August 19, 2009
Page A2
Childcare
Center Opens
Rev. E. William Beauchamp, University of Portland president, blesses a new childcare facility for those working and
attending the north Portland college.
Jackson’s Doct< Posts Video
ar
Says truth will prevail
S in c e J a c k s o n 's d e a th ,
(AP) — The doctor who was
with M ichael Jackson when he M urray has not worked and has
died and is now the center o f a closed his Las Vegas practice.
The doctor was in dire finan­
m anslaughter probe posted a
short video T uesday thanking cial shape when he signed on
with Jackson earlier this year at
his supporters.
In th e o n e -m in u te v id e o , $ 150,(XK) a month, owing at least
posted on YouTube, a weary- $780,(MX) in judgm ents and out­
lo o k in g Dr. C o n rad M urray standing paym ents.
Gregory D. Lee, a retired su­
thanks friends and patients and
pervisory
agent with the Drug
refers to his two interviews with
E
nforcem
ent
A gency, said he
Los Angeles police detectives.
thought
M
urray
w anted to im ­
It was the first tim e M urray had
prove
his
image.
spoken publicly since Jackson
"T his d o cto r has been d e ­
died June 25.
"1 have done all 1 could do," monized," Lee said. "This is an
a so le m n -s o u n d in g M u rra y attem pt to hum anize him and
says as he looks into the cam ­ po ssib ly sw ay any p o te n tia l
era. "I told the truth and I have jury pool out there."
M urray to ld in v e stig a to rs
faith the truth will prevail."
A video frame shows Michael Jackson's personal
physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, speaking for the first
time publicly about the singer's death on June 25.
h e a d m in is te r e d J a c k s o n a
p o w e r fu l a n e s th e tic a lo n g
w ith m u ltip le sedatives in the
hours b efo re the sin g er died,
a law enforcem ent official told
T he A sso ciated P ress. In v es­
tig ato rs think M urray left the
ro o m w h e re J a c k s o n w as
sleeping for a few m in u tes to
m a k e p h o n e c a lls a n d r e ­
tu rn ed to find the pop icon
n ot b reath in g .
continued ¿ ^ f r o m Front
iturday Market celebrates its new home with a weekena grana opening.
the largest arts and crafts m ar­
ket in continuous operation in
the United States with over 350
Jobless Numbers
Level Off in Oregon
Officials say
full recovery
will take time
Saturday Market Celebrates Relocation
in 1974 when Saturday Market
was in its infancy.
This w eekend’s celebration
will include numerous activities,
daily give-a-w ays, artist dem ­
onstrations, as w ell as all the
m arket’s talented artisans sell­
ing their original handcrafted
w ares. An international food
court along with a main stage
of multicultural performances is
planned.
Portland Saturday M arket is
A new childcare center for the o f en erg y sta ff and stu d en ts
U niversity o f Portland was cel­ will spend com m uting to their
ebrated Friday with a blessing children’s childcare facilities.
The center opened M onday
o f the facility by cam pus presi­
dent, Rev. E. William Beaucham. and w ill provide supervisory
Parents, children, university care for sm all children (three
sta ff and pro fesso rs and em ­ m onths to five years) for stu­
ployees o f the center, located dents, faculty and staff.
Portland-based Vermont Hills
in a renovated house located at
5414 N. Willamette Blvd., gath­ Fam ily Life C enter is the care
provider for the facility. A few
ered for the grand opening.
B eaucham p said the center slots rem ain available for chil­
fits in to th e m issio n o f the d ren ag e 30 m o n th s to fiv e
C atholic Church, w hich places years. Priority is given to uni­
a strong em phasis on family. It v e rsity e m p lo y e e s an d s tu ­
also ties into the u n iv ersity ’s dents, but the general public is
em phasis on sustainability, po­ e n c o u r a g e d to in q u ir e at
tentially reducing the am ount vhflc.org or 503 452-7078.
vendors generating $8 million
in sales and attracting over one
m illion visitors to the historic
Old Town district each year. It
is h eld every S atu rd ay and
Sunday from M arch through
Christm as Eve.
(AP) - The recession m ay fi­
nally be hitting bottom in O r­
egon w ith an o th er m onth o f
u n e m p lo y m e n t fig u re s th a t
have barely budged.
The bad new s w as the jo b ­
less rate is still hovering around
12 percent but the good news
was that things have not g ot­
ten worse, econom ists said.
"We've m ore or less leveled
o ff," said sta te em p lo y m e n t
econom ist A rt Ayre, who p re­
sented the m onthly figures for
July at a new s conference on
M onday.
