On the heels of Epicurious.com calling Portland, Maine, "the new Portland, Oregon," Portland Mercury food writer Patrick Alan Coleman decided that he "quite like[d] the idea of a cross-country Portland food rivalry," and baited the Mainers with a blog post detailing why the West Coast Portland is the real deal for foodies. Portland Phoenix editor Jeff Inglis has fired back with his point-by-point rebuttal, noting the superiority of Maine's beer, ingredients, mushrooms and bartenders.
In collaboration with Travel Portland and Amtrak Cascades, Ace Hotel and The Stranger have launched Trainsetters -- a program that encourages train travel from Seattle to Portland and supports Portland's independent shops this holiday season. The program is aimed at an emerging travel market: younger travelers who are sick of the hassle and high costs of driving and air travel, and who prefer the train's practical and aesthetic benefits. Trainsetters will be promoted via design collaborations between The Stranger and Ace Hotel, including postcards, posters and custom coffee sleeves on the train, ads in The Stranger, and also on the web at www.trainsetters.com.
Phil Busse, the former Mercury managing editor and one-time Portland mayoral candidate, was charged with misdemeanor theft for stealing McCain campaign lawn signs in Minnesota. Busse was in the state for a visiting professorship at St. Olaf College, and admitted his deeds in a Huffington Post blog last Thursday titled "Confessions of a Lawn Sign Stealer." He has since resigned from St. Olaf, the Oregonian reports. "I have no problems with taking personal responsibility for stupid actions," says Busse, who faces up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. "I certainly regret I took down the signs."
On Feb. 1, someone named "Ronald" posted a comment about a local businessman named Terry Beard on both the Portland Mercury and Willamette Week websites. Ronald's message "was Greek to me," the Mercury's Amy Ruiz writes, "but Terry Beard sure didn't appreciate it." He took both papers to court to get them to reveal the anonymous commenter's IP address. The papers' attorneys fought the motion, arguing that Oregon's Media Shield Law protects the information. The plaintiff's lawyer countered by contending that the shield law only applies to news gathering, not the passive reception of information. On Monday, Judge James E. Redman sided with the papers, and agreed that the IP address was protected under the state shield law. However, he noted that "if the comment had been totally unrelated to the blog post," then the shield law might not have applied.
The Portland Phoenix has created a local alternative to the Beijing Olympic Games, the 2008 Portland Phoelympics, which will be "free of smog, lead toys, forced child-labor, political oppression, and large, ancient walls," according to a press release. "The Phoenix is proud to have created an international event worthy of the great city of Portland," said Marc Shepard, associate publisher of the Phoenix and president of the IPC (International Phoelympic Committee). "We expect the economic impact of these games on the city to be substantial, as we've already spent close to $47 on equipment, and that does NOT include our bar tab and first aid supplies."
The company that owns The Stranger and Portland Mercury announces the release today of Foundation, "a highly customizable, fully integrated content-management system for alt-weeklies." The new system, which was developed in partnership with DesertNet, includes dynamic calendars, city guides, user profiles, and extensive editorial tools. "With its customizable layouts and components, Foundation will reduce alt-weeklies' reliance on expensive web development," the Index Newspaper press release says.
The Phoenix was named "Newspaper of the Year" in the alternative weekly division by the New England Press Association in its 2007 Better Newspaper Contest. "After 40 years, the Boston Phoenix remains a model for alts, bristling with attitude and loaded with coverage of entertainment, culture, politics, and tweaking of the daily press," the judges say. The Boston alt-weekly led the pack of AAN papers represented in the awards with 12 first-place finishes. Boston's Weekly Dig was close behind it's crosstown competitor, grabbing seven first-place awards. The Portland Phoenix and Worcester Magazine each finished first in three categories, while the Hartford Advocate and the Providence Phoenix each took home one first-place award.
Portland's city auditor Gary Blackmer (pictured), angry about his treatment in a story in the Portland Mercury, approached reporter Matt Davis in City Hall, called him "despicable," and threw in a "fuck you" for good measure, according to the Mercury. Blackmer's beef comes down to the question of whether or not he provided comment for Davis' story on racial profiling by the city's cops. The story noted that Blackmer "declined to comment," yet he and a colleague both seem to think they provided enough comment by quoting from an earlier report. "To say [they] declined comment is fair, and I would challenge them to state publicly, here, why they did not," Davis writes. The Willamette Week's Ian Gillingham thinks that Blackmer's explosion was inspired by the newly released film The Bucket List, "in which two geezers start doing all the things they want to do before they die."
