It seems the entirety of the bike blogosphere is collectively moaning/chortling at the vastly out of touch vitriole Wall Street Journal editorial board member Dorothy Rabinowitz spews forth in the video below. But if you’ve missed it, watch on. Gaze upon on the terror that is to be loosed on unsuspecting Portlanders (maybe) next spring. […]
Dirk VanderHart
I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters elsewhere.
I've been in Portland three years, love it and want to help make it better. Let's keep it amicable!
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Oklahoma’s having a dreadful May. Less than two weeks after a monster storm killed dozens, a fresh batch of storms has wrought fresh havoc. As Salem squabbles over how best to alter the state’s public pension system, the New York Times has this cautionary note: States around the country are, sort of disingenuously, padding their […]
Posted inNews
With a Signature Next Week, Die-Hard Portland Meadows Lives On
Wilder Schmaltz Portland Meadows’ plans for a big turnaround last summer didn’t pan out quite like it hoped. Its last-ditch effort for profitability has. Gov. John Kitzhaber is expected next week to sign a bill that could save the aging North Portland horse track—and with it the hundreds of jobs associated with Oregon’s $146 million […]
Posted inBikes
Need a Bike Rack? Maybe Install Your Own
So Portland does a MUCH better job than New York City of providing bike parking. This is my understanding, at least, from folks who live in New York City and marvel at the ease with which we Portlanders lock up any old place, relatively unconcerned (compared to New Yorkers) about theft. But the very fact […]
Posted inNews
The OHA is Investigating Staff Contact with Fluoride Advocates
Alex Despain The director of the Oregon Health Authority has directed his agency to look into whether staffers preparing a survey of children’s oral health had inappropriate conversations with pro-fluoride advocates. Dr. Bruce Goldberg tells the Mercury concerns raised about Upstream Public Health’s access to OHA staff, first reported by the Oregonian, created questions about […]
Posted inMedia
KOIN TV to Farm Out Work to Indiana, Lay Off Staff
www.koincenter.com KOIN Center KOIN TV will layoff its master control staff in coming weeks, as the station’s new corporate owners farm those jobs to a station in Indiana. That move, announced to staffers April 30, has drawn howls of outrage from the union that represents the seven workers, San Francisco-based National Association of Broadcast Employees […]
Posted inBikes
Bikes Are Good, City Club Decides in 2013
Big news: Bikes are a good thing, and Portland’s done a pretty good job promoting their use! You’re painfully familiar with that narrative—it’s been trotted out for years in the pages of the country’s largest newspapers and magazines, and dissected endlessly in local media. Now, one of the city’s staid civic organizations has decided to […]
Posted inNews
Election Resurrection
Supporters of Publicly Financed Campaigns Plot a Political Comeback
Are “voter-owned elections” coming back to Portland?
Posted inNews
BREAKING: State Public Health Director to Step Down
Oregon’s public health director is leaving the position, amid a threatened lawsuit and accusations the agency colluded with pro-fluoride advocates on the release of an oral health report. Dr. Mel Kohn today sent an e-mail out to colleagues at the Oregon Health Authority, saying he’ll step down as head of the OHA’s Public Health Department […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Seeking to draw public ire over the untenable and toxic filibuster den the US Senate’s become, President Obama will nominate three judges to a crucial federal court in coming days, then dare Republicans to flaunt their obstinacy. Chinese hackers continue to poke holes in the apparently flimsy security systems protecting some of our greatest secrets. […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Yay! Almost half the nation will block its poorest citizens from reaping benefits of Obamacare—largely because of objections from Republican lawmakers. People who are doing fair-to-middling, meanwhile, will be eligible for assistance. Smart policy! Memorial Day weekend travel plans and a collapsed interstate bridge do not great bedfellows make. Also, gang, an enormous truck hit […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Portlanders Are Being Sued for Stealing a Terrible Movie
I have to look at this thing every single day. Heads up: If any of you have an insatiable need to see the 2012 Steven Segal, Steve Austin picture Maximum Conviction (and the enormous Stone Cold cookie jar on his desk leads me to believe our own Denis Theriault might be among your number), for […]