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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2009)
Challenging Preconceptions Culture, Ecology & Greed Milagro hosts bilingual eco-drama Provocative play at Interstate Firehouse ‘City of Roses’ Gas Prices Up after 3 Months Gasoline prices are up in Or egon with the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas rising 6.5 cents to $ 1.81 from a week ago, the first increase in more than three months, according to AAA Oregon. Heavy Rain In Forecast Forecasters say another Pa cific storm should dump sev eral inches of rain on north western Oregon, with some streams flooding. The Na tional Weather Service says the rainfall Wednesday and Thursday could total 1 inch to 3 inches in the Portland area. Senate Rejects Burris jr 1 j Roland Bums of Illinois was in- formed lie w ould the new C on gress Tuesday. He pledged a lawsuit, the latest twist in a political drama that began w hen he was nam ed to Obama's Senate seat by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has been charged with having attempted to sell the appoint ment. See story, page A2 írscrucr Established in 1970 www.portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXVIV. Number I .Week ¡n The Review See El Observador, page A7 Wednesday • lanuary 7. 2009 Adams Era at City Hall Begins N ew M ayor focuses on agenda M ayor S am A dam s, a lo n g tim e fix ture in C ity H all p o litics, to u ted jo b s, education and su stain a b ility M onday as he took the oath o f o ffice during a public sw earing in cerem ony at Parkrose H igh S chool in n o rth east P ortland. “O ur com m unity, o f course, has prob lems - big problem s - and fixing them will be tough," A dam s said. “O ne thing is absolutely certain: Despite the worst eco nomic recession in 60 years bearing down on us, Portland cannot wait; the time to m ove is now .” A dam s, 45, the ch ief o f staff to form er M ayor V era K atz w as first elected to the C ity C ouncil in 2004, and w as elected ■Mayor in last M ay ’s P rim ary E lection w ith 58 percen t o f the vote, av o id in g a ru n o ff in the N ov em b er G eneral E le c tion. Adams described how his adm inistra tion will focus on three areas in his four year term as mayor: Jobs - "G ood jobs that com e from successful and ethical businesses,” he said. “T he City Council will w ork to sup port such com panies to open, expand and stay here” Schools - “M aking sure our children graduate high school is more than ju st the photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Newly installed Portland Mayor Sam Adams takes the podium to focus on his agenda during a public swearing in ceremony Monday at Parkrose High School in northeast Portland. right thing to do; it is a sm art investment in our future prosperity,” he said. “Our e c o n o m y h in g e s on an e d u c a te d workforce. Sustainability - “A green revolution is about to bloom across A m erica,” said Adams. “L et’s make Portland the h ub.” The public cerem ony included stu dents; m em bers o f A dam s’ family; Katz; city com m issioners Dan Saltzm an and Randy Leonard; newly elected city com m issioners Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz; and school leaders from the Parkrose and continued on page A3 Franken Win Brings Lawsuit Republican Norm Coleman said Tuesday he is suing to ch allen g e D em ocrat A1 Franken's apparent recount victory in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, delaying a reso lution of the contest for weeks or months. Rice Promotes Ceasefire U .S. S ecretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to New York on Tuesday to discuss with key powers how to get a ceasefire in Gaza that the United States says must be durable, sustainable and indefinite. Venus Eyes #1 Spot W im b le d o n champion Venus Williams is eye ing regaining the top spot in women's tennis as she gears up for another tilt at the season's opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open. Social Security On-Line The Social Security Admin istration, bracing for the coming eligibility of 80 mil lion baby boomers, is in tro -; ducing an online application that will allow people to apply for retirement ben efits in as little as 15 min utes. Avoiding a Blank TV Screen Come February Consumers gear up for digital broadcasts On February 17, TV goes digital Get a D1V converter box and save! with a DTV Converter Box Coupo <wc«**hfG»w ^OÍOgp, by J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver Big changes could be on the horizon in 2(X)9, and one o f them could be in your living room. On m idnight on Feb. 17, television broadcasters across the country will stop broadcasting in analog and convert to digital. U nless you've taken the right steps, you might be staring at a dark TV screen. Digital television offers more vivid im ages and crisper sound. And because digital frequencies photo by J ake T hom as ZT iie P ortland O bserver take up less bandwidth broad Converter boxes that can convert new digital TV signals to analog for older TV sets are sold casters can offer up several chan at a local Radio Shack store. nels. The sw itchover is one o f the jo in s the ranks of several Euro render millions o f televisions into prickly for consum ers trying to most m om entous transitions in pean countries w hich have gone oversized paper w eights, and the get accurate inform ation. Approxim ately 15 percent of broadcasting history, as the U.S. digital. However, the switch could m ove to digital may prove to be households only have a televi sion with analog reception, ac cording to a Governm ent Ac countability O ffice (Congress' research arm) report. A ccording to A nne K issel Elliot, vice president of com m uni cations for the Nielsen Company, which keeps extensive data on peoples' television watching hab its, 6.8 percent of U.S. house holds arc "completely unready," meaning that they will have a blank screen on Feb. 17. The num ber for Portland is 10 percent. "No, the country is not pre pared," said Chris M urray, senior counsel for Consum ers Union. "I'm not sure what we're going to do about it.” In N o v em b e r, C o n su m ers Union reported the results of a poll that found that although 93 percent o f Americans were aware of the transition, only a third of respondents with at least one tele vision affected knew they needed to take action, and only a quarter who would have no w orking tele vision after the transition knew continued on page A3 Waterfront Dock Named for Kevin Duckworth Blazer great loved fishing Travolta’s Son Cremated The body of actor John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, was cremated in the Ba hamas after his sudden death after a seizure during the New Year's holiday and his parents flew to Florida with his ashes, a Bahamian law maker said on Tuesday. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P or i i . and O bserver A dock near the Steel Bridge will be named in honor o f the late Kevin Duckworth, a Trail Blazer great and fan favorite who loved fishing on the Willamette River. 1 T he Portland C ity C ouncil has annou n ced plans to honor late T rail B lazers great K evin D uckw orth by officially ren am ing the “L ” shaped dock a d ja cent to the flo atin g portion of V era Katz. E astbank E splanade. On Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. at C ity H all, a public hearing will be held to officially d esig n ate the K evin J. D uckw orth M em orial Dock. T estim o n y w ill be taken on b e h a lf o f D u c k w o rth , w h o passed aw ay on A ug. 25 and left a legacy o f co m m u n ity in volvem ent, and passio n for the o u td o o rs. “ K evin D u ck w o rth 's fam ily. Kevin Duckworth friends and fans knew him to be a hardw orking and gen u in ely nice guy w ho loved the o u t doors and fishing. continued on page A2 ♦