Squirm and wriggle.

1) Enviros, caribou and Oregon's Republican Sen. Gordon Smith came together in an unlikely group hug when the Senate fought back a proposal to drill for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Smith defied his own party leadership and provided a key vote against the motion, which failed 52-48.

2) Writhe and shine: Metro announced plans for a landmark $1 million composting program that would recover more than 90,000 tons of kitchen scraps each year--a cradle-to-grave welfare program for red worms, the lumbricoid critters that turn doo-doo into dirt.

LOSERS

1) Portland's TV news reporters were shoved, harangued, tagged and taunted by anti-war protesters on Thursday. After denouncing the greed of the corporate media, irate demonstrators spray-painted a crew from KGW-TV--then later attempted to sell them hand-held footage of the fracas!

2) Already hard up for cash after a 25 percent tuition hike this year, Oregon's college students winced when they learned the state Board of Higher Education may jack up tuition another 8 percent this fall, which would send in-state tuition at PSU soaring to $3,110. State lawmakers have also proposed enrollment caps, which would bar up to 12,000
students from attending state colleges over the next two years.

3) That cracking noise you heard was the sound of Portland public muralists snapping their paintbrushes. A city review committee rejected Eagle Creek artist Joe Cotter's request to declare Portland's byzantine regulations on murals unconstitutional. Cotter spent $1,400 on fees for a mural on Southeast Foster Road.

4) Officially there are no gray wolves residing in Oregon, and the ones that visit from Idaho haven't been accused of any crimes. Nonetheless, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife decided last week to push for new rules to make it easier to kill the phantom beasts.

WWeek 2015