If Dumbledore has a domestic partner, now’s the time to move to Oregon.

[October 24th, 2007]

Let’s make it a race: Earlier this year, New Seasons Market co-founder Eileen Brady , 45, considered running in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. Now Murmurs hears that Brady is quietly making the rounds of political insiders to gauge her chances in next year’s Portland mayoral race . Thus far, the only announced big-name candidate is City Commissioner Sam Adams . Brady was unavailable for comment.

No more cigarettes for sale at the on-campus convenience store owned and operated by Portland State University . PSU says it’s decided to stop selling tobacco at the University Market in the Smith Center once the current inventory sells out because it’s “in the public interest.” Andrew Epstein, school-policy coordinator of the American Lung Association of Oregon, calls the move “terrific.” Just maybe not for stressed-out students. Or for uninsured kids banking on state voters to pass Measure 50, which would cover poor children’s health insurance by increasing cigarette taxes.

Sometimes where you stand depends on where you live. Former AM Northwest host Mary Starrett , the 2006 Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate, was a big Measure 37 backer in 2004. But now that there’s a M37 claim to develop a slew of homes on farmland near her Yamhill County home, she’s at least thinking about voting for Measure 49—which would restore many of the land-use protections gutted by 37. Starrett and her neighbors fear the claim by former Lewis&Clark College treasurer Glenn Gregg will destroy the road they paid to pave and slurp up scarce drinking water. “There goes the neighborhood,” says Starrett. “Maybe I should move back to Brooklyn .”

Two weeks ago, WW reported Greg Johnson’s detailed claims contradicting prosecutors’ version of ex-Department of Corrections director Michael Francke’s murder in 1989 (“Should You Trust This Man?,” WW , Oct. 10, 2007). Yet Johnson said Monday that state and federal law enforcement haven’t interviewed him about his account that Francke was killed to stifle a prison-corruption probe and that Frank Gable was wrongly convicted. “That’sdisappointing ,” says ex-legislator Mike Burton, who worked with Francke. “If I were in their shoes, I’d at least follow up and try to prove him wrong .” FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele says the statute of limitations has expired on public corruption allegations and the FBI lacks jurisdiction in murder investigations unless invited by local agencies.

Read all about it: Looks like a dispute between 18 ex-i]Oregonian[/i] “correspondents” and the daily’s New Jersey-based owners isn’t going to be settled soon. Two ex-correspondents filed a federal lawsuit last year against the O , charging that they performed as employees but got less pay than staffers and none of their generous pension benefits (see “Correspondents’ Course,” WW , Oct. 25, 2006). The two, along with 16 other ex-correspondents, were scheduled to mediate their issue with The O Oct. 29-31. But the O pulled the plug. “Having previously agreed to mediation, The Oregonian unilaterally decided not to do so,” says Roy Pulvers, an attorney representing the claimants. Collectively, the 18 are claiming $2 million-plus owed them by The O Oregonian attorney Ed Hardin didn’t return a call seeking comment.

There’s an “Olympic torch relay” for the 2008 Beijing Games coming to Portland this Friday, Oct. 26. But this version is called the Human Rights Torch Relay, and organizers say it’s intended to protest the coexistence of the Olympic Games and crimes against humanity in China. The relay organizer, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, says the 4 pm rally and sidewalk march at Pioneer Courthouse Square began in Athens, Greece, on Aug. 9, 2007. When it wraps up next year in Hong Kong, it will have visited more than 100 cities.