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
♦