[July 9th, 2008]

WINNERS

1. Heckuva job, Smithie! The usually lefty 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gave a clear-cut gift to the logging industry, ruling the court had been far too patient with enviros’ highfalutin’ scientific arguments. The opinion’s author? The older brother of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), Milan Smith Jr. He said his fellow judges shouldn’t second-guess timber-happy federal forestry officials. Right! That would mean a lot of reading and possibly some math.

2. A U.S. District judge ruled last week that a lawsuit by two Oregon lawyers challenging President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program shouldn’t be thrown out just because the federales claim “state secrets” are involved. This doesn’t mean the suit brought on behalf of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation is going anywhere, but it will help civil libertarians call BS on reflexive government secrecy.

3 Plans to build a 600-room “headquarters hotel” next to the Metro-owned Oregon Convention Center made fresh headlines when developers presented a firm budget of $247 million—a $70 million increase. That’s scary for taxpayers, who may be asked to finance the project; but it means more paying work for lobbyist Len Bergstein, whose downtown hotelier clients hate the hotel.

LOSERS

1. Irish eyes aren’t smiling on [b]Oregon’s reputation after a cop in Silverton fatally shot 20-year-old Andrew Hanlon last week. Overseas newspapers covered the shooting of Hanlon, an Irish national who came to Oregon to visit his sister, with headlines like Monday’s Belfast Telegraph’s: “I saw US police shoot Irishman, says mystery ‘witness.’”

2. Broken arm? Mysterious lesions? Shot with a crossbow? If you’re among those insured by BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, the state’s largest healthcare provider, you might want to tough it out—or apply for that EU passport while you still can. Last week BlueCross raised premium rates for individual insurance plans by a full 26 percent. Fun fact: Dental floss works for stitches, too!

3. The worst roommate ever now faces the death penalty. A Multnomah County jury convicted Frank Hudson, 64, of killing his landlord and roommate in the Southeast Portland home they shared, dismembering the landlord, then dumping the bodies off U.S. 26 (“Death of a Landlord,” WW, June 11, 2008).

4. When Seattle sports suffers, Portland sports fans always revel in schadenfreude. But the Score is betting that the move of the NBA Sonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City will leave a huge hole in the hearts of Sonics-hating Trail Blazers fans. Not into sports? Just think how you’d feel if Lars Larson moved to shortwave. A little bit lonely, right?