Fortiani» (iDhsemev April 7, I * » Researchers Say Youthful Community Partnership Hostility May Lead To Finances Oregon Convention Heart Disease Center Expansion Young people who exhibit high hostility are about 2.5 tim es more likely to have coronary artery cal cification - a strong predictor o f early heart disease - than those who exhibit low hostility. 1 hat s according to a prelim inary m edi cal study being done by research ers led by C arlos Iribarren, MD, PhD, o f K aiser P erm anente’s D i vision o f R esearch in N orthern California. Dr. Iribarren presented the re search result M arch 24 at the American Heart Association s39 annual Conference on C ardiovas cular Diseases, Epidemiology, and Prevention in O rlando, Fla. “The field o f psychosocial de term inants o f cardiovascular d is ease is an active area o f research, said Dr. Iribarren. "W hile earlier studies have uncovered hostility as the key com ponent o f ' Type A ’ behavior in m iddle age, no study until now has looked at the rela tionship betw een hostility during young adulthood and early th ick ening o f the arterial w alls know n as su b clin ical a th e ro sc le ro sis. The study o f subclinical ath ero sclerosis is im portant because it could allow us to have an im pact early in the heart disease process, said Dr. Iribarren. The study relied on psycho logical questionnaires and state- of-the-art diagnostic imaging tech- scored low ,” said Dr. Iribarren. nology. H ostility is an aspect o f “ In addition, those w hose h o stil personality m ainly characterized ity rating increased over the p e by a cynical view o f the world and riod betw een the tw o q u e stio n by an ag g re ssiv e re sp o n se to naires w ere also m ore lik e ly to stressful situations. have coronary c a lc ific a tio n .” “ We assessed hostility using The link betw een hostility and an extensive questionnaire," said presence o f coronary calcification Dr. Iribarren Participants in the could not be explained by other long-running m ulti-center Coro know risk factors such as sm ok nary Artery Risk D evelopm ent in ing, LDL (“bad”) ch o lestero l, or Young Adults (CARDIA) study high blood pressure. T he study were given a standard question was too small to draw firm conclu naire at their first visit in 1985-86, sions about the role o f h o stility in and again during a five-year return separate race or gender groups. visit in 1990-91. The questionnaire Dr. Iribarren said he and his co l was given to black and w hite men leagues plan to do further research and women between the ages o f 18 across a larger group to get ad d i and 30 at the initial visit. tional data. Ten years later, a volunteer O ther investigators in the study subgroup o f 374 participants re were Drs. Stephen Sidney, also from turned for an exam ination w ith the Kaiser Permanente’s Division o f Re diagnostic im aging equipm ent. search; Kiang Liu, from the Univer U sing electron-beam com puted sity o f Chicago; Jerome Markovitz tom ography (EBCT), researchers and Jeffrey Roseman, from the U ni looked for deposits o f calcium in versity o f Birmingham in Alabama, the coronary arteries. These cal and Diane Bild, from the N ational cium deposits are considered a Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in marker for the formation ofplaques Bethesda, Maryland. - fatty substance in the inner lin K aiser Perm anente is a non ing o f the artery w all and a key profit, group-practice prepaym ent ingredient in the disease process program serving the health care that can cause heart attacks. needs o f 8.6 m illion members in 17 “W e found that those p a rtic i states and the D istrict o f C olum pants who initially scored high in bia, including 440,000 people in h o stility w ere about 2.5 tim es N orthw est O regon and Southw est m ore likely to have coronary a r W ashington. tery calcificatio n than those who Portland Mayor Vera Katz, Metro Presiding Officer Rod Monroe, Metro Executive O fficer Mike Burton, Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz and representatives from the local hospitality industry’ today unveiled a funding plan that will fi nance a scaled back expansion o f the Oregon Convention Center (OCC), a project that stalled last November after area voters rejected a ballot measure that would have tied a portion o f the center’s expansion costs to property taxes. The finance package is the result of months ofwork by the Mayor’ office, Metro, local and hoteliers and the car rental industry. In the near future, the city o f Portland, M etro and the Multnomah County Commission will meet to approve the plan’s final details. “We heard the voters loud and clear last fall,” explained Mayor Vera Katz. “Even though survey after survey shows that residents support the expansion o f the convention cen ter and appreciate its benefit to the community, we learned that those same citizens do not want the fund ing o f the project to affect their prop- Middle School Conference The m iddle school experience