Denis C. Theriault TriMet is “still prepared to honor” a handshake cost-sharing agreement. It was a handshake deal. But the terms, as Mayor Sam Adams saw them, were pretty clear. The city wouldn’t raise a stink over TriMet’s decision to cancel free light-rail trips downtown—so long as the transit agency used the money to keep […]
Schools
Posted inSchools
Bang a Pot! Quebec Solidarité Protest Downtown Tonight
Casseroles – Montréal, 24 Mai 2012 from Jeremie Battaglia on Vimeo Students in Quebec have been massing in the tens of thousands since February, protesting, at first, sizable hikes in university tuition, and, later, their government’s heavy-handed police response to the protests. And since then, the movement has only spread. Nightly protests called casseroles—where people […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Q & A with Schoolyard Farms’ Courtney Leeds
What happens when you turn three quarters of an acre into an urban farm right next to an elementary school? You get Schoolyard Farms, the six-month-old start-up—located near Oregon City’s Candy Lane Elementary—with a mission to educate kids on urban farming and the local food system! Schoolyard took over from Singer Hill Farms, a local […]
Posted inSchools
Salad Bar Coming to Local Elementary School
HBO Blasphemy! Portland has been selected to be one of the 12 cities targeted by HBO’s “Weight of the Nation” show on childhood obesity. One school in particular, James John Elementary, will receive the HBO treatment. Which isn’t as fancy as it sounds. Turns out, these kids are going to be rewarded with a salad […]
Posted inArtsy
Red Fang to Play Benefit for Grant High Art Department
While one might not initially think of the Red Fang dudes as role models (exhibits A, B, and C), they’re getting into the do-good business with their next hometown show. On Friday, May 25, Red Fang headline a benefit show at the Hawthorne Theatre which will raise funds for the art department of Portland’s Grant […]
Posted inEvents
PDX Hosts First Youth Violence Summit
Thanks to the internet and, most recently, the controversial documentary Bully, the issue of school bullying has elbowed its way into the national spotlight. And local. The Multnomah Youth Commission, the “official youth policy body” for the city and county, is putting on a first-of-its-kind conference in Portland this weekend: the Rob Ingram Youth Summit […]
Posted inPolitics
Glenn Beck’s Blog Bashes PSU Courses
The Blaze—Glenn Beck’s news blog—zoomed in on a pair of Portland State University’s “controversial” courses today: “Revolutionary Marxism: Theory and Practice“ and ”Art Within Activism.” The author is shocked that good ol’ American taxpayers are funding these Marxist courses without providing a political balance. The Marxism course urges student to connect with local groups like […]
Posted inSchools
Education Evaluation
Great news everyone! The state’s on-time high school graduation rate has increased one percent! According to state school Superintendent Susan Castillo, a rise from 66 to 67 percent over a year is something to write home about, calling the results “encouraging.” However, head honcho (read: Governor) John Kitzhaber reacted differently to this news, calling the […]
Posted inSchools
University of Oregon President Ousted
I feel obliged to report on this because this man handed me my diploma: Oregon Board of Higher Education decided not to renew the contract of Richard Lariviere, University of Oregon president. To put it nicely, he’s fired. Why? It looks like the man didn’t have many supporters in the Oregon University System, let alone […]
Posted inSchools
Military Recruitment Meets its Match
Department of Defense What do anti-war recruiters have on tanks? The Portland School Board voted unanimously Monday to allow “counter recruiters” as much freedom and attention on school campuses than military recruiters. With this nod of approval, board members said that they expect peace-promoting and anti-war fliers, posters and groups to pop up around local […]
Posted inPolitics
Campus Gun Ban Lifted
An Oregon Court of Appeals panel rejected Oregon University System’s ban on guns on its seven state campuses yesterday on the premise that firearm regulation remains solely in the hands of state legislature. Prior to yesterday’s ruling, people with firearm permits could not pack their weapon on campus, even if it was clearly concealed. Now, […]
Posted inSchools
This Week’s Back-to-School Issue
This week’s Mercury is our annual Back-to-School issue, and it’s crammed with lots of useful useless info for students—or anyone looking for career advice, really. We interviewed a bunch of local professionals with weird, unique, or cool jobs to find out how they got to be where they are (sometimes school helps! And sometimes it […]