Portland on Forbes list of America’s Best Downtowns

Portland has made the Forbes list of America’s best downtowns! This, and the recent filming of new shows in the area (Grimm, Portlandia, etc) hopefully brings in more visitors for what Portland is, and not just because of being sales tax free.

When it comes to cities, Portland, Ore., is a unique urban playground of high-end culture, green living and DIY arts scenes. But for a taste of Portland’s best, natives point to the city’s downtown area. There you’ll find independent live theater, beautiful parks, the largest independent, used bookstore in the country and some of the best doughnut shops on the Pacific Coast (not to mention a plethora of Portland’s celebrated food trucks).

- Forbes.com

IKEA delivery truck drags a huge boulder onto I-205 Portland

PORTLAND – A commercial semi-truck driver dragged a huge boulder from IKEA to I-205 Saturday and he didn’t even realize it was there, police said.

A landscaper alerted police after following large scrape marks all the way from the Cascade Station IKEA store to the freeway, and then spotting the truck with the boulder still under it.

“Officers believe the driver of the truck had gone the wrong way around the turn-around to make a delivery at IKEA. In the process the trailer drove over the landscaping and his rear axle picked up the boulder and began dragging it along as he drove,” said Lt. Robert King with the Portland Police Bureau. “The driver apparently did not know he was dragging a huge boulder. “

The boulder damaged the undercarriage of the truck, which eventually caused the driver to stop on the freeway.

“Thankfully, the boulder did not dislodge into another lane of traffic causing an accident,” King said. “The investigation revealed the driver may have been sleep-deprived.”

Oregon State Police performed a commercial truck inspection and logbook investigation and the results were pending.

- courtesy of MSNBC

Traffic stop leads to big pot bust in Portland!

KPTV — PORTLAND, Ore. — A Multnomah County patrol sergeant on routine patrol arrested two people accused of moving 54 pounds of marijuana through the city.

Lt. Mary Lindstrand says Sgt. Tim Wonacott pulled over Anthony Hoang along Interstate 405 near the Everett Street exit for committing a traffic violation. His passenger, Tracy Nguyen, was also arrested.

When Wonacott approached the silver BMW, he could smell marijuana coming from the vehicle, Lindstrand says.

Packed inside the small car were several boxes fully loaded with 54 pounds of pot. Lindstrand says the drugs were individually packaged into 1-pound bags.

The way the material was packaged, Lindstrand says, made it clear the marijuana was being moved for delivery.

The value of the pot is valued at $150,000 to $200,000, deputies say.

Both suspects are being charged with possession of marijuana and delivery of marijuana.

Nguyen appeared in Multnomah County court Thursday afternoon and plead not guilty to the counts.

Hoang is expected to be arraigned on Friday afternoon.

Watch the video at http://www.kptv.com/news/26396914/detail.html

Zombies crash car on I-84 (PDX)

A car full of “zombies” was seen swerving eastbound on I-84 when it had crashed and rolled over onto its top last night around 9:30pm.

“…people who witnessed the crash initially thought the victims’ injuries were much more serious, because of the zombie costumes.”

It’s nowhere near Halloween, so I’m wondering what type of costume party these people were going to! An actual party, strange fetish, or orgy of undeads…?!? Who knows. It’s Portland, and this is one example of why you see bumper stickers everywhere saying “Keep Portland Weird!”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38178388/ns/local_news-portland_or?Gt1=43001

“Deep Green” World Premiere in Portland June 22, 2010

Get your tickets now! “Deep Green” has it’s world premiere here in Portland on June 22, 2010 at the Bagdad Theater. It’s a documentary that has been in the works for over 3 years, which brings to light an urgent situation related to our ecosystem. The documentary shows us how to decrease our carbon footprint by being aware of our resources and thinking in terms of reusable energy. I had a chance to meet briefly with the Director-Writer-Producer, Matt Briggs, and he is a very positive and friendly person. His profound knowledge on the subject matter leave me with no doubt that this will be a very informative and fantastic documentary. I am pretty excited to see this and will probably grab my tickets asap!

To learn more about “Deep Green”, please visit the official Deep Green Movie Website.