News In between calls to his staff and updating his Twitter account, Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler spoke with WW from St. Charles Hospital in Bend to say he's recovering from a ski accident at Mount Bachelor on Saturday. Wheeler suffered two broken vertebrae and a broken shoulder in the fall. He says he doesn't expect he'll need surgery and hopes to return home to Portland later today. "My ...   More

News Rescuers today called off the search for two missing climbers on Mt. Hood. But while the five-day operation is now over, the debate is sure to continue over whether climbers should be required to carry emergency beacons. The devices, known as Mountain Locator Units or MLUs, allow searchers to pinpoint a climber's location. Rules to require such beacons have been proposed in the past. But many ...   More

News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler hasn't yet officially declared he's running for re-election. But the one-term county boss is quietly laying the groundwork for his 2010 campaign, shelling out $2,500 this month to local political communications firm Mandate Media. Wheeler confirms to WW he's running again for county chair — despite some observers expressing hope he'll run for City ...   More

News For the record, Multnomah County Chairman Ted Wheeler filed today [PDF] for re-election to another four-year term. In terms of least surprising news, this ranks somewhere between the sun rising and the sun setting each day. But we note this to record the other following pieces of news: 1) Wheeler currently has one opponent, retired physicist James Lee [PDF], who ran in 2008 for mayor of Portland. 2) ...   More

News Among the many announcements from Mayor Sam Adams in his "State of the City" address last week was one related to sidewalks. Specifically, Adams announced last Friday he was going to devote $16 million to building new sidewalks in parts of the city that still lack them. "If I'm talking innovation and greater resilience through transportation, I gotta talk about sidewalks," Adams said in his ...   More

News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler today drew a second challenger in his re-election bid. Mike Darger, whose somewhat-vague candidate filing (PDF) identifies him as a Gresham resident in the insurance business, claims to have been affiliated with the national conservative group Americans for Prosperity. AFP, founded by billionaire David Koch (whose holdings include Georgia-Pacific) was recently ...   More

News Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler's annual "State of the County" speech today to the City Club of Portland turned into a test-run for how this ambitious pol would handle some of the state's most pressing issues. But first came his meat-and-potatoes rundown of the issues facing the county. Entering the final year of his first term and facing little opposition in his re-election bid so far, ...   More

News Uninsured kids enjoyed a bright moment last week when the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to save a free dental clinic at Creston K-8 School. Commissioner Jeff Cogen, who asked the board to spend $20,000 to keep the clinic from closing, trumpeted the move on his website as preserving a vital service. "This is a vulnerable population, and providing this support fits ...   More

News Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury praises Ted Wheeler for ending the dysfunction on the county board in 2007 after he took the chairman's job by beating Diane Linn. But Kafoury tells WW her colleague, Commissioner Jeff Cogen, will offer a new brand of leadership. As we reported today, Cogen has unanimous backing of the county commissioners to take over as county chairman early next ...   More

News Multnomah County Commissioner Judy Shiprack has made two endorsements for the May primary that observers may find surprising. In the Democratic primary race for state treasurer between former county Chair Ted Wheeler and state Sen. Rick Metsger (D-Welches), Shiprack tells WW she's endorsing Metsger. Shiprack is backing Metsger despite the fact she worked with Wheeler for more than a year ...   More