News A few weeks back, we had a cover story about how Oregon's looming smoking ban is likely to pinch state Lottery profits, which pay for everything from schools to salmon habitats. Today comes the news that the Atlantic City Council lifted an indoor smoking ban in the city's casinos after less than two weeks, because overall gambling revenue took a 20 percent dive. Even with a $524 million-and-growing ...   More

News After an 18-month development rollercoaster including contracting hiccups and countless protests, Planned Parenthood finally got the construction of its newest clinic and regional service center under way. At a groundbreaking ceremony at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Beech Street, Planned Parenthood officials expressed their enthusiasm and excitement for the new center and the ...   More

News This news goes out to the over-50 crowd in WWeek readerland (and there are more than 30,000 of you ): According to today's New York Times , Web-surfing stimulates aging brains: The U.C.L.A. researchers studied 24 healthy people between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the study participants had experience searching the Internet, whereas the other half had no experience. Participants performed ...   More

News How's this for cognitive dissonance: Two news releases put out today seem to tell two very different stories about local eating habits. First comes this (PDF) communique from Multnomah County telling us that half of all county residents are either overweight or obese. That dovetails well with County Commissioner Jeff Cogen's efforts to make chain restaurants place calorie counts on menus. Then ...   More

News [youtube 7MmTNM5sbAs] Even an occasional smoker like me is looking forward to Jan. 1, when Oregon finally joins the modern world in banning smoking from bars and restaurants. No more choking on fumes while you scarf down your tater tots. No more fumigating your clothes when you get home. Welcome to the 21st century. Nine years late. The reason Oregon became the last state on the West Coast ...   More

News Michael Pollan , one of the loudest, funniest voices calling for a change in the way Americans eat—or rather, gorge, charmed a sold out crowd of lit lovers and foodies at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall last night at his Portland Arts & Lecture Series appearance. The author, best known for his food road trip The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals ...   More

News New New Year's Resolution: Find new allergies to die from. Yesterday Time.com posted an article entitled “Have Americans Gone Nuts Over Nut Allergies?” To backtrack a bit: A little more than a year ago, Todd Neale of MedPage Today also wrote about the public's alarmist reaction to nuts at school. Within days of Todd Neale's story going up, Serena Gordon, a HealthDay Reporter, posted ...   More

News Growing up, I remember my mother occasionally pulling out her old, beat down Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. When that red-plaid three-ring binder came out, it was time for something indulgent. Deviled eggs, cookies, cakes—it was a fatty feast in my home when that book got involved. When I got married two years ago, I half expected to receive a red plaid behemoth of my own. Instead, ...   More

News While the name of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) circulates as a potential replacement for Tom Daschle as President Obama's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, here's a piece WW did in 2007 about what Wyden wants to do about health care in America. At the time, Michael Moore's Sicko was out, and that film about the American health care system provided a jumping-off point to look at ...   More

News U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) may not be President Obama's next nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. But Wyden's shot at a deeper legacy in the area of health care is getting some run these days as Obama and the new Democratic-dominated Congress move on past hammering out a stimulus package. Here's an update on the senator's effort to hit the sweet spot on the long-vexing ...   More