Free Republic

On his Thursday program, Mark Levin ripped his longtime foe and competitor on conservative talk radio Michael Savage. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/05/24/mark_levin_scorces_snaggletooth_michael_savage.html

KBOO, the Portland community radio station that has long championed worker rights and other progressive causes, is embroiled in a labor dispute of its own. Staff members are trying to unionize after KBOO Station Manager Lynn Fitch reduced employee benefits and shifted paid staff to “at will” status, which means they can be fired without cause. Fitch’s moves to assert more managerial authority are a departure for the 45-year-old nonprofit, which has long practiced a participatory style of governance that grants staff, board members and volunteers significant roles. --Snip-- Ironically, a station that has long aired a public affairs program...

Many see a right-wing conspiracy in the death of Portland’s commercial progressive talk-radio station. But Bain didn’t act alone.Carl Wolfson’s last show on KPOJ-AM 620 sounded like victory. For the past six years, Wolfson, a former standup comedian, hosted a three-hour morning drive-time show that had turned into a radio clubhouse for Portland liberals. Wolfson—laser-fast with a quip and constantly in defense of Democrats—spent the weeks before the Nov. 6 election boosting liberal candidates and puncturing Mitt Romney. “Romney has zero foreign-policy experience,” Wolfson liked to say during the campaign. “He was asked about the Middle East, and his only...

I pledge to make at least 1000 calls at the GOTV phone bank between now, October 10th, and the election day for Mitt Romney. Who else is with me? BTW... My preferred candidate, Michele Bachmann lost before I had a chance to vote for her. However I cannot in good conscience not do everything I can to oppose Obama even though my home state of Oregon is not considered a battle ground. Please consider finding your local GOTV phone bank and matching my pledge. Also, see if you can get someone to go with you. Cheers.

Under a new rule that may be the toughest in the nation, at least 15 Oregon schools must get rid of their Native American-themed mascots by 2017 or risk losing state funding. The State Board of Education passed the new policy in a 5-1 vote Thursday afternoon. "I'm overwhelmed, but I'm holding back on my emotions -- I have a meeting to finish," said board Chairwoman Brenda Frank, a member of the Klamath Tribes. "It's been a long time coming." The decision, in the works for six years, requires schools to eliminate names like "Indians," "Chiefs" and "Braves." "Warriors" may...

New York Times bestselling author Michael Savage‘s 27th book – which he considers his most seminal – is chock-full of documented reasons why America should not re-elect Barack Obama as president, but it boils down to one stark warning: “An Obama victory in 2012 would doom this country.” “It’s a do or die situation,” Savage told WND in an interview. “You can see the trajectory of Obama’s regime thus far. “Imagine your worst fears, and you’re going to have some or all of it if this man is re-elected.”

Laura Wilson was just 17 years old — a happy but headstrong girl whose love story across the racial divide would have a tragic ending. ‘She was feisty — if she had anything to say she would speak out,’ her mother Margaret says, as she showed me a picture of a smiling, mischievous teenager. Laura’s Asian boyfriend, Ashtiaq Ashgar, also 17, was born in Britain but when Laura challenged his family’s traditional cultural values by confronting them with details of their relationship, she had to be silenced. One night in October 2010, Laura was lured to the banks of a...

Bob Caldwell, editor of The Oregonian's editorial pages, was in the Tigard apartment of a 23-year-old woman when he went into cardiac arrest Saturday afternoon. The woman called 9-1-1 at 4:43 p.m. to report that Caldwell, 63, was coughing and then unresponsive after a sex act. Washington County sheriff's officers and medical personnel responded and transported him to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, where he later was pronounced dead. The woman told deputies she met Caldwell about a year ago at Portland Community College. Caldwell, she said, knew she didn't have much money, so he provided her cash for books...

Detectives are investigating Friday's shooting by Fairview police, and the mother of the man killed disputes the police account. Shortly before midnight Friday, two officers responded to a 9-1-1 call to Wood Creek Apartments near the corner of Northeast 203rd Avenue and Halsey Street. There, one or both officers fired their weapon, killing Larry M. McKinney, a 37-year-old with a lengthy criminal history who lived in an apartment with his mother, Sandra Kelley.--snip--McKinney was booked in Multnomah County jails 62 times since 1993, according to jail records. According to his mother, his early troubles stemmed from drugs, leading to a...

The son of a war hero murdered 13 years ago near Roseburg said today that a judge's decision to overturn the killer's death sentence makes him worry that the man eventually will get out of prison. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Marion Carl, one of the country's most decorated aviators, was gunned down in June 1998 as he was trying to protect his wife from Jesse Fanus, a local 18-year-old with a history of arrests. The case attracted national attention because Carl was the Marines' first flying ace in World War II and a record-setting speed pilot later. Bruce Carl, who...

