Month: June 2010
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The second floor is safe again, even though the roof still leaks
My friend with the restaurant and the fire stairs reports that the City authorities have since smiled upon him, and have told him that his second floor lounge is now officially safe, even though the roof above the sixth floor still leaks.
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Even after the cuts, Portland’s schools are still the most costly
Monday's Oregonian carried this article about what local school districts would cut as a result of the state cutting local school support for 2010-2011. Some districts propose to cut teachers and administrative staff, some propose to reduce special programs, and some propose to dip into reserves. The article included a table (not apparently available online)…
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Mississippi loses its perfect record with the FDIC
I'd posted in March about how Mississippi had avoided the rash of bank failures that has spread across the rest of the country. Two weeks ago Mississippi had its first bank closure in 10 years, when the Comptroller of the Currency closed the First National Bank in Rosedale and appointed the FDIC as its receiver. Even though…
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Amtrak lets the chips fall where they may, but not on children without an adult present
I don't understand the nanny state. Amtrak's Coast Starlight route has a lounge car, called the Pacific Parlour Car, for passengers who book sleeper service. It hosts a wine tasting in the afternoon, and according to the information on the train, children aren't permitted in the lounge car during the wine tasting. On a recent…
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Yale Fan Chooses Harvard
If he survives the jokes and teasing he's going to get from the other freshmen, this particular young man, whose name really is Yale Fan and who hails from Beaverton, and who is entering Harvard College in September, is likely to make his mark in physics. He's already received national recognition for his research in quantum…
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That’s one small step for man, one giant set of fire stairs for a building department
A friend who runs a restaurant downtown on two floors of an old building says that the Portland building pooh-bahs told him that he couldn't use the second floor beyond a certain date unless he, or the owner of the building, repaired one of the internal fire stairs in the building so that guests on…
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The Laquedem Oregon Budget Crisis Health Plan
The State of Oregon is facing a deficit of $560 million for the current biennium. Governor Kulongoski has told each state agency to prepare a list of what it would cut to reduce its spending by 9%, which is roundly what the state has to cut from its spending wish-list to get its budget back…