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are all a-blog about threats to their safety that aired last Thursday on
's morning show, the
. Jonathan Maus of www.BikePortland.org says PlayHouse host
encouraged road rage against cyclists, allegedly saying, "When I hear on TV that a cyclist has been hit and killed by a car, I laugh—I think it's funny." Murmurs writes "allegedly" because PK claimed on Monday's show that his comments were taken out of context. Meanwhile, the podcast of Thursday's show has disappeared from the station's website. And station manager Tim McNamara refused to talk with
about the flap or the program (which earned three Rogues of the Week in 2003).
Murmurs of surprise are rippling through the health insurance world this week after the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, the state's second largest health insurer, dumped its CEO for Oregon and Washington, Cynthia Finter. Recently filed first-quarter results show Kaiser's net income plunging. And word in the industry is that a new plan that would let Kaiser patients use doctors outside its system has caused snafus. A Kaiser spokesman confirmed Finter's departure but declined to comment on details.
It's official: The boneheaded plan to move Fire Bureau Headquarters three blocks north into Chinatown (see "Burning Money," WW, Oct. 5, 2005) is DOA. With the cost of the tear-down and redo having doubled to more than $30 million, Fire Commissioner Erik Sten, Mayor Tom Potter, PDC Director Bruce Warner and Fire Chief Dave Sprando have agreed to extinguish the project before spiraling costs could torch anybody's career.
New Police Chief Rosie Sizer (right) is applying to the FBI for secret clearance so, too, she can be briefed on the agency's local investigations. FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele says that would let the chief get briefed on investigations if the FBI determines that Sizer has a need to know about them. Steele says former chief Derrick Foxworth, now just a commander, still has his secret clearance. And what about Mayor Tom Potter, who led Portland out of the feds' Joint Terrorism Task Force? Potter spokesman John Doussard says the mayor already has secret clearance.
One of two finalists to lead Multnomah County's Hollywood library branch in Northeast Portland is on the rebound from a bad breakup with the City of West Linn. Julia Corkett—who's scheduled to be interviewed for the job Wednesday, July 19—was placed on probation for charging more than $850 in personal items to her city credit card between 2003 and 2005 (she eventually paid the city back) and for failing to properly oversee library finances. Multnomah County library officials say there's nothing in civil-service rules to preclude the former West Linn library director from being interviewed but note that Corkett's references will be checked and other information scrutinized before any hiring decision is made.
We may soon learn what a good pile of horseshit is worth at City Hall. Earlier this year, land-use consultant Peter Finley Fry, who's registered with City Hall as a lobbyist for the Tonkin auto dealerships, gave a load of horse manure to one of Commissioner Erik Sten's aides. The aide, Rich Rodgers, is an avid gardener and gladly accepted the gift, which worked out to about 500 pounds, from Fry's farm in Corbett. City Auditor Gary Blackmer's office advised Rodgers he needed to disclose the gift under new City Hall lobbyist rules, even though Fry hadn't lobbied Rodgers. "I don't know what the gift is worth," Rodgers told Murmurs. "It's really top-quality manure, and the garden has taken off." Fry's take: "Rich and I have completely different views on the value of manure. I've got three horses, and they just don't quit dumping it on me."
WEB-ONLY MURMURS:
Among the potential replacements under consideration to replace Associated Oregon Industries' retiring CEO Richard Butrick: former legislator and port boss Mike Thorne; Mike McCallum, director of the powerful Oregon Restaurant Association; Qwest lobbyist Ginny Lang; and AOI political director Harvey Mathews. Long the state's most influential business lobby, AOI is struggling with the loss of a large subsidy from state-owned worker's comp-insurer SAIF Corp., and has recently cut staffers' pay 10 percent.
Oregonian Dave Perez is again witnessing the relentlessness of the music industry's litigation train (see "Inside the Den of a Pirate," WW, May 31, 2006). Earlier this month, federal judge Ann L. Aiken approved a request by attorneys for the Recording Industry Association of America to add Perez's wife and three adult children to the association's music piracy lawsuit alleging he illegally downloaded or uploaded music. Aiken is also considering the association's motion to remove Perez as a litigant and focus on his family, who the industry believes actually "pirated" the music. Perez, who has been fighting the case since June 2005, has already racked up $20,000 in legal fees defending himself.
The 20,000 fans of rigorous exercise and 80's pop who ran the 5k and 10k races in Nike's Run Hit Wonder event the past two years in Portland will be out of luck this weekend unless they want to jet to Miami. The Big-Swoosh extravaganza, featuring throngs of athletes in matching Nike shirts with bands of yesteryear performing along the route, has moved to Miami (L.A. and Chicago continue to host similar events in August and September). Nike spokeswoman Ilana Finley says the event moved from Portland because "the company was looking for opportunities in new cities." But that explanation doesn't cut it with Torrey Lindbo, president of Team Red Lizard, a local running club. Lindbo says the cancellation robs Portland of its last high-profile race, telling Murmurs, "I can't believe they're not doing it here."
The major TV networks have cut their Iraq war coverage by 60 percent since 2003, according to the Los Angeles Times. Meantime, the number of U.S. military casualties has climbed past the 2,500 mark, and the number of estimated Iraqi deaths has reached 100,000. And at least 60 soldiers and civilian contractors with ties to Oregon have died in Iraq. If those numbers just blur into so many statistics, check out the new "Eyes Wide Open" statewide tour that kicks off Saturday at the Peace Memorial Park, on the east side of the Steel Bridge near the Rose Quarter transit center. The tour sponsored by a coalition that includes the American Friends Service Committee as well as military families and veterans will display a collection of boots and shoes to honor the dead Oregon soldiers and Iraqi civilians. The event begins at noon on Saturday, July 22 and closes with a candlelight vigil at 8:30 pm. Eyes Wide Open is also on display on Sunday, July 23 from 9 am to 5 pm.
WWeek 2015