WWIRE

  KATU is reporting  that the Westboro Baptist Church is coming to Silverton because the Oregon town had the audacity to elect Stu Rasmussen as its mayor this month. Here's KATU's troubling report: And here's some background reading from the Santa Fe Reporter on the church itself.

Portland Public Schools' student achievement committee looked at Jefferson High School's progress today, just a couple of weeks after announcing the closure of the Young Men's Academy at Jeff. Here are some highlights from the meeting: • Jefferson may pilot a program to extend the school day to 6 p.m. to provide "real opportunities and choices for kids," some of whom may not be served by a school day that runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Margaret Calvert, a Jeff administrator....

It has just come to my attention that the current touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which will stop at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall for two nights, Dec. 2-3, stars Ted Neeley. Neeley, 65, originated the role of Jesus in the first Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice's biblical musical in 1971, starred in Norman Jewison's 1973 film adaptation, returned to the show in the '90s and again in 2006 for the current tour. The tour is booked through 2009. Why do...

Each week, WW writer John Minervini brings you the latest in book reviews, author Q&A’s and Portland literary gossip. Click here to join the Tome Raider mailing list. Six-word Summary: Monkey-Rope for the New Millennium "Really, universally, relations stop nowhere ... the exquisite problem of the artist is eternally to draw, by a geometry of his own, the circle within which they shall happily appear to do so." - Henry James Although he might have finessed the wording a bit...

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This—and by "this" I mean the press release I've pasted below—is the only thing that has paused our office's ongoing, day-long conversation about Twilight and the very real possibility that we may be trampled to death by howling, lustful, bite-craving teenaged girls this evening at Portland's only sneak peek screening of the film: On Friday, October 3, 2008, Audrey DeKam of Albany, Oregon, gave birth to an 8 pound, 13 ounce, 21.5 inch long, healthy son at Corvallis Good Samaritan...

Hey, just noticed this event on the Powell's Books calendar: Tuesday, November 18th @ 7:30pm American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship, presents a free-wheeling discussion of citizen journalism and the limits of free speech, featuring guests Ian Gillingham, an editor at Willamette Week, and Kevin Kono, attorney for Davis Wright Tremaine. Sounds like good fun—I'll head down there tonight! Come join us at Powell's Books...

How's this for cognitive dissonance: Two news releases put out today seem to tell two very different stories about local eating habits. First comes this (PDF) communique from Multnomah County telling us that half of all county residents are either overweight or obese. That dovetails well with County Commissioner Jeff Cogen's efforts to make chain restaurants place calorie counts on menus. Then comes news from the Oregon Hunger Task Force that we're the No. 3 hungriest state in the...

Photo by Leah Nash Over the last week, the proposed Rogue Ales buy-out of the Green Dragon Pub and Bistro was widely reported as a done deal, with majority-owner Ed Schwartz confirming plans to sell . Now comes news of divided intentions at the year-old pub in Southeast. Leading the division is Loren “Lolo” Lancaster, a one-third owner of Green Dragon. Lancaster released what he touts as an outright "declaration of war" against the Rogue Nation. Damning the take-over...

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Three quickie thoughts after reading The Oregonian's sports page this morning: 1) The University of Portland and Portland State University men's basketball teams both opened their season last week with victories over teams in higher-ranked conferences. And tonight, UP and PSU play each other. Yet their Tuesday night "Rose City Rivalry" game at PSU's Stott Center will get no traction among most local sports fans. Why? 2) For all the grief Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti is taking...

Now that the federal government has decided infrastructure spending may provide a path out of the recession, the proposed $4.2 billion Columbia Crossing Bridge may be more than just a dream for the Departments of Transportation in Oregon and Washington. Since rolling out the initial Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in May, project organizers — namely the two states' transportation departments — have gone back to the drawing boards. They will be holding post-Thanksgiving open...

As the writer-director of the cult, er, “classic” Pootie Tang, Louis CK isn't an artist you'd normally go to for profundity. But at the Newmark Theater last Saturday, the comic did—in his own, c-word and shit-joke laden way—present a rather poignant message about the state of the country. And for a guy who usually bristles to the point of a Tourette's-style breakdown over the stupidity that surrounds him, it was surprisingly optimistic (and no, Obama had nothing to do...

Sean Coryell, Nutshell's first chef. Photo by Amy Ouellette. Nutshell , Adam Berger's vegan-turned-vegetarian restaurant on North Williams Avenue, closed over the weekend. The news, first reported at Portland Food and Drink, will likely cause much cheer among Portland's militant vegans, a number of whom angrily called for a boycott of the restaurant to protest the continued presence of delicious foie gras on the menu at Berger's other restaurant, Ten-01. Nutshell had a turbulent 16-month...

Sometimes the thought of dealing with all that raw poultry and pie crust just makes you wanna throw up. And for those times, here's a helpful list of some local restaurants serving a full Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 27. And we've also got a list of helpful local purveyors who can help you transform your home holiday table through the magic of takeout. We'll update this post as more info becomes available or restaurants run out of seats. RESTAURANTS SERVING THANKSGIVING...

(Photo by Maggie Gardner) Is this a photograph of pansexually smoldering actor James Franco at the swank Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall premiere of Gus Van Sant's Milk on Friday night? We're reasonably sure that it is! Everybody who is anybody in Portland was at the Outside In benefit (we weren't; we were buying groceries at Wal-mart), and several sources have confirmed that the heartthrob who broke Sean Penn's gay-kissing cherry was working the crowd of 2,200. (No, he was not kissing all...

How much is a human life worth? Like just about every other conceivable debate, that's a question that gets settled (and re-settled, and re-settled) in courtrooms and tribunals around the world every day. In our system, it's a judge or jury that ultimately decides the value of a life, in the form of monetary damages awarded for a successful wrongful-death suit. If a family settles out of court for a loved one's death, then they're forced to decide on an acceptable sum. But before...

Bad news for a rival of the Portland Trail Blazers: The federal Securities and Exchange Commission this morning announced that it is charging Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks' flamboyant owner, with trading on non-public material information. That charge is a more serious problem for Cuban than a story yesterday in the New York Times about why Cuban is unlikely to achieve his dream of buying the Chicago Cubs.

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While Oregon Ducks football fans lament the 45 points surrendered by the defense in Saturday's too-close-for-comfort win over Arizona, know that the architect of the 55 points on offense is apparently in play for another job far from Autzen Stadium. Of some comfort perhaps to Ducks fans is that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly's name comes toward the bottom of the list as potential replacements at Syracuse. But when the Great Mentioner gets a hold of a name in sports for one job, it...

HOW WOULD THE DIRECTOR OF INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA, AND THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW PREPARE 2.5 MILLION TIBETANS FOR THE END OF THEIR POLITICAL AUTONOMY? WHY, WITH A RIP-ROARING HOLLYWOOD ADVENTURE, OF COURSE! In all seriousness, I'm so glad I can finally stop wasting money on calendars. 2012 is not yet rated and opens July 10, 2009, conveniently enough.

Ignite Portland 4, which took place last night, Thursday, November 14, is a free event, but nonetheless you need a ticket to get in. I had nearly forgotten mine, and so was pushing hard against the 6:15 deadline, at which point they were going to give my ticket away to the hundred-thick throng of hopefuls waiting at the door of the Bagdad Theater. As it turns out, all 550 available tickets had been claimed within four hours of being made available on a balmy Monday morning—it was pretty...

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