Homeless advocates took advantage of the one night a year when it's legal to squat on downtown sidewalks, setting up a homeless camp along the Rose Festival Parade route. "You can squat on the street one day a year for pleasure, but not the rest of the year for survival," said Ibrahim Mubarak, a member of Right 2 Survive, as he helped assemble tents and a snack station for homeless people on SW 4th. Mubarak and friends beat out even suburbanites staking out seats for Saturday's parade, taking advantage of the 24-hour exemption from the city's policy to boot people who sit or lie in the sidewalks' "pedestrian zone." SARAH MIRK

Portland's youngest 2012 mayoral candidate—Max Brumm, age 19—had his formal coming-out party Monday, June 13, holding a press conference downtown where he unveiled his Max4Mayor T-shirts. He made it clear to everyone keeping tabs on next year's mayoral race that he, not New Seasons co-founder Eileen Brady or former City Commissioner Charlie Hales, was the first person to open a mayoral campaign fundraising account. Brumm's platform takes aim at bike improvements and supports publicly financed elections. DENIS C. THERIAULT

The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles could soon find itself in a pickle. DMV officials have fought hard, even taking one case from the 1990s all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court, to keep alcohol references off custom license plates. The argument is that the plates would amount to billboards for drunken driving. But now comes word the legislature is weighing a bill that would do something similar: create specialty plates, for a $30 fee, that glorifying Oregon's "wine country." The new plates wouldn't be bound by the DMV's rule, officials say. But the conflicting messages sent by the state, if the bill passes, could prompt another legal challenge. DCT