Posted inExtras
Blogtown Covers Obama-nia ’08!
Get the Most Complete Obama Coverage (Including Audio) at Blogtown, PDX!
Amy J. Ruiz
Posted inUncategorized
The Pleasure of Voyeurism
Checking Out Beast
I can’t help but stare. Naomi Pomeroy is deftly balancing braised pork cheeks atop spinach-stuffed chickpea crêpes. I’m not being rude just because I’m anxious to eat (though the smooth, earthy mushroom soup we’d had earlier—er, the “wild mushroom velouté”—did bode extremely well for what was to come in the six-course prix fixe meal). I’m […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Payday
February 28 was Phil Busse‘s lucky day. That’s the day that the John Branam campaign for city council cut him a check for $15,000, for Busse’s work as campaign manager. (March 6 and March 14 were also good days for Busse, the Mercury‘s former managing editor. He picked up another $1,000 on each, and says […]
Posted inNews
Bridge to Disaster
A Proposed New 12-Lane Bridge over the Columbia River Will Cost $4.2 Billion, Increase Traffic, and Do Little to Alleviate Climate Change. What the Hell Are We Thinking?
A man driving a gray Toyota pickup truck seems frantic; veering in and out of lanes trying to pass other traffic on the Interstate Bridge. His furtive moves don’t do him much good—moments later, as we crest the green steel bridge headed south into Portland, we’re greeted with flickering brake lights. Traffic slows to a […]
Posted inNews
Ready, Set, Run!
City Candidate Field Settles Down
The primary election is a little over two months away, and we finally have a sense of everyone who will be in the race. Tuesday evening, March 11, was the filing deadline for those wanting to be on the May 20 ballot. Candidates have until Friday afternoon, March 14, to withdraw from the race, and […]
Posted inNews
Appeal and Repeal
Anti-Gay Activists Appeal Federal Judge’s Ruling
ON MARCH 5, the group that earlier lost a court battle to block Oregon’s domestic partnership re-emerged, filing an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The documents filed so far don’t say much, other than the plaintiffs—folks who signed a referral measure aimed at putting the domestic partnership law […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
“I just believe in fairness, and fair is fair. It is exceedingly unfair to change the rules for an election during the election.” That was City Commissioner Randy Leonard during a January 9 city council meeting, when the council was discussing a special election to replace outgoing Commissioner Erik Sten. At issue? Whether to craft […]
Posted inNews
Here We Go Again
Another Anti-Gay Initiative Filed
Less than a month after same-sex couples in Oregon started registering as domestic partners under a state law that lets them enjoy the same state rights and responsibilities as their married opposite-sex counterparts, anti-gay activists filed an initiative to repeal the law. State Senator Fred Girod (R-Stayton) and State Representative Sal Esquivel (R-Medford) filed the […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Budget Bust
You know that feeling when you reach for your wallet, go for that $20 you’re sure is in there, and discover that you’ve only got a fiver after—oh, right, you forgot—going out the night before? That’s pretty much how the city council’s feeling lately. The commissioners have split into teams to dig through bureaus’ budget […]
Posted inNews
Middaugh Ground
Jim Middaugh Launches City Council Campaign
Last month, Jim Middaugh was camped out in his dining room—which doubled as a command center—coordinating volunteers who were fanned out across Portland, collecting $5 contributions and signatures for his bid for public campaign financing. Defying expectations, Middaugh turned in 1,623 valid contributions in just two weeks, following City Commissioner Erik Sten’s sudden announcement that […]
Posted inNews
Here We Poll Again
After two weeks of devoting this space to Sho Dozono’s $27,295 poll problem, I’d hoped to turn my attention to what the current city council has been up to. Not a whole lot, it turns out. Commissioner Sam Adams is bringing a resolution to the council on Wednesday, February 27, buying his staff more time […]
Posted inNews
Domestic Problems
Oregon’s Domestic Partnership Law Runs into Murky Waters
When Sally Sparks and her partner, Heather Dugas, registered as domestic partners at the Multnomah County Building the day the new state law took effect on February 4, Sparks was overdue with their second child. “It was a good feeling that [the law] went through and we were going to walk into the hospital as […]