Next issue: They call four hundred people asking them to “just say something nice” about the mayor. What I really love about the name is that it implies there’s a huge downside, too. The paper is published monthly in Damascus, Oregon, and is seeking “volunteer writers to tell the positive stories of the Portland metro […]
Media
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Oregonian Does Good Reporting on Homelessness
I wrote that as a headline because as far as I’m aware, this is news. Former city hall beat reporter Jim Mayer has moved back to the mothership and spent the last few days chronicling tensions between downtown shoppers and tourists and the homeless there. The piece is measured in tone, and quotes people on […]
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Oregonian: Big Meeting At Three
That’s what we’re hearing, following this morning’s announcement by the paper’s parent company. Updates as we have them. In the mean time columnist Anna Griffin brings some refreshing twhumor (tweeumor? tumor? humeet? hutwu?) to bear: Update, 3:42pm: Not much more than was already reported, it turns out. Newhouse had rescinded its job pledge—the promise that […]
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Oregonian Parent Company Rescinds “No Layoffs”
The Oregonian‘s parent company has rescinded a long-running “no layoffs” promise, according to Editor & Publisher this morning. News comes after the Oregonian offered generous buyouts for long-serving staff last August: Publishers at the chain’s 20 daily newspapers, which include The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; The Oregonian in Portland, the Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance and […]
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The Nation on The Paulsons’ “Edifice Complex”
PAULSON: I DRINK YOUR NATION ARTICLES…I DRINK THEM UP… So begins today’s article by Dave Zirin & Jules Boykoff: For Henry Paulson and his son Merritt, the taxpayers of Portland, Oregon, must look like geese with an infinite supply of golden eggs. Oooh. The junior Paulson recently crowed, “I challenge people to find a better […]
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Carl Wolfson Wants Me To Report On His Award
Yesterday I mentioned KPOJ host Carl Wolfson cutting me off on his morning show. Today I got an email from Carl, which seemed like kind of an apology, I guess… Hi Matt, Thanks for the pub, even though it was negative. (I left a blog entry under CW). I don’t know if you listen to […]
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It’s Okay Carl, I Forgive You, Too…
Update, 3:26pm: Download a .mov file of the exchange here. Original post: KPOJ host Carl Wolfson hung up on me this morning as we were discussing my Hall Monitor column this week. And that’s okay, Carl, because I forgive you, too. Wolfson disagrees with the tenor of my column, which is that I’ve forgiven Sam […]
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Silverton Mayor Wears Skirt, TV News Goes Bonkers.
A tv news broadcast about Silverton’s transgender Mayor Stu Rasmussen is running around the internets today. The clip discusses an official complaint filed against Rasmussen—not one relating to any sort of ethics violation or city policy. Instead, one resident complained that they mayor’s skirt was too short. Rasmussen is America’s first out transgender mayor and […]
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It’s the Action News Team! With Staff Meteorologist Andrew W.K.
I’m pretty sure if Andrew W.K. was doing the weather around here? I’d watch it every morning.
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Too Bad for Paul Leonard…
Mercury freelancer Paul Leonard clearly had a bright career ahead of him with such gems as this story from last month about a topless MAX rider allegedly harassed by security. Unfortunately he’s now been hired as managing editor of the Vancouver Business Journal, where a brief search for the terms “exposed breasts” and “public transportation” […]
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Glenn Beck Sounds Kind of Mad!
Do yourself a favor and skip around this hilarious episode of conservative pee-hole Glenn Beck’s radio program from this morning, in which he goes apoplectic when a caller dares to disagree with him about health care. He goes from extreme dripping sarcasm to squealing like a pig by the 3:00-3:30 mark. (By the way, if […]