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Jack Bog's Blog, by Jack Bogdanski of Portland, Oregon

Day of reckoning

All over America, thousands of lawyer wannabes are waking up this morning to the ultimate challenge: the bar exam. Most of the test takers are recent law school graduates; some are experienced attorneys who want to be licensed in a...

Posted on July 27, 2010 3:53 AM

Sinking deeper off the deep end

The folks who oppose Tri-Met's insane plan to build a light rail line from Portland's moribund downtown to just south of nowhere in the Milwaukie 'burbs report some startlingly bad news. Apparently the Tri-Met board briefing the other day revealed...

Posted on July 15, 2010 7:19 PM

Tri-Met strategy: Put the memorial plaque up in advance

Here's a future Max stop that will no doubt be the death of some poor soul. But hey, there are millions and millions of people moving here any minute, so what's one or two sacrificial lambs?...

Posted on July 13, 2010 6:06 PM

Another Saturday, another good Maxine Bernstein story

In case you missed it, Tom Brennan -- the Portland police officer who blew the whistle on questionable conduct by one of his colleagues involved in the Chasse killing -- is apparently getting de-ostracized soon, and sent back out on...

Posted on July 12, 2010 9:41 AM

Another shaky step by the O

Have you noticed that the O now runs little headshots of its reporters next to their bylines? I'm not sure that's such a great idea. The reporters are smiling, even when the stories are tragic: Navas looks as though she...

Posted on July 5, 2010 10:43 AM

Kyron stepmom murder-for-hire bombshell!

Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian scores a major hit with this stunning news....

Posted on July 4, 2010 4:48 AM

More monkeying with the duck poop cleanup bids

When bureaucrats keep changing the rules in a public bidding process, it always waves a red flag with us. So it goes with the City of Portland bids for the cleanup of the duck pond at Laurehurst Park. Not only...

Posted on July 2, 2010 11:49 AM

Three out of four ain't bad

There's an interesting video up on Portland Mayor Sam Adams's website. It's the press conference that was held yesterday about the recent gang violence in North Portland. Adams kicks it off, blathering away from a p.r. flack's script about...

Posted on June 23, 2010 7:44 AM

Neighborhood involvement

We checked in with the outraged neighbors at their protest of the new wireless antenna installation at Fremont and 37th in Portland this evening. There were three dozen or so people, mostly kids, standing out in the rain, holding signs...

Posted on June 1, 2010 10:26 PM

Can we afford Milwaukie light rail?

Republican gubernatorial candidate [rim shot] Allen Alley really hit a nerve the other day when he suggested that the Portland region should put aside, at least for now, the plan to build a $1.4 billion,* seven-mile light rail line from...

Posted on May 6, 2010 5:27 AM

Saltzman's previous nonprofit girlfriend

This week's scandal involving Portland commissioner Dan "Legend" Saltzman's voting of $600,000 of public money to his girlfriend's employer evokes memories of another woman with whom Saltzman was romantically linked in the 2000's. Reports were that it was Teresa Dulce...

Posted on May 5, 2010 5:56 AM

Irvington bunker plan: 49 units, no parking

The story we broke a couple of weeks ago about the revival of a proposed apartment complex project at NE 15th and Hancock has made the mainstream media. For the immediate neighbors, the news is not good: 49 apartments, ranging...

Posted on May 4, 2010 6:24 AM

Tri-Met keeps it in the Network

As predicted here last night, the Tri-Met board of directors stayed quite local in their choice to replace outgoing CEO Fred "Crocodile" Hansen. The new guy is Neil McFarlane, who's been managing the troubled transit agency's capital projects for years....

Posted on April 28, 2010 3:15 PM

New Tri-Met CEO expected in the morning

While Portland struggles to make sense of a tragic waste of two young lives under the wheels of a Tri-Met bus, the nursing home residents on the troubled transit agency's board are apparently going to name a new general manager...

Posted on April 27, 2010 10:31 PM

Fan mail from down south

Our reader Paul Riddell, who runs the Texas Triffid Ranch, dropped us a nice note this morning about what's going on in his neck of the woods: I've been keeping really close watch on your reports on City of Portland...

Posted on April 20, 2010 10:32 PM

Dike's next gig

We note with amusement that Dike Dame, the convicted bank fraud artist who served as partner with Homer Williams in pushing through Portland's spectacularly failed SoWhat District, is now one of a select few candidates for a new official committee...

Posted on April 12, 2010 3:27 PM

OMG! Earl the Pearl putting in for money to buy buses!

Here in Portland, where we're all ga-ga for trains and streetcars these days, the bus system is going to pot. The routes are being cut, and a lot of the buses are old and rickety. Today comes the shocking news...

Posted on April 1, 2010 8:45 PM

The ultimate in consultant pork

When it comes to throwing money at consultants, Portland takes the cake. Now it's even going to farm out writing its own tax rules. Here's a new request for proposals on a so-far-open-ended contract to create the new system...

Posted on March 17, 2010 1:17 PM

Another "Thumper" Humphreys encounter

Before he killed James Chasse in the summer of 2006, Portland's violent man child in blue had one of his moments in another alleged fare evasion case on MAX. The injured citizen in that case has now reportedly had the...

Posted on March 17, 2010 5:27 AM

Getting ready for the Lincoln High condo tower

They're shrinking the Portland Airport "urban renewal" district to make way for the massive new district that's going to suck up Northwest Portland, Goose Hollow and more land down toward Portland State. You know the drill -- divert the property...

Posted on March 11, 2010 12:04 PM

What I'd really like to sign a petition for

Hey, Beau Breedlove's back in town! He supports the Adams recall! Avel Gordly! Sign the petition! Meh. Here are some causes that are far more worthy of backers' money and signature gatherers' fervor: 1. Placing the City of Portland's water...

Posted on February 24, 2010 9:40 AM

Panel blasts using Portland water revenue for bikes and streetcars

Here's an interesting document, generated last week by the water standing committee (not the standing water committee) of the Portland Utility Review Board. It complains (as we have recently in connection with sewers) that the city's water bureau is spending...

Posted on February 23, 2010 4:57 AM

Grand jury matinee

Maxine Bernstein of the O had a fascinating story over the weekend (once again, buried by her editors on a Friday night) about how the grand jury in the police shooting of Aaron Campbell were shown a police training video...

Posted on February 22, 2010 3:26 PM

Jesse Jackson on his way to Portland in latest cop killing

If this is true, we've got some serious drama ahead: Portland OR,--Rev. Jesse Jackson will be in Portland on Tuesday, February 16 in response to the shooting death of Aaron Campbell on January 29th. Rev. Jackson will participate in a...

Posted on February 14, 2010 7:30 PM

Friday night is Out-of-Control-Cops Night at the O

It's getting to be a weekly ritual. Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian writes an important story about alleged police misconduct in Portland, and rather than run it on a weekday when more readers will see it, her editors post it...

Posted on February 6, 2010 8:10 AM

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