News Everett Street Bistro, a European-style eatery in the Pearl District, faces a lawsuit by a former employee who claims he was sexually harassed by the owner. In the lawsuit filed Nov. 1 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, the plaintiff—who filed the suit using only the initials "SET"—claims he worked as a waiter and bartender in the restaurant from January through May of this year. According ...   More

News Each day, a handful of local folks request an official name change by filing a one-page document in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Normally they're women changing their own name, or their children's names, due to a switch in marital status. Sometimes it's someone more noteworthy. But a few of the name alterations seem to come as the result of a radical life change. There was the guy who ...   More

News After President Obama and Democrats in Congess failed to even put universal single-payer health care on the table, progressive groups say they'll bring a bill to the Oregon Legislature in 2011 that would establish that option in the state. The announcement from Health Care for All-Oregon, Jobs with Justice, Physicians for a National Health Program and the Oregon League of Women Voters says ...   More

News A 29-year-old Milwaukie man is suing his local Jiffy Lube for discrimination after allegedly receiving a mailer calling him a turd burglar. Tommy Sudlow, manager of the lube shop on Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard, says it's all a misunderstanding. He says the coupon (PDF) addressed to "Turd Burgler" (sic) was meant for the home's former resident—a man Sudlow claims was nicknamed Turd Burglar. "His ...   More

News Portland Police Chief Mike Reese just announced that Officer Ronald Frashour has been fired for the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Aaron Campbell last January. As first reported in WW, the police bureau's Use of Force Review Board recommended firing Frashour last August for shooting Campbell with an assault rifle while Campbell was unarmed and fleeing police. Reese said he and Mayor Sam Adams ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams this morning vigorously defended his controversial proposal to crack down on illegal guns, telling WW it will not detract from other efforts to fight gang violence in Portland. Adams said the city has invested millions in gang outreach efforts in the last two decades but has done very little to eradicate the illegal guns used to perpetrate gang violence. "When you look back ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams' plan addressing illegal guns got a mixed reception from the public during a crowded City Hall hearing today. But at least two city commissioners indicated they would support the ordinance when it comes up for a vote next month, providing Adams the majority he needs. Adams' proposed ordinance would penalize gun owners who endanger children or fail to report stolen guns. It would ...   More

News Just in time for the holidays, Oregon Employment Department analyst Christian Kaylor has released his monthly update on the state of the Portland labor market. As usual, the news ain't pretty. Also true to form, Kaylor pulls out a new set of stats that sheds an interesting light on our city's job market. This month's one-page report (PDF) starts with a meat-and-potatoes update on unemployment ...   More

News The City of Portland has offered $21,000 to settle a lawsuit by a police officer who claimed he suffered retaliation after voicing concern about one of the cops involved in the death of James Chasse Jr. Officer Tom Brennan was transferred from patrol duty to working in the Police Bureau property room last January. The move came shortly after Brennan expressed concern about a heated encounter ...   More

News Police have located a person of interest in the Nov. 28 arson attack on an Islamic center and mosque in Corvallis, Ore. The firebombing came two days after federal agents arrested Mohamed Osman Mohamud on allegations of attempting to blow up thousands of people in a holiday tree-lighting ceremony in Portland. Corvallis police on Nov. 30 searched the home 24-year-old Cody S. Crawford shares with ...   More