Dissecting the week's events (with a rusty fork).

[May 25th, 2005] WINNERS

With an Oregonian poll showing Mayor Tom Potter 's approval rating (71 percent) towering at near-Laura Bush heights, Hizzoner's honeymoon continues. Now if he could only loan some of his public support to longtime Commissioner Erik Sten. That same poll showed only 38 percent would "definitely or probably" vote to re-elect Sten next year.

Civilization is saved! Last-minute budget wrangling shook enough pennies out of City Hall coffers to preserve endangered Buckman Pool , keep the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center and build more skateparks .

The Portland Tribune is now heading into DefCon 1 mode, after The Oregonian weighed in Sunday with a major piece debunking the Trib's take on the 1989 slaying of state corrections chief Michael Francke. Trib scribes Phil Stanford and Jim Redden have questioned the conviction of small-time con Frank Gable in columns and investigative pieces. Nothing like a full-scale newspaper war to get people picking up the twice-weekly.

Miranda July , longtime Portlander and darling of the indie-performance-art set, scooped a prestigious Cannes Film Festival award. July's Me and You and Everyone We Know shared the coveted Camera d'Or.

LOSERS

The Warm Springs tribes' agreement with Gov. Ted Kulongoski for a casino in Cascade Locks was scuttled by the Interior Department last week. D.C. wants tribes seeking off-rez casinos to gain approval to buy land before planning how to spend their slot-machine proceeds.

Regal Cinemas may eventually get the blame for ruining everything for parents who bring the kids to theater pubs. By seeking a license to sell sauce at their Pioneer Place theater, the megaplex behemoth tromped into territory long occupied by Portland's boozy independent movie houses. Regal's request prompted the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to reexamine policies allowing minors at sudsy cine-halls.

The Portland Business Alliance might want to let the political embers cool for a bit after Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle lambasted Mayor Tom Potter and other City Hallers in a speech last week. Memo to PBA: Inviting officials to your annual meeting and then berating them won't win sympathetic ears next time you want something done.