News Two of the biggest supporters of Measure 26-151, which calls for the fluoridation of Portland's water supply have kicked in more cash to the Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland campaign.State filings for today show that the Northwest Health Foundation, the biggest contributor to the campaign, has given another $20,000, bringing its total to $235,000. The Dentists of Oregon PAC kick...   More

News The star-crossed, $35-per-head arts tax Portlanders approved last November continues to sow confusion in the populace. For the second time, the city is having to issue guidance about who should and should not have to pay the tax—and this time, it's offering a refund.Mayor Charlie Hales, whose exasperation with the flawed measure is obvious, announced this morning that the ci...   More

News Margaret Groening, the mother of the mother of Matt Groening, the Portlander who created of The Simpsons has died in Portland at age 94. The names of Margaret "Marge" Groening and her husband, Homer, who died in 1996, will live on forever as part of American culture, and in Simpsons reruns. (Although at least in the photo in her obit, Marge did not re...   More

News Mayor Charlie Hales clashed with firefighters when, as a city commissioner, he oversaw Portland Fire & Rescue in the late 1990s. Hales pushed hard for the bureau to diversify its hiring practices, which, to some degree, it has done.
Not surprisingly, when Hales ran for mayor last year, after a decade in the private sector, Firefighters Local 43 threw its support to his riv...   More

News As the University of Oregon's legal bills related to a pending NCAA investigation mount, Rep. Brent Barton (D-Oregon City) introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at making coaches think harder about their conduct.
Here's the legislative summary of Legislative Concept 3954:

Provides that coach at public university who intentionally or recklessly commits or causes to be comm...   More

News After House Democrats failed last Wednesday to pass a $275 million tax increase, various interest groups faced a more real prospect of competing for scarce resources.
Yesterday, Oregon Education Association lead lobbyist Beth Anne Darby met with a coalition of human services groups to tamp down concerns that in the uncertainty about whether there will be additional revenue, the p...   More

News Deanna Swenson, the part-time Clackamas County elections worker whose ballot tampering WW first reported last November, was sentenced to jail time today.
Here's the release from Secretary of State Kate Brown   More

News The campaign advocating fluoridation of Portland’s drinking water has trumpeted the support it’s received from minority organizations, ranging from the Urban League of Portland to the Latino Network. This widespread support, backers say   More

News A Kansas man who helped defeat fluoridation in Wichita, Kan., last year has turned his attention to Portland.
Although Clean Water Portland, which opposes Measure 26-151, which would fluoridate Portland's water, has slipped well behind the pro-fluoride campaign, Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland in the money race, the "no" campaign is attracting healthy contributions from out-of-stat...   More

News Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland, the political action committee advocating a "yes" vote on Measure 26-151 which would fluoridate Portland's water, reported more large contributions today.
Healthy Kids got $50,000 from the Washington Dental Service Foundation; a $25,000 in-kind contribution from the Northwest Health Foundation and $5,000 from the Oregon Medical PAC. <...   More