Guess what?  You can ride the Earthquake House for about twenty bucks cheaper this year!  OMSI is temporarily reducing the cost of the family/grandparent membership pass from $90 to $70, through December 31^st.  OMSI president, Nancy Stueber, says they want to provide families the opportunity for high quality entertainment during these tough economic times.

The annual pass comes with all kinds of bonuses like free admission to permanent exhibits, free admission to premiere exhibits like the CSI program coming in 2009.  And, perhaps the best part, priority access . . . yep, your pass gives you cutsys in line!

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In what can only be described as pure slapstick, a Lane County Inmate has been busted for trying to escape through a tunnel . . . that doesn’t GO anywhere.

Jennifer Cox apparently tried to squirm through a crawl space to freedom, only to discover the crawl space didn’t lead out of the jail (no word on whether Cox popped out of the crawl space in the middle of the warden’s office or a parole board hearing).

The jail campus was locked down for about a half an hour while deputies conducted a search, eventually recreating a classic scene from Alien by following Cox into the crawl space.  

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Got some old receipts laying around, cluttering up your office that you want to get rid of?  Maybe stacks of papers you wrote back in college and are just now realizing you will never re-read?  Perhaps a few photographs you’d rather not have your children stumble upon? 

The Hillsboro Police Department is offering FREE document shredding this weekend (no questions asked) at their west precinct (250 SE 10^th in Hillsboro).  Beyond demolishing embarrassing mementos from your past, proper shredding can save your credit and your bank account.  Destroying sensistive documents is the best way to prevent ID theft.

So grab a few cans of non-perishable food (they are taking donations at the event to benefit the Hillsboro Seventh Day Adventist Church) and any paper you want to cast out of your home and stop by.

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Who knew strutting around in a tux could bring in so much cash?  The annual Corvallis Clinic Coundation “Puttin’ on the Pink Fashion Show” brought in $130,000 for Project H.E.R. this weekend.  Yeah.  $130K.  $130 GRAND.  One night. 

The gala event included fundraiser staples like a silent auction, nibbles and drinks.  But the thing that separates Putting on the Pink is the fashion show.  All the models are either cancer survivors or people who are currently undergoing treatment . . . and the pre-show pampering including makeup and hair is a treat much appreciated by the models.

Project H.E.R. helps pair newly diagnosed cancer patients with survivors and offers resources and support to those in need.  For more info and a more in-depth recap of the event check out this article in the Gazette Times.

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Here’s a piece from the East Coast, but the underlying theme can just as easily be applied to the pacific side of things. 

Thanks to the struggling economy (when did you ever think you’d here THAT phrase?) public universities and colleges are seeing a jump in interest from prospective students.  With prices for gas, food and clothing already headed upward and now the stock market downturn, students originally considering a four-year matriculation on a private campus, are expanding the search to less expensive (yet equally educative) public schools.

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Willamette University is taking “responsibility” to an entirely new level.  The campus recently released its own ”Sustainability Indicators Report” for the first time.  It’s basically a report card tracking progress on 18 categories including the Universities’ carbon footprint, efforts to buy local food products and diversity of staff.

While lot’s of campuses are going green, Willamette is adding an additional check and balance to their equation.  The school is also considering how the green efforts impact the University work environment.  Basically, they want to be environmentally friendly without forcing staff members to work longer hours for less pay.

You can read more here in an article from the Statesman Journal.

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Here at GoodNewsPDX, we occasionally open our pages and include wisdom from local experts on various topics.  This week, we invite Sinatra O. Prime to share his views on the presidential race.

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About the author:  Sinatra O. Prime is a ten-week-old cockapoo who enjoys crawling across laptop keyboards and staring blankly at CNN Headline News coverage.

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Apparently, studying the color bands on the stomachs of caterpillars can determine whether the weather will be mild or harsh come January and February.  At least, that’s according to decades of study by Pat Timm.

This year’s research says we are in for an average winter.  Not a ton of snow but not particularly warm either.  

The GoodNewsPDX meteorology department, having avidly watched the weather report on local TV news for 25 years, predicts two snowfalls of about 4 inches apiece.  Both times, we anticipate drivers will sink into panic and refuse to go outside.

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This is an incredible story of dedication out of The Statesman Journal.  Tony and Consuelo Carrasquillo are foster parents at one of four Forever Homes in Marion County.  The facilities, the first of their kind in the nation, offer foster kids a permanent home.

The couple in their 30’s are raising five teens (something Tony is used to, his mother raised foster kids for 18 years).  Marion and Polk counties saw a jump in foster care needs after the No Meth Not In My neighborhood Program went into effect.  In response, local church groups sprang into action, recruiting 50 new members who opened their homes and their hearts to kids in need.

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The Beavs were off this weekend but the Ducks trounced ASU which means, with the season more than half over, both Oregon State and the University of Oregon are still in the hunt for a share of the PAC-10 Conference title in football (UO, Cal, OSU, USC all have one conference loss).  This is good news both for die-hard fans and those who have never so much as watched a single offensive series. 

This study produced at the University of Kentucky demonstrates that success on the field can improve a school’s academic profile.  Simply put, when a school wins a lot of football games, they get more TV exposure; more eyeballs around the nation turned to the campus means a higher application rate.  Anecdotally, both campuses saw this type of surge in the 1999-2002 time frame when both the Ducks and the Beavers were in the BCS picture.

Watch for potential fireworks at the end of November when the two teams face off in The Civil War. 

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