statewide ban on single-use plastic bags [PDF]. The joint effort with the Oregon Legislature follows a recent push by Mayor Sam Adams (who voted on today's resolution via telephone because he was ill) to enact a Portland-specific ban on the petroleum-based bags. In response to Adams' local campaign, ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams has backtracked on his pledge to bring an anti-plastic-bag ordinance to City Council, conceding to state lawmakers' wishes that he instead support a non-binding resolution calling first for an Oregon-wide ban. In a memo signed July 22 [PDF], the mayor says he will bring an ordinance banning the petroleum-based bags in Portland only if the proposed state ban fails in the 2011 ...   More

News State lawmakers this afternoon met with Mayor Sam Adams about his efforts to ban plastic bags in Portland, a move that could upset plans in Salem to enact a statewide ban. The 12:30 pm meeting at City Hall doesn't appear on Adams' schedule, which suggests it was pulled together relatively spontaneously; a spokesman for the mayor did not respond immediately to a request for comment on what prompted ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams offered no new details today about his promise to ban single-use plastic bags in Portland. But he did announce he will have a draft ordinance describing that plan by the end of the week. That new promise satisfied opponents of the petroleum-based product who staged a rally outside City Hall this afternoon after anti-bag activists testified in front of City Council this morning. The ...   More