News The Atlantic has an interesting story online today about what latitude cops should have to search your cell phone if you're arrested.The story centers on a case currently being considered by the Oregon Supreme Court. In State vs. Nix, Albany cops in 2007 mined James Nix's cell phone for data without a warrant after arresting him on suspicion of dealing meth.Public defender Bronson James is arguing...   More

News State Rep. Lew Frederick entered the 2011 Legislature with a package of bills he hoped would respond to the six officer-involved shootings last year in Portland. Halfway through the session, Frede   More

News Police say a 46-year-old man who'd armed and barricaded himself in a southeast Portland home is dead after an officer-involved shooting early this morning. Police have released few details so far but said the man, Craig Boehler, had fired at Special Emergency Reaction Team officers from inside the home after police had responded to a family disturbance. Here's video of the scene from KAT...   More

News Portland Police this afternoon released the names of the four officers involved in the shooting of 34-year-old Marcus Lagozzino in Southwest Portland on Dec. 27. According to police: Officer Jamin Becker, a 2-year-veteran of the Police Bureau, fired a Taser one time. Officer Ralph Elwood, a 14-year-veteran of the Police Bureau, fired four rounds from a less lethal shotgun. Officer Sc...   More

News Despite a spate of Portland police shootings in about a month, the tone at tonight's Community and Police Relations Committee meeting was one of respect. The meeting was the third in a series on the Portland police's use of force, and "it took a lot of work in the last two years to get to this point," said Rev. Héctor López, a committee member. Gathered in the basement of the ...   More

News Here's your opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a potential $120 million project in Scappoose, and build a relationship at the same time with both the Portland Police Bureau and powerful state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose). In the waning days of Portland's annual budget process, funding to begin preliminary work on a proposed police training center got cut from about $2 million ...   More

News It turns out some of the medical workers I wrote about here (in the photo above, they were helping activists who had been sprayed with pepper-spray or hurt by police in the aggressive suppression of anti-war protests on the first day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul) are from a Oregon group called Portland Medics. According to the Medics, their members were arrested and at...   More

News Some new numbers are in. According to local media, 10,000 people were at the Capitol in St. Paul to protest against the War in Iraq during the Republican National Convention (lower than the 50,000 expected). As I mentioned in an earlier post, the vast majority of those 10,000 were nonviolent and civil. The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting on the “bands of protesters” wh...   More

News Wednesday, Sept. 17 marks the two-year anniversary of the death of James Chasse Jr., and the Mental Health Association of Portland wanted to be sure today that your outrage hasn't waned. Several association members spent the afternoon surrounding the Portland Police Bureau Central Precinct, drawing outlines of bodies and leaving a chalky roster on the sidewalk that lists the names of 12 men...   More

News Neil LaBute's latest effort to sabotage his career was screened after WW press deadlines. Just as well: Lakeview Terrace The most disheartening thing about Lakeview Terrace is not that director Neil LaBute has hired himself out to a limp, ludicrous exploitation picture, but that he has prostituted his sensibilities as well. On screen and (mostly) stage, LaBute has delved into the hostili...   More