Eliciting laughs and hisses from the crowded balcony, the pivotal point in Wednesday’s City Council meeting came when police Chief Mark Kroeker asked those in attendance to “trust us.” Chief Kroeker provided thirty minutes of testimony about fire bombings and perceived safety threats around Portland in an attempt to convince City Council to re-approve their […]
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OLCC: Stingier than Ever
B Complex Still Hopes to Get a Liquor License
After months of struggling with the OLCC, B Complex, Portland’s seven-month-old music venue, has one more barrier to overcome before becoming an alcohol-serving establishment. In early September, the OLCC’s Administrative Law Judge issued a proposed order recommending B Complex be granted a liquor license; the action marked a dramatic departure from OLCC’s initial dismissal of […]
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The Old College Try
College Students Protest A War Not Yet Waged
Coordinating anti-war protests with 100 other colleges across the country last Wednesday, about 200 students from Lewis & Clark held hands on the green near the College President’s office. It was a sunny day and an idyllic scene for a liberal-thinking college, something torn straight from the glossy pages of a recruiting brochure. Yet, in […]
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Flying the Paranoid Skies
Federal Agents Return to Heavy-Handed Policing
Almost a year ago to the day, David Beebe, the director of the Oregon bureau for the INS, resigned in disgrace. After complaints piled up that local agents were abusing its power, indefinitely locking up immigrants, and hassling foreign travelers, local politicians said enough was enough. The final straw was when a Japanese businesswoman, passing […]
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End of Story
District Attorney Drops Kidnapping Charges
Around midnight on March 29, a small house party in Northeast Portland disintegrated into a free-for-all between cops and residents. With Prince blaring in the background, about 40 police officers–roughly the same number as revelers–handcuffed, pepper-sprayed, and arrested partygoers. In the days following the tangle, accusations and criminal charges emerged that two of the hosts […]
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Which Way To Turn?
Local Activists Try To Balance Commiseration and Condemnation
Thirty-six hours after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, about eighty local activists gathered in a stuffy downtown office. Like tens of thousands of other Americans, they gathered in the settling darkness of Wednesday evening–the first full day after the terrorist attacks–to lean on each other and try to regain a […]
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Us vs. Them
The World Trade Center and the Ugly Side of Patriotism
Just hours after the bizarre news that two hijacked commercial airplanes rammed into the side of the World Trade Center’s twin towers, a used car dealership along North MLK Blvd in Portland hung a homemade banner. It read, “Kill All Them in the Middle East.” Like opening interment camps for Japanese-Americans after the attack of […]
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With Deadly Intent
Dr. Todd Curtis on the Modern Hijacker
In 1996, an Ethiopian airliner, flight 767, was hijacked by three people without the benefit of any weapons. They took over the aircraft with what was available on the plane itself; in this case, fire extinguishers. The airline pilots were taken out of their seats, and the plane was put on automatic pilot. The plane […]
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Hiphop’s Last Gasp
The Liquor Commission’s Chokehold on Hiphop Clubs
Last Thursday, Jezebel’s–a small club just on the east side of the Hawthorne bridge–saw its last night as an underground hiphop club. Due to increasing pressure from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), Jezebel’s will no longer host live DJs, as they’ve been doing on weeknights for the past two years. On the final night […]
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Holding Their Ground
Dignity Villlage Digs In Its Heels
After last-minute negotiations and a fragile truce with City Hall, the men and women of Dignity Village trashed a cut-rate deal to relocate their makeshift camp. For the past ten months, a group of 75 homeless have squatted on public land. Prompted by a few complaints from neighbors and motivated by a local anti-camp ban, […]
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Last Thursday, Jezebel’s–a small club just on the east side of the Hawthorne bridge–saw its last night as an underground hiphop club. Due to increasing pressure from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), Jezebel’s will no longer host live DJs, as they’ve been doing on weeknights for the past two years. On the final night […]
Posted inNews
News
After last-minute negotiations and a fragile truce with City Hall, the men and women of Dignity Village trashed a cut-rate deal to relocate their makeshift camp. For the past ten months, a group of 75 homeless have squatted on public land. Prompted by a few complaints from neighbors and motivated by a local anti-camp ban, […]