Editorial Archives - Page 79 of 123 - The Source

Throwing the Boat-Rockers Overboard

Where UO is heading after the departure of President Richard Lariviere.

Source WeeklyDecember 7, 2011March 21, 2023

When University of Oregon football coach Chip Kelly was handed the trophy for winning the Pac 12 championship, he immediately turned and presented it to “the real leader of our university, President Richard Lariviere.”
It was a touching tribute to a man who, in two years at the helm of Oregon's flagship university, had made important strides in improving the quality of education and had won the affection of faculty and students. Unfortunately that affection wasn't shared by the State Board of Higher Education, which instead of a trophy handed Lariviere his walking papers last week.
In fairness to the board, Lariviere had given it plenty of provocation. The problem wasn't so much with what he did, but with how he did it.

Opinion

Be Thankful For Your Weekly Serving of Fresh Straight Poop

A gathering of happenings from the previous week.

Source WeeklyNovember 30, 2011January 4, 2023

Monday, Nov. 21
Not exactly super: Bipartisan congressional “supercommittee” can't agree on deficit-reduction plan as Republicans insist on no tax increases … No deal: Egyptian cabinet resigns after violent protests that kill 26, but demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square continue … Tightening the screws: US, Britain and Canada hit Iran with new sanctions in hope of derailing nuclear bomb program; French President Nikolas Sarkozy urges Europe to adopt “new sanctions of unprecedented magnitude” … Brains of the family: Ronan Farrow, son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, named one of 32 Rhodes Scholars this year; he graduated from college at 15 and from Yale Law School at 17 … What happens in Vegas: Britain's Prince Harry (he's the unmarried one) visits Las Vegas, goes clubbing with pals, is impressed that he can get free drinks at blackjack tables.

Opinion

Gov. John Kitzhaber's Moratorium

A first step to stopping the death penalty in Oregon.

Source WeeklyNovember 24, 2011January 4, 2023

Gary Haugen probably deserves to die for his crimes. At 19 years old he beat the father of his girlfriend to death with a baseball bat and a hammer. But a life in prison didn't thwart Haugen's homicidal tendencies. He and a fellow prisoner murdered another inmate in 2003, stabbing the victim more than 80 times and crushing his skull.
Apparently, Haugen agrees with the sentiment, and the death sentence that was handed down in 2007. Unlike the dozens of others on Oregon's death row, Haugen decided to remove the obstacles and appeals that can effectively stymie the administration of a lethal injection, Oregon's preferred method of capital punishment. Over his attorneys' objections, Haugen effectively set a Dec. 6 execution date. And, until last week, it appeared as though Haugen would get his death wish. The Supreme Court, amid questions of Haugen's mental competence, declined to step in. The death chamber was readied. Press access plans were issued to the media that was clamoring to report on the first death sentence to be carried out in more than a decade.

Opinion

If Your Poop Doesn't Have This Label It's Not the Straight Poop

A gathering a news makers from the previous week.

Source WeeklyNovember 23, 2011January 4, 2023

Monday, Nov. 14
Dazzling insight: Ex-Penn State football coach and accused child rapist Jerry Sandusky says he's innocent but admits “horsing around” in showers with little boys. In retrospect, he says, “I shouldn’t have showered with those kids” … Meanwhile Jack Raykovitz, president and CEO of “Second Mile,” charity Sandusky founded to help troubled kids, resigns … Flavor of the Week: Newt Gingrich joins Mitt Romney at top of GOP candidate field as scandal-plagued Herman Cain drops 11 points since last month … Lost in space: Cain seems befuddled when interviewer asks him about Libya situation, explains, “I've got all this stuff twirling around in my head” … See you in court: US Supreme Court announces it will rule on constitutionality of President Obama's health care plan … Won't see you on court: NBA players reject proposed new labor deal, vote to disband union; Commissioner David Stern says “nuclear winter” is coming for basketball.

Opinion

Tear Down the Magnet School Class Barrier

Admission rules for magnet schools will be under review on December 8.

Source WeeklyNovember 23, 2011August 1, 2024

When magnet schools first came into favor in the 1960s and 1970s, the idea was that they'd promote desegregation by drawing students from predominantly white areas (like a magnet, get it?) to schools in mostly black areas that offered an enriched curriculum in things like science or the arts.
While the success of magnet schools as a desegregation tool was mixed, there was no question the kids who attended them reaped a significant benefit, and the magnet school idea took off. By the start of the 21st Century there were more than 3,000 magnet schools all over the country, in small cities as well as big ones.
As magnet schools became more popular, the challenge became not how to attract students to them but how to fairly determine who got the limited number of spots available. It's a challenge the Bend-LaPine School District has sadly failed to meet.

Opinion

The Straight Poop Will Always Continue to Occupy This Space

A gathering of happenings from the past week.

