New episode posted here . . . give it a lesson. we meant, give it a listen 
January 11, 2009
New year, new podcast
January 9, 2009
Tagger lands in the slammer
Here’s a tip. If you are in court facing felony charges for burglary and graffiti, and the judge offers to let you off the hook as long as you stop tagging innocent people’s property, put down the spray can and take up another form of public artistic expression. Like chalk drawing on the sidewalk.
Otherwise you’ll wind up like Erik Rhay’s in Eugene. Rhay’s insists he is not a “real criminal” but he’ll still be spending five years in a “real prison.” He was busted for burglary and vandalism a year ago but the judge gave him leniency with his sentence, provided he stop tagging local businesses (victims estimate that Rhay’s work has cost tens of thousands of dollars in damage over the years).
Well, attorneys proved that Rhay just couldn’t stop with the aerosol can assault and so a judge sent him packing for five years.
How’d they catch him? He failed to appear in court as part of his parole. When cops went to his house they found boxes of spray paint and photos of recent tags.
Genius.
Blazers may head to a DIFFERENT court over Darius Miles
Reports are coming out of Sports Illustrated of a warning from the Portland Trail Blazers to other teams: Don’t mess with us.
And this isn’t on-court trash talk either. It all ties back to former squad member Darius Miles. Miles has microfracture surgery a few years back and doctors said his knee injury was career-ending. If that’s the case, the Blazers are still on the hook to pay his salary, but they can remove Miles from the roster and his 2-year, $18-million pay check doesn’t count against the Blazers Salary Cap. Which they did.
Here’s where things get sticky. If Miles plays in a total of ten games during that time for another team, then that 18-million goes BACK under the BLAZERS salary cap, limiting their options for the next two seasons in terms of which players they can attract.
This season, Miles has played in a handful of games for the Celtics and the Grizzlies meaning that if he takes the court just twice more, the Blazers lose their 18-million points of wiggle room.
While it may be great strategy for another team to put Miles on the floor for two nights to handicap the Blazers in 2009 and 2010, it’s also poor sportsmanship and kinda crummy when you consider that the Blazers have done everything you want a team to do the past few years (community involvement, role models on and off the court, solid young team playing well, big fan base).
So as a pre-emptive strike, team Pres Larry Miller REPORTEDLY sent a warning e-mail to the other teams that essentially says “if you sign Darius just to mess with our cap space, we’ll see your butt in court!”
Nice to see the Blazers getting aggressive
Oregon finishes in the top-10, OSU top-20
Whichever side of the Civil War fault line you land on, it’s pretty exciting to see that both of Oregon’s D-1 football programs ended the season ranked in the top 20 this year.
In the Associated Press Poll Oregon comes in at number 10 in front of notable programs like Boise State (who beat the Ducks after dispatching the Ducks starting Qb with a cheap, late hit that officials later agreed should have resulted in an ejection, who beat the Ducks after starting QB Jeremiah Masoli went down with an injury) and National Title Hopefuls texas tech.
The Beavs slide in at 18 just in front of Iowa and Missouri.
Look for both teams to see the polls again heading in to 2009.
January 8, 2009
GoodNewsPDX SAVES the DAY!!
Just got this e-mail form Jack Z. who is a subscriber to the News You Can Use Alert System . . .
Thank You!
We were walking out the door to hop on a Greyhound Bus when we got your e-mail about the I-5 closure. Saved us a HUGE headache. Thanks!
Jack Z.
If you want to be like Jack Z. and receive helpful tips that may save YOU a massive headache, simply sign up for the News You Can Use mailing list. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s recommended by four out of five doctors (and we’re pretty sure that 5th doctor is just playing hard to get).
Shoot us an e-mail at news@goodnewspdx.com with “News I Can Use in the subject line. We’ll do the rest.
BEST flood story yet
While some heartless scalawags will turn to price gouging in times of crisis, jacking up the cost of goods or services when supply is shortened, the fine people at Horizon Air are doing the exact opposite.
With I-5 closed through Monday and rail service not rolling, Horizon is setting aside a portion of the seats on flights between Portland and Seattle to be offered at a DISCOUNT. 30 bucks cheaper than a standard ticket, in fact.
You can book your seat here.
Blazers beat the buzzer AND Detroit
Add the Pistons to the Blazers Trophy Wall. About a week after knocking off the defending champ boston Celtics WITHOUT All Star Brandon Roy, the blazers took down another Eastern Conference powerhouse with a Travis Outlaw jumper 8 seconds before time expired.
A packed Rose Garden erupted when Outlaw elevated over three defenders to hit the Blazers 84th point of the game only to explode eight seconds later when Allen Iverson’s fade away jumper clanged off the back rim, leaving the Pistons with 83 points. While fans were likely disappointed there would be no Chalupas (the taco-like treat is given away every time the Blazers score 100+) the victory puts the Blazers at 2-2 without their leader, Roy.
As an added bonus, Roy is back at practice Friday and may play Saturday.
Bruce Ely / The Oregonian
A foot safe in vernonia
Just 13 months after the second flood to devastate their town in under a decade, the people of Vernonia can relax today. The recent worry about a potential flood due to heavy rains is for naught as experts NOW predict that the river will crest one foot below flood stage.
Woman escapes 50 foot plunge into BLACKBERRIES without a scratch
Typically, the thought of diving into blackberry brush leaves one envisioning scrapes, scabs and stickers. However, for a woman in Clackamas, those thorny vines saved her life.
Wednesday night the woman (cops aren’t releasing her name) went off the steep cliff near the Riverbend Mobile Home Park. But rather than crashing into the swollen Clackamas River, the woman was kept high and dry by some blackberry vines. Apparently, she hit the brush 50-feet down the cliff and was cradled safely until rescuers could rappel down and get her.
An ambulance did take the woman to the hospital just to get checked out but she should be just fine. 
January 6, 2009
Apparently Dinosaurs and a Baby Elephant Outweigh an Arctic Blast
Despite repeat closures due to the Arctic Blast (including several lost days of Zoo Lights), the Oregon Zoo had a record year in 2008, setting annual attendance at near 1.6 MILLION people. That’s about 100,000 more than the previous record set in 2007.
Zoo officials credit the arrival of Baby Samudra (the elephant) and the incredible dinosaur exhibit that landed this summer. Word is that the Oregon Zoo plans to pull a full blow Jurassic Park, cloning four REAL dinosaurs for display in 2009 in the hopes of cracking 2 million.
Michael Durham / Oregon Zoo