IF DWIGHT SLADE and Dave Anderson get their way, by next July Fourth, the skies above Oregon will be filled with bottle rockets and other heavy-duty explosives. The two KXL radio DJs are trying to use Oregon’s ballot initiative system to punch through a law that would greatly expand the definition of legal fireworks in […]
City
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Held in Contempt
Grand Juries Violate Activists’ Rights
WITH HIS SHAVED HEAD, pale skin and skeletal features, Craig Rosebraugh has become the local face of environmental activism–the outspoken press aide for underground militants who are raiding animal research labs, monkey-wrenching logging equipment and torching ski resorts. For the past three years, Rosebraugh has served as the “above ground” mouthpiece Earth Liberation Front, notifying […]
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Pacifica Gets the Boot
KBOO Dumps News Service
Since the summer of 1968, community radio station KBOO has been a reservoir for local voices and progressive politics. So when they first entered into a contract in the ’70s with Pacifica Network News, another bastion of unsung perspectives, it seemed like a marriage made in airwave heaven. But in late May, KBOO’s Board of […]
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HIV on the Brain
Is AIDS Linked to Mental Illness?
NOT ONLY IS PORTLANDER Doug Sanders a slender 35-year-old battling AIDS, he is struggling to control a pre-existing mental illness. In this fight, Sanders is not alone. Although formal documentation is scarce, health providers are reporting an alarming number of AIDS patients who also suffer from mental illnesses. At first blush, such connections may seem […]
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Back With a Vengeance
OCA Climbs Back Under the Sheets
The Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) is at it again: trying to stop the spread of homosexuality. And, once again, they’re using the ballot measure process to build their levies against what a spokesperson for the organization termed as “those homosexual activists.” Under the innocuous-sounding title of “The Student Protection Act,” the religious-based organization is sponsoring […]
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He or She in Cellblock B?
Police Address Transgender Issues
Consider this: A transsexual male, transitioning to female, finds herself in jail. But, judging by the appearance of her genitals, the police mistakenly think that she is a he. Where should they book this person? Police addressed this touchy subject in early June, when Multnomah County took the nationally unprecedented move and set forth a […]
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The ABCs of STDs
Are Schools to Blame for the Rise of Teen STDs?
IN AN IRONIC TURN OF EVENTS, the state-wide sex ed program may be to blame for an increased risk of STDs and the rising number of Portland teens engaging in potentially harmful sex. For decades, sex ed programs have had pregnancy prevention at their core. But the alleged success of these programs, measured in the […]
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Growing Pains in Northeast
Commercial Development Threatens Personality of Northeast Neighborhoods
UP FOR GRABS: The soul of Northeast Portland. A smattering of simple commercial developments has set in motion a subtle, but very real struggle for the future personality of Portland’s Sabin and Concordia neighborhoods.Take, for example, one small-time developer, Billy Sullivan. Late last summer, Sullivan renovated a row of storefronts on Fremont between 13 and […]
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Arming Criminals
Gun Control Law Limps Toward November’s Ballot
CRIMINALS, REJOICE! Anyone with a history of violent crime or domestic abuse who shows up at this month’s gun show at the Expo Center can purchase a handgun. Oregon lawmakers politely call it a loophole: unlike licensed dealers, pesky background checks are not required for firearms peddlers at gun shows. For the past few years, […]
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Arming Artists
Controversial Cop Kroeker Supports Cock Art
AFTER THE CONFLICT between police and marchers on May Day, local media bashed Police Chief Mark Kroeker for his brutish actions. Yet local artist Brian Borrello knows a kinder, creative side of Kroeker. Scurrying around his N.E. Alberta Street studio on a recent, sunny Saturday afternoon, the high-energy, rail-thin Borrello reaches into a crowded cabinet. […]
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Quote of the Week
“I don’t know anybody on the city council who’s defended human rights more than Margaret Pageler.” This AMAZING utterance was made by City Council Member Jim Compton, who was trying to help out his cornered colleague. A crowd of minority protesters who jammed Mayor Paul Schell’s conference room last week were getting ornery in the […]