The Portland Police Bureau—despite a lot of talk of improvement—has sometimes struggled to learn from its occasionally deadly mistakes, moving painfully slowly, if at all, when making key changes in officer discipline, training, and accountability, according to a city audit released on Tuesday, May 15. "Mistakes can mean the difference between life and death for an officer or a community member," City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade wrote in the report's summary. The report cites several concerns, but two stick out: Five years after a review board demanded better training and oversight of Portland's tactical officers, after Raymond Gwerder was shot by a sniper while on the phone with a negotiator, those changes have yet to be made. And despite a 1993 audit calling for a computer system that would track problem cops early, the bureau didn't launch one until last December. DENIS C. THERIAULT

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Alicia Jackson, the Northeast Portland woman who reclaimed her bank-owned, foreclosed home on May Day with the help of an Occupy Portland offshoot, Portland Liberation Organizing Council (PLOC), was still holding down the fort as of press time on Tuesday, May 15. And PLOC is still doing what it can to make sure she's comfortable. Members recently tried getting Jackson's water turned back on, confronting Commissioner Randy Leonard, head of the water bureau. But Leonard said the current owner of the home wouldn't go for it "The whole scenario troubles me," he says. "I feel like they are using Mrs. Jackson as a pawn in their protest. While they get to go home after their rallies, she has to go back to this house she's unsafe in." That's not stopping the activist group. PLOC plans to reclaim another foreclosed home in a few weeks. ALEX ZIELINSKI

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Thanks to a promised $5 million contribution from the city, the Portland Public Schools on Monday, May 14, unanimously approved a budget that will maintain a full school year and save 110 jobs previously on the chopping block (cutting some salaries and delaying some pay increases). The budget also allocates cash for the cherished Outdoor School program. AZ