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A collection of stories while you wait for trick or treaters . . . or to savor over your Saturday morning coffee
Funds are there to improve Eugene
Former bank clerk gets prison time and six-figure fine for trying to rip off dead people
Move over Mar-a-lago, Southern oregon may soon be home to a MASSIVE resort
Kiawnis members help bowlers in Ashland
Bum foot or not, Martell Webster will be sticking around the Portland Trail Blazers locker room for a while. The team signed the forward to a $20 million extension (over four years). It’s a sigh of relief for Webster. The league has a contract extension deadline that expires tonight. Without a new contract, Webster would have had to wait until the summer to resign.
Aside from leading the team in 3-pointers last season, Webster is considered to be one of the new “good guys” on the squad. After a few rocky years with players’ antics off the court leading to a negative public image, the team is proud of players like Webster, Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge who are pillars of the community when they aren’t on the hardwood.
When it comes to helping the less fortunate, food drives and cash donations tend to be the first things that come to mind. Here at GoodNewsPDX, we always love to see someone thinking outside the box. Charities that offer the homeless a hot shower and a clean set of clothes right before setting them down to interview for a job. The local mattress store that gathers children’s shoes for foster children. Things that are a real need, but people don’t usually think about right off the top.
We are thrilled with the efforts of pacific Power and Oregon HEAT. That partnership simply says “the heating bill, we have it covered” for thousands of people living on low income. The duo gather donations year round, and then use that money to pay the heating bills of residents living on a low income. Last year, they raised $400K meaning they should be able to serve even more than the 5,000 helped last year.
We are heading into a SUPERSIZED weekend. If you consider that the average weekend begins at 5 PM on Friday evening and lasts until 11:59 PM Sunday night (because, really, who counts Monday morning in their “weekend?”), the average weekend is 55 hours long. However, due to lunar cycles, the rotation of the earth and . . . well . . . the federal government, we will have a 56 hour weekend with one additional hour sliding in early Sunday morning.
That is an additional 2 percent MORE of weekend. You don’t GET better news than that!
Happy Day Light Savings!
The Portland Rose Festival is venturing into uncharted territory. For nearly 80 years, the Festival court of Princesses has been restricted ONLY to girls in the Portland School District. NO MORE. No longer will those seats of glory be bogarted by Lincoln, Grant and Franklin. No longer will Wilson and Cleveland have a stranglehold on the throne. Oh no! The Rose Festival is opening up one NEW seat (for a total of 15) to 28 area schools including several in Beaverton.
Granted only one girl will be picked from those 28, but the Festival says this move is to reflect the broad reach of the festival. As one spokesperson puts it so eloquently (paraphrased by GoodNewsPDX) “these girls have marched in the parade, played at Waterfront Village . . . why shouldn’t they have a chance to rule Rosaria?”
Additionally, this year the competition is open to Juniors AND Seniors. Potential entrants should log onto the Rose Festival Website.
As part of the Capital Purchase Program (read: $700 Billion Bailout / Rescue / FixIt Solution)Portland Based Umpqua Bank is getting a sizeable deposit. $214 Million dollars to be exact.
The cash is for the bank to make loans as the overall program is geared towards loosening up banking industry that went rigid overall about a month ago.
But it’s not a blank check. The CPP only works with “healthy” banks (sadly those with tonsillitis or athlete’s foot are left to fend for themselves) and each participant has to adhere to standards outlined by the Treasury Department.
Sources wishing to speak on the grounds of anonymity (because we’re totally making them up) suggest that there were plans to brighten spirits at the participating banks by delivering the cash in all loose change.
It’s not over, but there was some positive news on Wall Street this morning.
First, the Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates again (second time in a month) down to an even one percent.
Then came news that the economy’s contraction in the third quarter was only about half what experts predicted (down .3 percent and not .5 percent).
Stocks jumped 1.5% including the Dow Jones which went up 150 points. Experts say that we are finally transitioning from “Don’t Buy” to “Buying a Little.”
For those of us who had to find a change of shorts last night when Number One Draft Pick Greg Oden was hurt in the first quarter of the season opener versus LA (basketball for you non sportos out there . . . any bonus points for the Breakfast Club reference?) we can all relax. While Oden WILL be out for two to four weeks, it was just a sprain and he should be fine.
Although, given the center’s absence last season and the hype surrounding his return to Rip City, can you blame people for being concerned?
For the second year in a row, the tax rate assessed as part of the 2006, North Clackamas School Bond is lower than predicted. The district promised that home owners would not have to pay more than $1.10 per $1,000 in assessed home value and sure enough, it’s 98 cents for this year.
Homeowners can get an estimate of what THEIR payment will be. Just go to the Clackamas School District Website and use the Tax Calculator. Keep in mind; this is your assessed / taxable home value. NOT the appraised value or the recent sale value.
OHSU can now say they have a NINE FIGURE donor. Phil and Penny Knight have pledged a whopping $100 MILLION donation to the OHSU Cancer Institute. The first 2 million will go to name the Linda Conant Laboratory Suite in honor of a close friend of the Knights who died of Breast Cancer this year. The suite is a key component in OHSU’s new Biomedical Research Building. The extra 98 million is up for use however the university sees fit.
The astounding financial gift is the largest in OHSU history. As a thank you, the new facility will be named the OHSU Knight Cancer institute.
