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Gas experts chalk the drop up to the plummeting price of crude, down more than half (from $147 a barrel in July to $70 a barrel now).
For reference, if you have a 12-gallon tank and gas costs $4.10 a gallon as it did over the summer, you pay about 50 bucks to fill up. At $3.10, you only pay 37 bucks to top it off . . . putting an extra $13.00 in your pocket.
We’ve been dealt a healthy dose of the standard fall Portland weather lately with fog, rain and a biting cold. But never fear, we should have at least one more healthy dose of warmth and sun before Jack Frost delivers his usual five-knuckle, six-month-long cold, wet smack in the mouth.
The forecast calls for not a drop of rain in the next seven days and temperatures hanging around the mid-60s to low-70s. In fact, aside from some early morning fog, it should be darn right nice for the weekend.
AND, for those of you with children or those who just enjoy wearing costumes and going up to the homes of random strangers asking for a treat, the trend should continue to Halloween night, making for an excellent evening of trick-or-treating.
From the “Lock him up good and tight” file, cops have arrested 18-year-old Angel Munoz of Gresham for firing three rifle bullets into a home on Powell, hitting a toddler in the cheek while the little guy slept in his crib.
Cops aren’t offering any motive as to why Munoz fired off the three rounds, only that he did admit to the shooting. He took the gun from a friends apartment. The victim’s parents called the cops when they heard the shots, but didn’t realize their two-year-old was hurt until the next morning when they saw blood on his cheek. Bullet fragments were found in the little guy’s bedroom.
At this point, Munoz is sitting in a Multnomah County cell awaiting arraignment on 19 total counts.
Make it five straight terms of growth for Portland Community College. Fall term enrollment figures show the local school has expanded in terms of total headcount AND full-time equivalent students, up 4.6 and 9.5 percent respectively.
PCC President Preston Pulliams has an idea why we’re seeing such growth:
“Ever since the economy took a turn for the worse, our enrollment has grown term after term,” he says. The biggest spike is in southeast where the center at 82nd and Division jumped by 20 percent enrollment wise.
All not bad, especially considering that PCC is the largest, post-secondary institution in the state and serves close to 87,000 students.
West Linn police are putting a bow on close to forty unsolved car break-ins thanks to a vigilant citizen. The witness in question spotted the suspect car and snapped a photo on his IPhone and called the cops after he found out a neighbor had been victimized.
An investigation lead cops to a group of four suspects who admitted to the thefts once they were in custody. The neer-do-wells busted into cars in West Linn, Lake Oswego and Happy Valley, claiming they expected to find better loot in the affluent neighborhoods.
Damages top 15 grand and the quartet are looking at seven counts apiece.
Props to the student body, staff and family members of the Westside Christian High School for pitching in to help 23 area non-profits as part of their annual Get Out Serve-a-thon. The annual event has generated 22,500 service hours and $260,000 in supplies from the 270-member student body.
They took on all kinds of tasks, things like painting an weatherizing, construction, yard work, even warehouse tasks.
The program is designed to teach kids compassion and it’s going international. About 10% of the money raised this year will be going to KIVA to help finance small business loans in developing nations.
Here’s a great story from the Register Guard about Olympian, Nick Symmonds. Though he came home from Beijing empty-handed, he got some very special recognition upon his return to Springfield:
http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/1232769-35/story.csp
Few people actually enjoy Jury Duty. It’s a big inconvenience, can get in the way of work and family and the day can be downright boring (having served multiple times, the staff at GoodNewsPDX knows this too well). However, while Jury Duty may be an annoyance, there are things that are MORE likely to raise one’s blood pressure. For example, people who don’t think the rules apply to them. The driver who skips past a line of cars waiting at a light, only to crowd in at the front. The nattering twit in the movie theatre who enjoys talking throughout the film. And, of course, people who are summoned to Jury Duty but decide they don’t really need to attend.
A couple dozen of these scalawags were called before a Lane County judge this week for skipping out on service over the summer. The ne’er-do-wells were hand delivered summons by Sheriff’s deputies and got the pleasure of standing in court to be LECTURED about their irresponsibility. Plus, each juror STILL has to serve over the course of the winter.
The action was taken after several jurors skipped out on service, leaving the court without enough bodies to fill the jury boxes on three trials set to start that day back in August. Apparently, random citizens had to be plucked off the street to fill in.
Those who showed up and took their lecture like adults are apparently getting by with a warning. A few lay-abouts ignored the SECOND summons and now are looking at “unpleasant consequences.”
A team of departments in Southwest Washington helped nab a dozen (alleged) bad guys the past few weeks. Detectives targeting repeat offenders, violent fugitives, gang members, high risk parolee and probation offenders and felons who have committed criminal acts rounded up the “Dirty Dozen” along with 15 guns, three and a half pounds of drugs and more than one hundred grand in cash.
The Register Guard reports that 27 families will, once again, have a roof over their head thank to St Vincent De Paul in Veneta. The rural, $5.4 Million housing project should wrap up construction in April.
We’d post the link but this article is for subscribers only. Go to www.registerguard.com to sign up.