T h e 1 1 .9 p e r c e n t u n e m ­
p lo y m en t rate fo r O reg o n in
J u ly w a s e s s e n t i a l l y u n ­
chan g ed from a rev ised figure
o f 12 p e r c e n t f o r J u n e -
r o u g h ly th e sa m e r a te th e
s ta te h a s r e p o r t e d s in c e
M arch.
B u t e v e n th o u g h th e rate
h a s h a r d ly c h a n g e d in th e
p a st fiv e m o n th s , th e sta te
lo st few er jo b s in July than in
p rev io u s m onths.
O re g o n lo st 7 0 0 n o n farm
payroll jo b s in July after losing
thousands o f jo b s each month
in previous months.
O ver the past three months,
the state has lost an average of
1,900 jo b s each m onth, co m ­
p are d to a d e c lin e o f ab o u t
10,300jobs each month over the
previous nine m onths, econo­
m ists said.
"On average it's a better re­
port," said Tim Duy, a U niver­
sity o f O regon econom ist who
com piles a monthly index o f the
state economy.
"W h at y o u 're g e ttin g is a
much sm aller decline in unem ­
p lo y m e n t in th e p a s t few
m o n th s, and th at's g o o d b e ­
cause it suggests we're bottom ­
ing out," Duy said.
Still, the jobless rate and the
num ber o f unem ployed w ork­
ers in O regon are nearly double
w hat they w ere a year ago.
In July, 232,782 O regonians
w ere unem ployed, com pared
with 120,582 for the same month
a year ago, w hen the jo b less
rate was 6.3 percent.
Gov. T ed K ulongoski said
M onday the latest figures show
it likely will be a slow recovery.
But he said he w ould continue
to use federal and state stim u­
lus funding to create jo b s while
protecting unem ploym ent ben­
efits.
"W hile it is good new s that
the n u m b er o f O regonians out
o f w ork is not g ettin g w orse,
the report serves as a rem inder
th a t the road to a full rec o v ­
ery is g o in g to ta k e tim e,"
K u lo n g o sk i sa id in a s ta te ­
ment.
The national jobless rate also
stayed about the same for July,
9.4 percent com pared to 9.5 per­
cent in June.
Cutting Edge Displacement?
con tin u ed ¿ ^ f r o m Front
M A R K E T
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units, 800 o f w hich are consid­
ered affordable for people o f
average or m odest incomes.
D ebbie T hom as, o f D ebbie
Thomas Real Estate, knows first
hand what a boon the streetcar
has been to developm ent after
she shrew dly invested in the
Pearl D istrict ju st as it was tak­
ing flight.
“It’s been fabulous for urban
com m ercial developm ent,” she
said of the streetcar. “It’s been
a very positive im pact on the
com m unity and the city.”
G arrison Selliker, the ow ner
o f Mreatly, said that streetcars
add to a perception of quality
o f life for people looking to buy
a piece o f property or set up
shop. They like the idea o f be­
ing able to w alk out o f their
condom inium and hop on the
streetcar, he explained.
“It’s really im portant to have
ev ery p o sitiv e you can g et,”
said Selliker.
The city is also m ulling over
putting even more lines in other
parts of the city.
Planning docum ents related
to the streetcar stress that the
city w ants to preserve the ch ar­
acter of each neighborhood it
passes through, but there arc
few concrete plans on how to
do this.
The Portland Streetcar Sys­
tem C o n c ep t P lan ex p licitly
states that the developm ent o f
th e stre e tc a r co u ld in crease
property taxes, change neigh­
b o rh o o d
d e n s ity ,
cause
gentrification, and displace lo­
cal small businesses.
C h ris S m ith , c h a ir o f th e
S tre etcar C itiz e n s’ A d v iso ry
C o m m itte e , sa id h is g ro u p
looked at how streetcars create
“nodes o f activ ity ” th a t w ill
benefit small businesses in the
long term.
John Miller, the executive di­
rector o f HOST, an affordable
housing non-profit, hopes that
future streetcars will actually
help people o f more m odest in­
com es because they w on’t have
to rely on their cars as much.
M iller provided input on the
stre e tc a r’s S y stem A d v iso ry
Committee.
W h ile p re v e n tin g p e o p le
from getting priced out o f the
area w a sn 't a hot topic before
his group, he hopes that addi­
tional affordable housing is in­
corporated into neighborhoods
where new streetcars are added.
K ay D annen, co m m u n ic a­
tio n s d ir e c to r fo r P o rtla n d
Streetcar, Inc., said that she’s
been in contact with neighbor­
hoo d s to m itig ate th eir c o n ­
cerns during construction, but
her agency is really looking at
the lo n g -te rm e ffec ts o f the
streetcar.
R e g a r d le s s , L e in b e r g e r
points out that Portland has a
very straightforw ard set o f op­
tions when it com es to street­
car developm ent: accept d is­
placem ent or “stay poor.”
i