Yeltsin departs. Gonzales won't.

[April 25th, 2007] Holy War of the Words! Journalists at the University of Portland's student paper, The Beacon, are fuming at school president William Beauchamp. They say Beauchamp told them the paper's April 12 edition must include an anti-abortion ad. And that Swiss-cheeses the Beacon 's "policy of neutrality " of accepting neither pro-choice nor anti-abortion ads. Former editor Jake Wiederrich, author of the neutrality policy, says the move is "disheartening because UP promotes itself as a marketplace of ideas." (As for current Beacon staff, they've got their lips sealed.) Says Beauchamp: "I didn't mandate anything, but we are a Catholic university and I think it's appropriate to reflect that."

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has a big-name Oregonian on board the campaign. Lake Oswego's Merrill McPeak , a retired Air Force general and regular on the national talking-head circuit , will serve on the freshman Illinois senator's foreign policy and national security team. McPeak, 71, previously campaigned in 2000 for George W. Bush. He calls that Bush move a huge mistake, and campaigned for Democrat John Kerry in 2004. McPeak tells Murmurs he accepted the unpaid job last week because Obama is the right candidate to end the Iraq war.

Good news for Oregon voters tired of the same old two parties. Voter registration forms from the Secretary of State's office and change-of-address forms from the Department of Motor Vehicles will now let voters register with the newly formed Independent and Working Family parties. Why? Independent Party officials had threatened a lawsuit against the state if there wasn't a change (see "Party On, Party Off," WW, March 7, 2007). Online registration forms already allow voters to register with the Independent and Working Families parties.

Tre Arrow's family and supporters are encouraged after a hearing last week in British Columbia on the jailed eco-activist's appeal of his extradition to Oregon. Arrow's sister Shawna Scarpitti says she's optimistic because the three judges will take more than a month to decide whether Arrow must return to Oregon to face arson charges from 2001. "As his lawyer...said, 'They didn't look at me like I was crazy and turn me out,'" says Scarpitti, a San Francisco Bay Area resident who's been in B.C. organizing support for her brother. Arrow, an Oregon congressional candidate in 2000 for the Green Party, didn't attend last week's hearing but was on a video link from prison.

Forest Park got a facelift Saturday thanks to 20 volunteers who built a new bridge and repaired the Birch Trail to honor Portlander Ben Linder (see "Remembering Ben," WW, April 4, 2007). Volunteers did the work to mark the 20th anniversary of Linder's killing by U.S.-backed contras in Nicaragua. Linder was 27 and working on a hydroelectric plant in Nicaragua, when he was hit by a grenade and then shot at point-blank range. Another event to remember Linder will be held at 7 pm Friday, April 27, at First United Methodist Church (1838 SW Jefferson St., 228-3195).