Winners

1. After years of complaints that Oregon's higher-education system isn't meeting the demands of the state's new high-tech economy, Pacific Northwest Venture Capital Notes, a local venture-capital newsletter, reported that Yahoo's on-line magazine ranked the University of Oregon the most wired public university in the country.

2. After hosting a CD-release party in the glitzy Schnitz last week, Portland pianist Thomas Lauderdale now joins Portland saxophonist Patrick Lamb for a Dec. 14 gig at the White House. The duo will be performing original tunes such as Lamb's "The Color of Spring Amy's Opus" for White House VIPs.

 3. With this week's unveiling of an innovative light rail-to-the-airport scheme, the moribund North-South line gets a boost in several ways: The airport line gets the MAX closer to Clark County; any light-rail success at this point revives hopes for other spurs; and the self-financed airport line may actually make more federal money available for a line to Vancouver.

Losers

1. Word leaked out last week that the Emergency Board of the State Legislature refused to approve two federal grants totaling $40,000 to fund the state Environmental Justice Advisory Board--a governor-appointed group investigating the impact of pollution on minority communities. Why turn down money from the Environmental Protection Agency? Some say the Legislature is afraid farm workers will use the advisory board as a forum to rail against pesticide use.

2. Southeast Portland teen-age lovers will have to find a new place for necking and heavy petting next spring. Tom Moyer, owner of the Foster Road Drive-In Theater at 11501 SE Foster Road, sold the site to a Minneapolis-based developer, and plans are already under way to build two warehouses there.

3. In its weekly roundup of bad investments, The New York Observer reported that popular Hawthorne hangout Noah's Bagels, owned by Boston Chicken, has seen its stock price drop 80 percent since October.