Read 'em and weep.

[May 28th, 2003] WINNERS

1) Police reform advocates got a big boost Saturday when 1,300 Portlanders interrupted a sunny holiday weekend to protest the death of Kendra James, shot by a police officer May 4.

2) Good week for Portland creative types. Gus Van Sant snatched up Best Picture and Best Director at Cannes for Elephant, while Matt Groening , creator of The Simpsons, earned the Reuben Awards' Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

3) October Lewis , the only woman among the "Portland Seven," who are charged with conspiracy to aid the Taliban and al Qaeda, was released from jail to await her trial next year. The bad news? She's required to live at an undisclosed location in the 'Couv.

4) Legions of hungry sea lions barked for joy when they discovered a gigantic free buffet of endangered salmon inside Bonneville Dam. The marine mammals, who apparently haven't read up on environmental laws, have already polished off about 2,700 salmon and steelhead--1.5 percent of the total run of fish in the dam.

LOSERS

1) Individual Oregon taxpayers are taking a beating at the expense of corporations. Forecasters reckon that corporate tax receipts will slide to a paltry 4 percent of the general fund in the current biennium--the lowest in state history--leaving individuals to pick up the slack.

2) The Oregon House of Representatives slapped fertile females by rejecting "equal coverage for [all] prescription drugs" in a 32-26 vote that was divided along party lines (Dems for, Republicans against). The proposal would have forced insurance companies to cover birth-control prescriptions.