Winners

1.Travel and Leisure magazine dubbed Southeast Portland's Hawthorne District one of the world's top four urban hot spots, along with neighborhoods in Saigon, Toronto and Berlin. A three-page article hyped the "denizens of laid-back Hawthorne" and paid particular attention to gems such as the Bagdad Theater, Sorel Vintages, Nick's Famous Coney Island, Tabor Hill Cafe and Bread and Ink Cafe.

2.Sen. Ron Wyden, who has been trashed by consumer advocates like Ralph Nader for actively supporting last year's FDA reform bill, was the featured speaker at the Oregon Consumer League's annual meeting last weekend. Wyden drew hearty applause and not a single challenge about the landmark legislation, which, among other things, loosens the regulations imposed on drug manufacturers, allowing them to promote uses for drugs that have not been FDA-approved.

3. Last year, auditors said some unkind things about the City of Portland's Fleet Services Division--the shop that supplies and maintains 2,400 city vehicles. But a full-blown audit that's just been completed gives Fleet Services pretty good marks and offers good news for taxpayers. Auditors say that while city mechanics charge more ($58.62 per hour) than peers in most cities, they still get paid less than private-sector mechanics in Portland.

Losers

1. This month's Harper's printed an embarrassing letter written by Nike's other ad agency, San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein & Partners. The letter, sent to hipster poets like Emily XYZ, solicited ad copy--er, poems--for Nike's Winter Olympic advertising blitz. "Ultimately, of course, you are free to write anything you want," the proposal reads. "Keep in mind TV network standards...regarding content and language. Unfortunately, in this instance, the mechanics of commerce outweigh the demands of art." One of the submitted poems did end up as copy for a TV commercial.

2. Portland Trail Blazer Rasheed Wallace had his baggy shorts handed to him by Spurs rookie Tim Duncan at Sunday's embarrassing loss to San Antonio. Wallace went 3 for 16, had 6 rebounds and played with the sort of inconsistency that has characterized his entire season. This from a guy whose contract is worth more than the gross national product of Tunisia.

3. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Frank Bearden signed an agreement that forces Scott's Auto Sales to resolve any consumer complaints filed with the Department of Justice within the next 20 days. Under the agreement, the business will pay all costs of mediation. Scott's is currently awaiting a state decision on whether it can even do business any more. Bearden's decision applies regardless.