Our spin on 7 days of news

[October 8th, 2008] MEET THE SHERWOOD FOREST LOBBY: Along with timber payments for the counties, the state’s congressional delegation secured a tax break for an Oregon company selling toy arrow shafts in the $700 billion financial “rescue” package passed last week.

“WHAT I HEARD …from journalists’ reaction to Sarah Palin was frankly disappointing. I was at a table with journalists whose names you’d recognize, and she was called ‘white trash,’ ‘moose-head,’ ‘lumber lady’ and other names.”—Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund to WW, after watching last week’s VP debate at Portland Airport’s Shilo Inn. (See story, page 8.)

154,468 : Number of people who, as of Oct. 6, had viewed 16-year-old Portlander Preston Fosback’s live webcam of the Barack Obama sign in his lawn. Fosback set up the camera after thieves made off with another sign. Last week, The Wall Street Journal and The Oregonian wrote about his devoted viewership.

“LOOK OUT, Oregon, for a global warming land rush,” says Monday’s O. “What if the American Southwest dries up, browns out, and those people now misting their patios in Arizona head to the still-green Pacific Northwest? What if Californians hit the road north in numbers far surpassing the 20,000 who now move to Oregon each year? What if the polar ice melts, oceans rise...”

LIFE AFTER CITY HALL: Former Portland Mayor Vera Katz, 75, took a lobbying job with Gallatin Public Affairs.