may be a defining experience in a young p erson’s life. In fact, says Dr. Hayes M izell, m iddle schools em body the best hope to influence the choices young adolescents make. Mizell keynotes In the Middle ’99, a N orthw est Regional Educa tional Laboratory conference on May 10-11 at the Double Tree Ho- tel/Jantzen Beach, Portland. (M izell’s keynote is May 10 from 2-3 p.m.) In the Middle is one o f the few conferences in the country de signed for m iddle school teachers, counselors, and adm inistrators. M izell is director o f the Program for Student Achievem ent at the Edna M cConnell Clark Foundation in New York City. The foundation supports model middle school sites throughout the country that build on student achievem ent through broad reform strategies. In his key- note he will discuss the transforma tions that must occur in both schools and classrooms to improve student perform ance. Standards, assess ment, contextual learning, and other important components o f reform are on the discussion agenda. O ther keynoters are consultant Dr. Elaine Johnson speaking on “Brain Compatible Teaching and Learning,” and Judy Seal, vice president o f the Long Beach (CA) Education Research Project where middle-school reform was the start o f a nationally recognized commu nity effort to turn around kinder garten through university educa tion, and a sinking Long Beach economy. Now in its second year, the con ference is geared to offering fresh, research-based strategies and in novations, all the w hile show cas ing model programs and resources that promote high student achieve m ent th ro u g h sta n d a rd s-b a se d learning and assessm ent, curricu lum mapping, contextual learning, com m unity partnerships, and ser vice learning. O nsite tours take p a rtic ip a n ts to a c tu a l m id d le schools and classroom s, and in- depth w orkshops features an array o f experts sharing their knowledge. The conference W eb site, which offers detailed information and reg- is tr a tio n , is at h ttp :// w w w .n w r e l.o r g /e d w o r k / I m iddle.htm l. Fees for the full con ference are $275 for individuals, and $250 per person for a team. (Reduced fees are available for those registering prior to A pril 19, 1999). Conference information and registration are available through e-mail to itm @ nw rel.org and by telephone: (541)346-3537. PDC Pushes C orporate W e lfa re For Adidas erty taxes. That made it very impor tant for us to pull together to develop an alternative expansion plan that both accomplished our goal and re spected the wishes o f the voters. And for that I want to thank the hospitality industry for making this possible. Both physically and finan cially, this is not the same project we took to the voters in November. "W e are proving that government and business can work together, and that we can devise creative, cost- effective solutions to the problems we face,” said Monroe. “This outstanding public-private partnership is an investment in the region’s tourism econom y,” ex plained Burton. "I am pleased with those businesses that stepped up to the plate and became our partners in this joint venture. This alliance al lows the Oregon convention Center to regain its competitive edge and illustrates what can be accomplished by working together.”The new fi nance package, which is designed to fund a slightly smaller version o f the original OCC project, is based upon commitments from the City o f Port land, Metro, Portland hotels and lo cal rental car outlets. The total cost o f the expansion is $85 million, down from $95 million in the original pro posal. The expansion, which is expected to break ground in April 2000, has been assigned a tentative two-year construction time line. The slightly revised project will include 80.000- 85,000square feet ofexhibition space, a 35,000-square-foot ballroom, 30 breakout rooms, and two levels of underground parking with 1,000 spaces. As orginally proposed, the expansion will extend out from the south side o f the existing OCC build ing, covering what is now a surface parking lot. According to D ’Alessandro, the expansion comes at a critical time. Because the majority o f Portland’s major competitor cities (Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle, etc.) have all recently expanded or are in the pro cess of enlarging their convention facilities; Portland needs this project to stay competitive. Scholarship Awards Offered ly MS Association In a national essay com petition known as PROJECT: Learn MS ‘99, high school and college students may compete for college scholar ship aw ards. Sponsored by the M ultiple Sclerosis A ssociation o f America (MS AA), PROJECT: Learn MS ‘99 is designed to educate students about MS - a crippling disease which affects young adults. The essay com petition is open to high school juniors and seniors, and college freshmen and sopho mores. Entries must be postmarked by June 5, 1999. Students may ob tain an official registration form by contacting their high school En glish department, by calling 1-800- LEARN MS, or by em ailing to msaa@ msaa.com. For the sixth year, M SA A ’s PROJECT: Learn MS encourages stu dents to write a 500-1000 word essay on how multiple sclerosis impacts a person and his or her family on a daily basis. Each essay must be typed and doubled spaced, and can take the form of a letter, poem, or feature story. MSAA is a national nonprofit organization providing direct patient care programs and services to assist those suffering from MS. MSAA services include peer counseling, support groups, free loan o f thera peutic equipment, barrier-free hous ing, symptom management research and therapies, educational literature, no-cost M RI’s and other vital pa tient programs. Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, 706 Haddonfield Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 3:17 a.m . You’re asleep. We’re w orking to make sure your alarm goes off. Community Groups Demand Full Public Hearings No Tax Breaks without Living Wage Jobs! The Portland Development Com- m ission continues to pursue “cor porate w elfare” instead o f com m u nity welfare, according to the Jobs with Justice coalition. Citing a pro posal to grant approximately $2 mil lion in tax breaks to Adidas America, In., the coalition o f thirty labor, com munity and religious groups blasted the PDC for “again pursuing a failed, trickle-dow n policy which creates few jobs and those m ostly very low-waged." Jobs with Justice called for full public hearings on the PDC proposal, in the evening and in North Portland. The coalition denounced the City Council’s decision to lift a two-year moratorium on the “enterprise zone” tax break strategy which is supposed to create goodjobs for low-skill work ers in North Portland. Despite incom plete performance data, and knowing that only one out of ten jobs retained or created by the zone went to zone residents, the Council opened the door last week for the Adidas pro posal. PDC wants the state legisla ture to alter the enterprise zone law to allow a break for Adidas to move their c o rp o ra te h ead q u arters from Beaverton to the North Portland site of the former Bess Kaiser Hospital. “ M oving 500 w orkers from Providence Health Plans Help “Bag Child Abuse” April is Child Abuse Prevention M onth, and over 1000 Providence H ealth Plans’ em ployees are w ork ing together with Parents Anony mous o fO regon.Inc. to “Bag Child Abuse.” Providence em ployees are collecting and donating used cloth ing and household items to Parents A nonym ou»of Oregon. The sale o f these items goes to support the P a re n ts A n o n y m o u s sta te w id e Child Abuse Prevention Program which includes a statewide parent support helpline, free weekly par ent support groups, free children’s programs, and parenting education. Providence Health Plans believes that it is their responsibility to give to the com m unities which they serve. Parents anonymous is dedi cated to the promotion o f parent leadership and education to create safe and nurturing environments for children Beaverton to North Portland will not create decent jobs for the needy. Adidas is not creating living wage jobs, not here in the USA, not over seas in its production sweatshops. At best, Adidas corporate headquar ters will employ some high wage en gineers and executives from outside the neighborhood while employing some very low wage custodians, se curity guards, food service, childcare and clerical workers from inside the zone.” said Jamie Partridge, chair of the Living Wage Campaign, “this type o f job creation is happening already, without tax breaks to fabulously wealthy corporations.” Iftax breaks are granted to Adidas, says JwJ, the City Council should at least insist that all jobs pay a living wage, which is over $ 10 per hour for a single person and over $16 for a family o f three, according to the re cently released Northwest Job Gap study. The coalition urged the City to insist that Adidas pay full health benefits, pledge neutrality toward workers efforts to organize into labor unions, hire 80% o f workers from the zone, and pay back all abated taxes if they fail to meet these goals. Jobs with Justice also called for an independent audit o f the enter prise zone’s past performance in cre ating living wage jobs for low-in come residents, suggesting the Port land D evelopm ent Com m ission could not be relied on for an objec tive assessment. JU ST LIKE CLOCKW ORK. You don 't want to lie awake thinking * about your electricity. Now, you may have cause to worry about what the weather might bring this time o f year, « - but you don't have to wonder whether F/ or not our crews are out there work ing. Day or night— we're out putting together whatever Mother Nature pulls apart. So i f She decides to ruin your wake up call, just call us at 1377-L1TES-OVT (1-877-5483768) to report the outage. At Pacific Power, we're here to help you weather the storm. A PACIFIC POW ER PmifiCorp Company u u n ptu ifito rp » otn