Here’s hoping Steve Novick and Charlie Hales (and half the print reporters in town) all snuck in some decent sleep last night. Today’s the first major public hearing on the Portland Street Fund (formerly the street fee) since late May, when testimony and debate sprawled over five or so hours—and sore feelings and intrigue are already sprouting from various factions over the new income tax that makes up half of the $46 million proposal to fund paving and safety projects. THE HEARING STARTS AT 2 PM—AND, YES, I’LL BE WRITING IT UP RIGHT HERE ON BLOGTOWN AS IT HAPPENS.
Terry Bean—a national Democratic financier, local political power player, and prominent gay-rights advocate—was arrested yesterday on suspicion of sex crimes involving a minor. It’s more fallout from a tabloidy legal fight involving an ex-lover, extortion claims, and talk of secret bedroom cameras.
Washington’s Clark County, home of the ‘Couv, has decided it ought to be against the law to ask someone in a car for money.
Seattle’s socialist councilwoman, Kshama Sawant, got herself good and arrested yesterday during a protest on behalf of workers who’ve accused Alaska Airlines of stalling on a voter-approved push to pay a $15 minimum wage.
He shot and wounded three people in the library at Florida State University late last night. Then the gunman ran out and was mowed down by campus police. And now we’ve stuck another grim pushpin into the national map of mass shootings.
Montana. Marriage equality. There’s hardly anywhere left for a bigot to hang his ten-gallon hat.
Last night’s protests in Ferguson, playing out in freezing weather, were a heavy-handed sneak preview of the looming police crackdown once a grand jury likely decides it won’t indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed Michael Brown.
The sometimes deadly troubles with 14 million airbags—prone to violent explosions and subject to recall orders—have a simple root in common: a manufacturer’s secret switch to a “cheap, unbelievably cheap” (and dangerously volatile) accelerant.
The freak snowstorm that’s encased Buffalo, NY, in several feet of misery has claimed eight lives so far (mostly snow-shoveling heart attacks). And it isn’t even done yet. An additional three feet could be dumped on top of the five-plus feet already on the ground—adding up to a normal year’s worth.
A seventh woman has publicly accused Bill Cosby of rape—she was one of 13 women who would have testified about Cosby in a 2004 trial that never happened after his accuser at the time settled with him out of court. Cosby’s new sitcom is dead. And his famous old one, resurrected on TV Land, has been put back into the cold, cold ground. (Sorry if you got used to living off those royalties, Malcolm-Jamal, Tempestt, Keshia, Lisa, and Sabrina!) Read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ explanation in the Atlantic, if you haven’t yet, about why America somehow required this kind of critical mass of accusations before the dam could break.
Mike Nichols is dead. Long live Mike Nichols.
I’ll say it again. Add a nickel or a dime on all fuel (except diesel for semis) sold in the areas that Portland has to maintain the highways. Also, double the license fees on all vehicles registered to Portland are residents and businesses and add an annual excise tax on electric-only vehicles.
Also, require a license on any bicycle that uses the bicycle paths in the Portland area. If you can afford hundreds of dollars for a bicycle, $10 or $20 dollars a year to use the paths shouldn’t bother you. Unpopular, I know, but realistic.