AltWeeklies Wire
A Portland Company Is Building a House You Can Heat with a Blow-Dryernew
Root Design Build's Shift House, a project that has the potential to change the way the Northwest (and maybe the United States) thinks about green architecture, packs a lot of innovative technology, but one thing you won't find in it is a furnace.
Willamette Week |
John Minervini |
06-03-2009 |
Housing & Development
Why the Two Biggest U.S. Tobacco Companies Are Fighting Each Othernew
There's a tobacco war raging in Salem, Ore. that has less to do with the reasons for past battles -- raising taxes or reducing consumption -- than it does with control of a rare industry bright spot: smokeless tobacco.
Willamette Week |
Nigel Jaquiss |
05-13-2009 |
Business & Labor
An Ex-Lab Assistant at an Oregon University Charges Its Researchers with Cruelty to Rodentsnew
Tony Carr abruptly walked away from a lab assistant job at Oregon Health Science University after three months, saying OHSU's animal research can't be justified ethically or scientifically. Now Carr is going public, hoping his story will prevent unnecessary suffering and lead to better science that doesn’t rely as much on animals.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
04-22-2009 |
Animal Issues
Bet You're Not As Committed to 'Sustainable Living' As These Portlandersnew
The 7-acre Tryon Life Community Farm in Southwest Portland is home to a residential worker collective known as Cedar Moon. Sixteen adults and six children ages 3 to 9 live in two buildings directly off a long, pothole-speckled driveway.
Willamette Week |
Adrienne So |
04-22-2009 |
Environment
Can Portland Score a Big-League Soccer Deal?new
Why did Portland Commissioner Randy Leonard fight for a Major League Soccer team? And what are the chances he can close the deal? After all, there’s now a $15 million hole in the package, shaky financial assumptions and a trail of local leaders upset by his brash approach.
Willamette Week |
Beth Slovic |
04-01-2009 |
Policy Issues
Thomas Friedman Tells Portlanders to Stop Futzing Aroundnew
Say what you will about incendiary Pulitzer-Prize-winning columnist and reporter Thomas Friedman: It takes some serious chutzpah to stand in front of a packed house of Portlanders and tell them that all of their green activism is nothing more than a hobby.
Willamette Week |
Adrienne So |
03-11-2009 |
Environment
A Portland Cop Says a Complaint About His Boss's Dirty Dance Stifled His Careernew
Officer Tom Brennan says his career as a Portland cop hit a dead end the night a superior officer ground his crotch against Brennan’s wife at Dixie Tavern.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
03-11-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Smartpark, Dumb Enforcement?new
Tom Dehen didn’t know he could be threatened with arrest for walking on Portland city property with a camera and a sketch pad.
Willamette Week |
Joshua Bolkan |
03-11-2009 |
Civil Liberties
Tags: civil liberties, Portland
Oregonians Want Green Energy at Any Pricenew
There are a variety of explanations for the lack of outcry about Oregon's subsidies for wind farms. But perhaps most important, the idea of subsidizing renewable energy has the strong support of Gov. Ted Kulongoski, other political leaders and -- if polls are correct -- a large portion of Oregonians.
Willamette Week |
Nigel Jaquiss |
03-11-2009 |
Environment
A Well-Meaning Bill Would Strengthen Anti-Bullying Rules in Oregon Schoolsnew
A new bill in the Oregon Legislature would require that public schools report to state officials what groups of students are being targeted by bullies.
Willamette Week |
Beth Slovic |
02-25-2009 |
Education
The Killing in Room 515new
Three weeks after fatally stabbing his neighbor, Melvin Earl Parker is back in his apartment.
Willamette Week |
Beth Slovic |
02-25-2009 |
Crime & Justice
One Woman Vows to Fast to the Death to Keep 2,600 National Guard Members at Homenew
As if holding a round-the-clock vigil on the steps of Oregon’s Legislature weren’t enough, Michele Darr is also in the midst of her third fast.
Willamette Week |
Dan Green |
02-18-2009 |
War
One Woman Challenges Oregon’s Rollover for a Health Insurernew
When Karen Kirsch’s health-insurance premium jumped from $444 a month to $559 a month in one year, she called bullshit on Oregon's State Insurance Division by challenging a rate increase it approved.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
02-18-2009 |
Economy
He Joined the Gang When He Was 13, Now He Can't Get Outnew
Membership in one of the nation's most notorious criminal gangs can have its benefits: money, girls and a ready cadre of friends. But it may also be a dead end with no easy exit.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
02-18-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Profiles In Caution: Half of Oregon's Democratic Lawmakers Bravely Have No Commentnew
After years complaining that the Bush administration instituted torture, lied its way into a war that killed more than 4,000 Americans, and generally treated the Constitution like toilet paper in a Taco Bell bathroom, senior Democrats now show little stomach to pursue criminal charges.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
01-21-2009 |
Civil Liberties
