As mentioned in this week's Hall Monitor, polling released on Monday, October 29, by OPB and the O crystallized the current state of the mayoral race with only a week to go before election day. But here's who else (and what) was up (or down): Barack Obama's margin over Willard Romney was only in single digits. Incumbent City Commissioner Amanda Fritz was holding a solid lead over State Representative Mary Nolan—who's left hoping for a surge of support from a large plurality of undecided voters; legal pot and Portland's arts tax were trailing; and Democratic incumbents Kate Brown and Brad Avakian were modestly in front in their races, respectively, for secretary of state and labor commissioner. DENIS C. THERIAULT
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Keep your ticket handy: TriMet is bumping up its security team. The public transit agency hired six new fare enforcers this week—bringing its total to 26—and added a federally funded "K-9" team (staffed by a black lab named Snoopy and a cop named Officer Stoner). Since October 2011, TriMet has cracked down on fare-jumpers, issuing six times as many citations as it did in the previous year. Also, by the end of the year, all buses should have security cameras, as all MAX trains already do. SARAH MIRK