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
♦