New year, better dirt.

[January 3rd, 2007] Former Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood remembers being unhappy with President Ford , a fellow Republican, when the nation's new chief executive made the controversial decision in 1974 to pardon Richard Nixon. "At the time, I may have been critical,'' Packwood told Murmurs in the wake of Ford's death last week. "But in retrospect, it was so right. The country didn't need to go through hell again."

Eligible bachelor alert: The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Tim Blixseth, a founder of Portland's now-defunct Crown Pacific Partners, and wife Edra are completing a DIY divorce , splitting their estimated $1.5 to $2 billion estate. The big prize: Edra gets the $200 million Palm Springs digs, a 420-acre spread that includes a 19-hole golf course and 30,000-square-foot manse.

When the Legislature starts Jan. 8, Measure 37 reform will top its to-do list. Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) has given a special committee no more than 90 days to resolve problems in the property-rights measure voters OK'd in 2004. There's optimism, in part because the same party (Democrat) controls both houses. And in part because M37 author Dave Hunnicutt says he can work with committee chair Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene) and vice chair Larry George (R-Sherwood). "I told Floyd Prozanski I may have asked him to go on a mission behind enemy lines and he may not return," Courtney says. Prozanski's response? "I will return." Some lawmakers want him to return with a so-called "Farmer Jones" compromise that lets small landowners develop their property but puts the clamps back on large property owners.

Want proof that a smart operator can succeed in a dying business? Just ask Cascade General CEO Frank Foti , who celebrated Christmas early on Dec. 12 with the purchase of a $3.5 million Dunthorpe home. Foti's ship-repair business on Swan Island has battled cheaper foreign labor since buying the 57-acre yard and dry dock from the Port of Portland in 2000. Foti quickly sold the floating dock (the Western Hemisphere's largest) for nearly what he paid for the entire property, and has been finding ways to stay afloat ever since. Foti was unavailable for comment.

New year, new hires. Beginning next week, Nia Ngina Afi Meeks will take the job (vacant since April 2004) heading up Portland Public Schools' 11-person communications and community engagement department. Meeks, a former flack for a Democratic state senator in Philadelphia and an ex-journalist, will earn $95,000 a year. As district communications beefs up its team, the school board also has made a new $73,035-a-year hire: Cameron Vaughan-Tyler, once government affairs director for the Portland Business Alliance, will be the board's new staff person, a paid position to help the volunteer board.

No political experience apparently needed if you want to head the Portland firefighters union. For the second straight election, firefighters on Dec. 18 rejected the status quo in their election for union president by choosing Capt. Ken Burns, a virtual unknown in political circles, over Paul Corah, a union vice president who's been an active member of the Fire & Police Disability & Retirement board. Last time around in 2003, Jack Finders defeated insider Tom Chamberlain, now statewide director of the AFL-CIO. Finders has cancer and did not seek re-election.

No BS. Thanks, readers. The final amount you donated for the 37 nonprofits featured in our annual holiday Give!Guide was more than $220,000. That's nearly triple last year's $78,000.

CORRECTION: The Dec. 13 cover story, "Bottled Up," incorrectly reported that a bill to measure the nickels collected from bottle returns was killed in the 2005 Senate. The bill was introduced in the 2003 session and died in a committee chaired by a Republican. WW regrets the error.