Portland General Electric has sailed past its first legal hurdle in breaking free from its troubled and broke parent, Enron Corp. Ignoring a letter from city officials saying Portland could pay more, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez on Thursday quickly approved the $2.35 billion sale of PGE to the Texas Pacific Group, a San Francisco-based private investment group with $13 billion in assets. Gonzalez's stamp of approval follows 10 months of intense negotiations among Enron management, its attorneys and creditor groups, said the company's managing director, Mitchell Taylor, during Thursday's bankruptcy hearing in New York City. "We're pleased the court...