Print

An alternative weekly newspaper in Portland, Ore.

Print circulation: 40,000, Total print and online readership: 250,000

Cover Story

• Inside Starbase: Behind the scenes at a school program sponsored by the US Department of Defense, July 15, 2010

  AS A PAIR OF FIGHTER JETS rips through the clear blue sky overhead, I drive to the Portland Air National Guard Base to see if I can sneak my way in. I walk through the doors of the armory, past uniformed sergeants coming off duty, past the recruiting office. I’m looking for fifth graders.

Law Enforcement

• Hitting the Bricks: Cops Covered for Guard Accused in Skateboard Attack, August 12, 2010

  THERE ARE SURPRISING new twists in the case of a Pioneer Courthouse Square private security guard who gained infamy last winter after hitting a teenager with a skateboard.

Medical Marijuana

• Growing Pains: Measure Tears Rift in Marijuana Reform Movement
  

  A PLAN TO CREATE a statewide system of medical marijuana dispensaries will appear on the ballot this November—without the endorsement of Oregon’s largest marijuana advocacy group.

Immigration

• “Criminal Aliens:” Immigrants’ Fingerprints Are Now a Fast Track to Deportation, June 24, 2010

  THE NORTH PARK BLOCKS were crowded with American flags and protest signs on Tuesday, June 15. It was hardly a Tea Party: Dozens of local immigration reformers were rallying outside the Portland offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), decrying a rapidly expanding program that they say will make immigrants afraid to report crimes.

Human-Interest Feature

• Roger and Jim: Boilermakers, June 10, 2010

  IT’S QUITTING TIME at the Cascade General shipyards on Swan Island. Dozens of workers appear in hard hats and dirty coveralls, headed from the docks back to their Fords and Chevys. Some of them are trudging along on foot, as you might expect. But most are riding bicycles.

Local Controversy

• The Day the Music Died: PSU’s Radio Station Gets Kicked Off the Air, July 1, 2010

  ALL IT TOOK was a little sodomy to bring down KPSU, Portland State University’s student-run radio station. At the end of a show called Debate Hour on Thursday, June 24, a serious political conversation veered into a juvenile discussion about sex and urine. Then someone uttered three words that prompted a listener to file a complaint: “Sodomy is great.”

Humorous

• Boner Patrol: SW Portland School Bans Hugs, March 25, 2010

  WHEN WEST SYLVAN Middle School Principal Allison Couch decided to ban hugging on campus earlier this month, she felt like she had exhausted all other options.

Beat Reporting

During my news intership from January – April, I covered the local education beat, seeing the city’s high schools through a budget crisis and a contentious redesign process.

• HISTORICAL OVERVIEWHarsh Lessons: Can Portland Schools Learn from Past Mistakes?, March 11, 2010
• A RESOLUTION?Shrunk but Not Demolished: High Schools Avoid Closure in Redesign, April 29, 2010
• HARD NEWS Schoolhouse Block: Teachers’ Contract Negotiations Reach Impasse, February 11, 2010