Newsmagazine Just Out is shutting down, according to a note on its website Monday. The publication has served Portland's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and queer community since 1983. The online notice states simply that "three years of recession have taken their toll." Publisher Marty Davis confirmed the closure in an email to The Oregonian: "Just Out has closed its doors and shut down its computers." She said in a follow-up email that there are no plans to continue online. Local blogger Byron Beck broke the news on his site, linking to an 11 a.m. post on Just Out's Facebook page....

Seattle police said Friday they were uncertain whether a detective was on duty when he was arrested for drunken driving after a traffic accident Thursday in Mukilteo. John Fox, a 23-year-veteran of the Seattle Police Department, was charged Friday with driving under the influence (DUI). He pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance in Everett District Court on Friday afternoon. Fox, 46, of Everett, refused to take a breathalyzer test to measure his blood-alcohol level, making him subject to a one-year suspension of his driver's license. Mukilteo police punched his license Thursday to make it unusable. Fox, who was convicted...

Students and parents eagerly awaiting opening day Monday at Portland's new recording arts-centered charter high school expressed astonishment Friday that the school has been shut down.--snip--So they were among dozens of students shocked Friday to learn the hip-hop-themed school is dead, felled by its planners' failure to have the minimum curriculum, materials, leaders and space ready, despite more than two years and $500,000 worth of planning.--snip--REAL Prep is in financial shambles. A $50,000 planning grant and two $225,000 implementation grants -- all from the federal government -- have been spent, yet many employees and contractors haven't been fully paid. The...

KELSO, Wash. -- A former Longview woman who blew marijuana smoke into her 13-year-old son's face for his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder pleaded guilty this week to charges of drug delivery and child domestic violence. Under an agreement with Cowlitz County prosecutors, 37-year-old Diane Susanne Etchison, who now lives in Pendleton, was sentenced to a year in prison Tuesday. The Daily News reports she told police last year she provided marijuana to the boy because the family had run out of his prescription medication. Police were called by Child Protective Services workers.

An Aug. 16 execution for death row inmate Gary Haugen cannot proceed until a judge has adequately vetted whether the two-time killer is mentally competent, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court directed Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond to order a mental evaluation for Haugen and hold a hearing to determine his competence. The judge also must invalidate the death warrant he issued in May as well as rescind his decision allowing Haugen to dismiss his court-appointed attorneys. The judge must agree to take those actions or explain why his rulings should stand by July 7. If Guimond...

Beaverton middle school teacher Jason Levin, who founded the now notorious "Crash the Tea Party" website, is no longer a teacher.Levin resigned Wednesday in lieu of termination, said Beaverton School District Legal Counsel Camellia Osterink.District officials would not say why Levin was facing dismissal, but that it followed an internal investigation into his use of public resources and time spent at school. "There was some question whether that conduct occurred during the work day," Osterink said of Levin's work on the website. Reached today, Levin said, "My attorney has advised me not to comment." His attorney, Adam Arms of Portland,...

In mid-May, Portland police Officer James Crooker went to Southeast Portland on a patrol call. With a few minutes to spare, he decided to get a coffee. So, he popped into the Red & Black cafe on Southeast 12th Avenue near Oak Street, bought a coffee and was heading out when a customer approached him, saying she appreciates the hard job that police officers do every day in Portland. One of the co-owners of the cafe, John Langley, has another point of view. While the officer and customer were chatting, he walked up and asked Crooker to leave, saying he...

BEAVERTON – Beaverton School District officials returned teacher Jason Levin to the classroom while they continue to investigate whether he inappropriately used school time or property to work on his "Crash the Tea Party" website. Levin, who has been on leave since April 15, resumed teaching technology classes at Conestoga Middle School this morning, spokeswoman Maureen Wheeler said. "He's not a danger to students and we have not found that he's been sharing his political views with students," Wheeler said. Levin created the website, which encouraged people to infiltrate the tea party to discredit their movement. Tea party crashers should...

An Oregon assistant attorney general is accused of punching and strangling her long-time partner, after the woman attempted to change the locks on the North Portland condo they shared. According to an affidavit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court Tuesday, assistant attorney general Susan R. Gerber's wife of five years told Portland police that she'd confronted Gerber about an affair she suspected Gerber had with another woman.Janice Dulle, 38, told police that she returned home and "started the process of changing the locks" when Gerber, 40, arrived home and began assaulting her late Friday night. A locksmith who knocked on...

A Clackamas County jury found Jeffrey and Marci Beagley guilty today of criminally negligent homicide for failing to seek medical care for their 16-year-old son Neil Beagley. Instead of taking their son to a doctor when he became ill, the Beagleys treated him with faith healing - prayer, anointing with oil and laying on of hands. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 18. The Beagleys could face a maximum of 10 years in prison. Because the two have no prior convictions, the normal sentencing range under state sentencing guidelines would be 16 to 18 months in prison.They could also receive probation....