- What's that smell?
Posted May 15, 2008, 9:07 pm
Is it pants on fire? I hope this guy wins the primary, because he'll be cream-chipped beef on toast by Fourth of July.
- Who needs a Convention Center hotel?
Posted May 15, 2008, 5:22 pm
Apparently we're getting some pretty large conventions without it.
- Oregon Supreme Court gives employers a break
Posted May 15, 2008, 5:21 pm by Stacey Mark
The Oregon Supreme Court handed Oregon employers a huge victory today, finding that employees have no private right of action for missed breaks under Oregon wage and hour laws. The Court of Appeals in Gafur v. Legacy Good Samritan Hospital had interpreted BOLI's administrative rule, OAR 839-020-0050, to require four hours' pay for every three hours and 50 minutes of work. The Supreme Court reversed, finding that BOLI's rest break requirement is intended to benefit the employees' physical and...
- Bush administration gift to its corporate friends: preemption
Posted May 15, 2008, 2:13 pm by admin
The legal term "preemption" is one of those boring sounding words that makes eyes glaze over and starts the snoozefest. Seems like the Bush administration is counting on that reaction in its latest threat to consumer safety. Preemption is a concept that provides that federal law can trump or overrule state standards when Congress passes a [...]
- Confession
Posted May 15, 2008, 12:48 pm
I know I said I was going to vote for Michael Dembrow for the State House from my district, but after receiving this in the mail yesterday -- his fourth mailer in five days! -- I may not be able to bring myself to blacken the circle for him: Meanwhile, I believe this is four flyers total from this fellow, but at least spaced out slightly over the campaign: It's so nice to see Portland taxpayers spending scarce tax dollars to tell the world about the adventures of this swashbuckling Robin Hood.
- Second Portland police killing in 36 hours
Posted May 15, 2008, 12:01 pm
Down in Felony Flats.
- A complex soul laid bare
Posted May 15, 2008, 11:43 am
I may be the last person in Portland to discover this, but in case I'm not, you may want to spend some quality time with it:
- Bad trip
Posted May 15, 2008, 10:31 am
/**/ All of a sudden, even the reality-challenged Portland City Council is admitting that the city's transportation problems are here to stay. The public isn't going to vote in any new taxes until the recession is over, and that may take years. And so the potholes are only going to get deeper. But the delusions of grandeur continue with continued promises (or perhaps they're threats) to cover the city with new streetcars, which are expensive to build and operate and much less flexible than...
- I watched it for a little while
Posted May 15, 2008, 9:30 am
Now that Opie Sten has retired from the Portland City Council for his mysterious pursuits up in Bridlemile, some new boo birds have arrived at City Hall to decry his harebrained and legally questionable idea of creating a "satellite" urban renewal district hooking up the Pearl District with the David Douglas School District. One of the Big Idea Dude's parting shots would be to take urban renewal property taxes from the Pearl and spend them to build a new school out in the sticks, where voters...
- How low is your V.O.C.?
Posted May 15, 2008, 7:35 am
If you're one Portland company (see page 2 of this story), it's low, very low.
- Another dead guy
Posted May 15, 2008, 4:43 am
The Portland police shot and killed another person Tuesday night. According to this story, police say the dead man, Jason Spoor, was a suspect in a nearby homicide that had just occurred, and that he "was armed and refused to drop his handgun." This incident might blow over quickly, except for the identity of one of the two officers who fired on the alleged suspect: Scott McCollister, who shot and killed an unarmed woman, Kendra James, in 2003 and was disciplined for it, only to have the...
- Tough day for Whole Foods
Posted May 14, 2008, 4:43 pm
Their stock took a beating.
- The doulas will be on their own
Posted May 14, 2008, 4:29 pm
It's truly amazing to watch the Portland City Council act like a middle school student government over the city budget. They're clucking around over $45,000 here, $200,000 there, when the big number is the $2 billion of police and fire pension liabilities that nothing's being set aside to pay. Eventually, those chickens are going to come home to roost in the Rose City, and it is going to get very, very unpleasant.
- A moment of silence
Posted May 14, 2008, 4:11 pm
Bloggers of America, keep this person in your thoughts and prayers. And be thankful for what we've got.
- Old school
Posted May 14, 2008, 12:20 pm
Finally, State House candidate Cyreena Boston has sent us a flyer that didn't look like an ad for something else: Meanwhile, Secretary of State candidate Vicki Walker, whom we enthusiastically support, has released a radio spot that's the antithesis of hipster irony.
- Election porn cup still runneth over
Posted May 14, 2008, 11:02 am
Yesterday we got two Obama mailers on the same day: We're voting for the guy, but that seems sort of wasteful even if we were still on the fence and they might have made a difference.
- CORRECTION
Posted May 14, 2008, 10:20 am by LAUREN PAULSON
It has been pointed out to me that I identified the wrong judge in my May 13, 2008 tome on judicial evaluations. I meant to identify Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Robert P. Jones in the fourth paragraph. Thank you readers for that information.
- Trib polls calling dead heats in state races
Posted May 14, 2008, 9:58 am
Macpherson and Kroger are said to be neck-and-neck, as are Brown and Metsger. My own gut is that they're right about the former, wrong about the latter -- Brown's got all the money and will probably win. (No runoffs in a partisan primary, of course.)
- Reader poll: Runoff for Portland mayor?
Posted May 14, 2008, 5:35 am
The Portland mayor's race is the focus of today's political poll. The two frontrunners are way out ahead of the lesser known candidates, and most pundits give Sam Adams the edge over Sho Dozono. But what do pundits know? There were probably plenty of people who were banking on Frank Ivancie over Bud Clark way back when, and look how that turned out. Anyway, people, give us your prognostication about where it will all wind up on Tuesday night -- your prediction, not your preference: What will be...
- "Dad, what are you doing on my computer?"
Posted May 14, 2008, 3:13 am
"Oh, nothing, sweetie." Uh huh.