Bouquets for some. Bastinado for others.

[May 11th, 2005] WINNERS

Pay-day loan sharks, bankruptcy attorneys and marriage counselors are gonna be in the velvet sooner than they thought-the state says video slots, hotly anticipated by Oregon's most abject gamblers, will roll out weeks earlier than planned. Tavern owners , despite bitching about their cut of the action, should also crack a celebratory ice-coldie.

Trouble with the Law? Winners & Losers can confidently recommend the services of Randy Ray Richardson . Last week, the county-prosecutor-turned-defense-attorney skated on charges that he bribed and tampered with witnesses. The charismatic Richardson took a leading role in his own defense, scoring a slew of Not Guiltys.

Fans of failed minor-league Portland sports , make space in your kitschy memorabilia collection. Looks like the market that's said hello (and then goodbye) to everything from arena football's Forest Dragons to team tennis' Cascades is in line for a National Lacrosse League franchise. A city waits.

LOSERS

The Portland Development Commission is probably looking for sandbags and entrenching tools this week, after its Burnside Bridgehead decision plunged the urban-renewal agency into a political free-fire zone. City Commissioner Randy Leonard wants the agency dismembered. Mayor Tom Potter and other commissioners are eager to wade into the Bridgehead fight. And citizen-activists inflamed by the Bridgehead rumpus are sharpening tableware and preparing for an early Bastille Day celebration at PDC HQ. (See Murmurs for more gory details, page 10.)

Temperance fans in St. Johns may want to drown their sorrows after the city killed efforts to create an "alcohol impact zone" in their NoPo neighborhood. The attempt to limit beer and wine sales (and thus curb street drinking) in the area may resurface this summer. Until then, solid citizens will just have to live with impromptu public sculptures made from empty Sparks cans.

Mother Earth heard her patchouli-stinking grandchildren weep over the weekend as the Bush administration decided to abandon the Clinton-era "roadless rule," which protected 58 million acres of untouched federal wilderness. If you see any treehuggers, hug them-because it's open season on their piney friends.