Source WeeklyNovember 16, 2011January 4, 2023

Monday, Nov. 7
Grope of the Week: Sharon Bialek of Chicago says GOP presidential aspirant Herman Cain put hand up her skirt in a car in 1997, fourth woman to make such accusations against him … Bad medicine: Dr. Conrad Murray, personal physician to Michael Jackson, found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson dose of powerful anesthetic that killed him in 2009 … Celebrity fun and games: Brody Jenner gets in brawl outside Hollywood hotel, is hit in head with beer bottle; girlfriend Avril Lavigne wades in, suffers black eye and bloody nose … Lindsay Lohan freed from jail in LA on probation violation charge, checks into rehab, must do community service at county morgue … The high cost of cleanliness: Cleaning woman at Germany's Ostwall Museum mistakes part of million-dollar art work by Martin Kippenberger for stain on floor, scrubs it out.
Tuesday, Nov. 8
Blame the victims: Herman Cain holds press conference, categorically denies sexual harassment charges by various women, says, “Someone is trying to wreck my character.” Hmm, could it be himself? … End of an error: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, quite a ladies' man himself, loses his governing majority in parliament, says he'll resign … Weapons of mass deception? Report by International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran appears to be trying to sneakily build nuclear bomb … Goodbye, Smokin' Joe: “Smokin' Joe” Frazier of Philadelphia, who knocked out Muhammad Ali in 1971 “Fight of the Century,” dies of cancer at 67 … When you gotta go: Stainless steel toilet used by Saddam Hussein while imprisoned in Iraq before his execution in 2006 to be displayed in military police museum in US.

Opinion

Riding to the Rescue of the Klamath

Congress may put a damper on Merkley-Thompson dam removal bill.

Source WeeklyNovember 16, 2011January 4, 2023

October 2002 was a low-water mark for the Klamath River, in more ways than one.
In the preceding spring the George W. Bush administration had overridden the recommendations of biologists and allowed irrigators to draw more water from the Klamath. The summer was a hot one, and when migrating salmon arrived from the Pacific Ocean there wasn't enough water for them to get upstream to their spawning grounds.
Crowded into pools of warm water downstream, the fish were easy prey for disease. In the end, more than 30,000 of them died.
There was one positive thing about that disaster: It shocked people into realizing something had to be done about the mess in the Klamath Basin.
For decades, a variety of interests – state and federal governments, Pacific Power, farmers, fishermen, conservation groups and Indian tribes – had fought over the Klamath's limited supply of water. While they wrangled, the salmon and steelhead populations inexorably declined. The Klamath salmon fishery, once the third most productive in the West, had deteriorated by the 21st Century to the point where commercial fishermen weren't allowed to take any salmon at all in some seasons.

Opinion

Our Office, Scaled Down: Mark Alvarado on how he reconstructed our building

Our building. For ants.

Source WeeklyNovember 16, 2011May 31, 2024

One day, about a year ago, a guy walked into our office and asked if he could build a to-scale model of our building. This isn't the beginning to a bad joke, this actually happened and the guy said the model would include all the colors, details, cracks, graffiti and everything else about this 100-plus-year-old structure. We agreed to his proposal, even if there were some apprehensions that he was actually just trying to gain access to the building to search for our cache of gold doubloons.
The man was Mark Alvarado and you can see the model he built of the Source
headquarters on the cover of this week's issue. It doesn't include the scaffolding and “sidewalk closed” signs you'll find now, thanks to an ongoing remodel, but the final product is a shockingly accurate portrayal of this historic building… even down to the stickers in the window and the spray-painted alien on one of our walls.

Opinion

All the Straight Poop on Bieber's Baby and Herman's Harasses

A gathering of news makers from the previous week.

Source WeeklyNovember 9, 2011March 9, 2023

Monday,
Oct. 31
Raising a little Cain: Two women said to have accused Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain of sexual harassment; first he denies it, then says charge was “baseless,” then admits paying off one woman … In more trouble for The Hermanator, a Wisconsin-based corporation might have illegally funneled $40,000 cash to campaign … Snow job: 300,000 in Connecticut still without electricity six days after snowstorm, and they're tired of excuses from Connecticut Light & Power … Everybody's a capitalist now: Occupy Wall Street movement applies for trademark on the name so it can sell T-shirts, coffee mugs and other tchotchkes … Close call: J.K. Rowling reveals she considered killing off Harry Potter's best friend, Ron Weasley, “out of sheer spite” because she “wasn't in a very happy place” in her life.

Tuesday, Nov. 1
A baby Biebs? Mariah Yeater, 20-year-old groupie from California, files paternity suit against Justin Bieber, claims they had sex backstage when she was 19 and he was 16. Bieber's lawyers say charge is false … Just slightly tasteless: Loudon County, VA Republican Committee sends out email showing President Obama as a zombie with bullet hole in his head; state GOP condemns “disgusting image” … Glad somebody's doing okay: Report by Roll Call shows total net worth of members of Congress topped $2 billion in 2010, up 25 percent since 2008 … B of A blinks: Faced with consumer outrage and loss of customers, Bank of America cancels planned $5-a-month debit card fee … Fool's gold: Goldline, a company touted by Glenn Beck and other right-wing icons, charged with running “bait-and-switch operation” in 19-count California criminal indictment.

Opinion

Facebook Finds Friends in Politics

Uncertainties for Oregon Facebook raises tax questions among politicians.

Source WeeklyNovember 9, 2011September 14, 2024

Back in the 1970s, when Steve Jobs was taking acid trips in what would later become known as Silicon Valley and Mark Zuckerberg hadn't even been thought of, the State of Oregon came up with a special approach to taxing businesses like utilities, railroads and communications companies.
Unlike other businesses, which can be taxed only on tangible property like desks, computers and trucks, Oregon says companies in that special category can be taxed on their intangible assets – things like worldwide value, brand recognition and goodwill.
And that's opened up a really squirmy can of worms for Facebook.
The social networking company got a 15-year exemption from local property taxes for building its new data center in an enterprise zone in Prineville. But last month the state Department of Revenue informed Facebook it could be subject to state taxes of as much as $390,000 a year.
As it turned out, the state had to quickly back away from that number; the actual amount of state property tax Facebook would owe is more like $26,000 a year.

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