This Friday, October 12, marks the final deadline for Portland's fluoridation opponents to submit 19,868 voter signatures and put a fluoride project unanimously approved by Portland City Council on hold until a special election in 2014. Last Thursday, October 4, advocates for Clean Water Portland announced they were just about in reach of that goal. The group said it collected more than 20,000 signatures after only three weeks of trying, with plans to collect 10,000 more by the deadline. The group wants a little bit of a cushion just in case some of the signatures they've collected aren't valid. DENIS C. THERIAULT

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A police report and other documents providing even more details on mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith's dropped assault citation—including the firsthand account of the woman Smith injured—were released Monday, October 8, by the Oregonian and Willamette Week. The documents back up some of what Smith has said about the incident at an off-campus college party in Eugene, namely that he was trying to fend off the woman after someone tipped or shook the couch she was sleeping on. But the woman said Smith used his fist, contrary to Smith's recollections, and that Smith had tried to persuade her to sleep with him at an earlier party that day. DCT

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The rest of the country is starting to think a little more like Oregon, at least when it comes to religion. A new study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that nearly 20 percent of Americans don't identify with any specific religion—up from 15 percent five years ago. Oregon and Washington are the least traditionally religious states in the country, with 25 percent of us not identifying as a member of any religious group. SARAH MIRK