Dan Halsted after his 2008 arrest. The four-year-old case of a Portland man accosted by cops who mistook him for a tagger—and then Tasered him repeatedly—came to a quiet close this morning. The Portland City Council voted unanimously (with Mayor Sam Adams, the city’s police commissioner, absent) to pay Dan Halsted $258,040 in exchange for […]
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Posted inBusey!
Busey Beat: Gary Busey’s Tax Tips!
Who better to give you some last minute tax tips on this tax day than Gary Busey? (Okay… maybe he isn’t the best choice… but his advice in regards to blowing up inner tubes is unimpeachable, goddammit!!) Via Jimmy Kimmel Live
Posted inTransportation
TriMet Budget Finalized
The long-awaited budget cuts for TriMet’s 2013 budget are finally set in stone. After six months of bouncing around debatable ideas, the board released its final product today. The changes will go into effect September 1, so take advantage of what you’ll miss while you can. Here’s the dish: Fare Zones: EliminatedThere will now be […]
Posted inCrime
The Killing of Trayvon Martin: The Commercial Fallout
As the New York Times reports, Skittles sales are up: The candy has been piled into makeshift memorials, crammed into the pockets of thousands of people who have shown up at rallies in his name and sent to the Sanford Police Department to protest the lack of an arrest in the case. Like the hoodie […]
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How George W. Bush Killed the Post Office
This Jim Hightower piece about what’s really wrong with the U.S. Postal Service is required reading. If you’re too busy to read the whole thing right now, here’s the nut: The privatizers squawk that USPS has gone some $13 billion in the hole during the past four years — a private corporation would go broke […]
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“Mad Men” and Taxes
Good morning! On the occasion of the new season of Mad Men, the New York Times would like to remind you: In a certain sense, wealthy people could live with a justifiable guiltlessness in “Mad Men” New York. Not because they were blind to the city’s mounting racial crisis or to the perils of smoking […]
Posted inCops
New Mental Health Unit for Police Bureau? Bidding Adieu to St. Johns? More Tidbits in Budget Report
A couple of days ago, I wrote about some surprise costs in the police bureau budget ($1.9 million for longevity pay and college diplomas) that might make it hard to not lay off police officers this year. After reading through a city analysis of the bureau’s budget a few more times, a few more details […]
Posted inCops
Hidden Costs in Police Union Contract Still Piling Up
When negotiating its current contract with the city, the Portland Police Association did something clever. To avoid sticker shock over a substantial pay increase, the union settled on a modest 2 percent hike—and agreed, instead, to pad officers’ checks with a series of difficult-to-track premiums rewarding things like longevity, physical fitness, college degrees, and a […]
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Loren Parks Backs Anti-Light Rail Group
This man doles out as much cash as he does orgasms. Remember Loren Parks, the Nevadan money man behind a long list of local conservative causes? You may better remember him as the 80-something online sex hypnotist. Last we heard, Parks mysteriously cut off the cash tap, leaving Republican activist Kevin Mannix high and dry. […]
Posted inTransportation
Another $150 Million for the Columbia River Crossing?
The Columbian has some head-smacking news about the would-be new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River, the good ol’ multibillion-dollar Columbia River Crossing. The Coast Guard says it’s too short, as planned, for some ships to pass under. Which means the Coast Guard won’t give its blessing for construction to start. Which means the […]
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More Bad News for Republicans
Debate all they want, but as the economy improves, Republican prospects fade. The number of people seeking unemployment aid was unchanged last week and the four-week average of applications fell to its lowest point in four years, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The figures are the latest evidence that the job market is improving. 351,000 […]
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Walmart Tries to Pay Workers in Walmart Vouchers
In Mexico (via Reddit): The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice on Thursday ruled that Wal-Mart de Mexico may not pay employees in part with vouchers redeemable only at its stores. The court nullified the employment contract of a worker who challenged the voucher payments, finding that they violated Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution, which […]