Today’s News in 2 Minutes
MICHAEL MOORE TARGETS HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY: Michael Moore, the filmmaker whose targets have included General Motors, the gun lobby and President Bush, has set his sights on the health care industry, including insurance companies, HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration, and drug companies. And some pharmaceutical companies have issued internal notices to their work forces, preparing them for potential ambushes/A4
BAD DAY AT THE AIRPORT: Days of bad weather, a computer malfunction and sick airline employees put tens of thousands of travelers in limbo, with Comair canceling all its flights and US Airways trying to reconnect thousands of pieces of luggage with their owners. Throngs of waiting passengers milled about at Comair’s hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Regional Airport. At Philadelphia International Airport, several hundred people stood in long lines at sparsely staffed US Airways check-in counters and piles of suitcases were scattered throughout the baggage claim area/ A11
INTERNATIONAL — SECTION A
CAMPAIGN TO SUCCEED ARAFAT BEGINS: Candidates vying to succeed Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority kicked off a two-week election campaign with rallies and speeches that invoked the late leader’s legacy and pledged to continue his campaign for statehood. In a flurry of events, seven candidates sought support for their bids to fill the position that was left vacant with Arafat’s death last month/ A12
OREGON & THE WEST — SECTION A
LITTLE LONEROCK: You barely need all your fingers and toes to count the residents of Lonerock, southwest of Heppner. The nearest grocery store is 22 miles away, in Condon. But the town actually has grown in the past few decades, so things are looking up/ A20
KNOW WHEN TO FOLD ‘EM: The Albany City Council takes a pass on a tavern owner’s call for social gaming. Jim Mathews wanted to capitalize on the craze for Texas Hold ’em, but opponents worried soon there’d be card games all over the Willamette Valley city/ A20
CHEMEKETA HOUSE: To call the now-gone Chemeketa House just another grand building is somewhat akin to classifying Westminster Abbey as just another church, writes John Terry in the Oregon’s Trails history column/ A21
SPORTS — SECTION B
O’NEAL WINS MATCHUP AGAINST BRYANT: Shaquille O’Neal fouls out late in the fourth quarter, but his new team, the Miami Heat, rallies to defeat former teammate Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime/ B1
ALTERED EXPECTATIONS: The Oregon State football team’s opponent in Tuesday’s Insight Bowl, Notre Dame, is struggling to live up to its storied past. Meanwhile, the Beavers are continuing their quest to rank among the nation’s elite year in and year out/ B1
METRO — SECTION C
LIFE STORY: When she became a Methodist minister’s wife and a full-time substitute teacher in Portland, it was too expensive for Estella Earls to keep up her flying hobby. But she never forgot her love of flight and became part of the Civil Air Patrol’s education program. In 1995, she was inducted into their Hall of Fame, joining others such as Chuck Yeager and the NASA Voyager team/ C1
MEASURE 37 OUTLOOK: At Fisher Implement, farmers needing combine parts have gotten used to lining up behind weekend warriors replacing their riding lawnmower belts. In recent years, the store’s clientele has shifted from 95 percent farmers to 50 percent urban home owners, says parts manager Ed Petersen. Measure 37, Oregon’s new property rights law, may accelerate the change. More than 600 properties in the county qualify for Measure 37 claims against land-use rules dating back to 1959. What’s unknown is how the struggle between high housing demand and the economic power of rich farmland — Washington County has the fourth highest farm income in the state — will shake out. Encroaching housing could drive farms out, or farmers could shift to new methods and markets. An analysis by The Oregonian of land ownership records and Measure 37 applications suggests a future somewhere in between/ C1
STATE SPENDING QUAGMIRE: Legislators’ desire to keep the state budget from seesawing wildly with the economy may wane as Oregon recovers from the recession. But outside pressures will make the issue hard to ignore: Tax activist Don McIntire already is gathering signatures for a 2006 initiative that would limit state spending to the growth in population and inflation; FreedomWorks, the nationally financed group that defeated the Legislature’s tax increase proposal earlier this year, is waiting to see what kind of limit lawmakers come up with before mounting its own initiative campaign; and Gov. Ted Kulongoski says his goal is to set aside 4 percent of the general fund as a reserve/ C1
LEARNING HOW TO GIVE: Every morning as Matt Seguin climbed out of the car in front of St. Clare School, his mom said, “Change the world today.” So Matt did. The seventh grader delivered an inspiring speech to Meals on Wheels donors, who contributed $172,000 to the program. Matt continues to deliver meals to the elderly along with his mother, Rhoni Seguin of Portland, who is determined to instill the ethic of generosity in her children/ C1
BUSINESS — SECTION D
NEW NIKE CHIEF TO FOCUS ON SUBSIDIARIES: William D. Perez, who assumes the top executive spot of Beaverton-based Nike on Tuesday, faces the mandate of spreading the appeal — and international exposure — of Nike’s lesser-known brands. Among them: Converse, Cole Haan and Starter/ D1
LOCALS FARE WELL IN THE MARKET: The number of Portland-based mutual funds has shrunk, but the ones that remain put up some strong numbers this year/ D3
COMMENTARY — SECTION E
AFGHANISTAN — WHAT WE DIDN’T KNOW: Traveling to an isolated village outside Kabul, a reporter and photographer from The Oregonian learn that the head-to-toe burqas Westerners roundly scorned as repressive are their ticket to safety/ E1
DESPERATELY UN-REAL — TV’s hit show “Desperate Housewives” lures us in with notions of community, even though that’s not how many of us live our lives/ E3
LIVING — SECTION L
ED AND MARY MIYAKAWA’S GLOBAL REACH: The couple who met on the University of California at Berkeley campus in the 1970s move to Waldport and adopt six children — one from Korea, one from India, two from Vietnam and two from the United States/ L1
GOOGLE U: Does adding classic historical research texts into the Google search system destroy academic research for students? The argument cuts both ways, scholars say/ L1
ARTSWEEK — SECTION M
TOP MOVIES OF 2004: Yes, it was a bad year for movies. But in the gloom of Hollywood, Shawn Levy still found a few movies that made him forget “Alexander” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” at least for a little while/ M1
TUBE 2004: Peter Carlin discovered a lot to like about the year’s television shows, though there were plenty of bottom feeders as well. “The Sopranos,” “Lost” and “Arrested Development” were just the top of it/ M1
BOOKSWEEK — SECTION M
YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: The modern master of the short story, Canadian Alice Munro, took top honors for her collection, “Runaway” in The Oregonian’s annual roundup of the year’s best books from a national perspective. Regionally, the critics’ top pick was “Landscapes of Conflict” by William G. Robbins. The second volume of an environmental history of Oregon has at its center the battle between dams and fish/ M6
TRAVEL — SECTION T
IN SEARCH OF LEWIS AND CLARK: 30 chilly hours spent searching for the explorers at the new Lewis and Clark National Historical Park/ T1
CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY: Sip Syrah at Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn, along with the king of the wild frontier himself, in the Santa Ynez Valley/ T6
DESTINATION NW — SECTION T
SEARCHING FOR GIANTS: Christmas is over and the kids are getting bored. The solution? Head to the Oregon coast for Whale Watch Week/ DNW1 (inside Travel)
ABCs OF NATION’S NEWEST PARK: Check out our tips for navigating the new Lewis and Clark National Historical Park and spots nearby/ DNW2 (inside Travel)
TV CLICK
JITTERS FOR “JOEY”: In a troubling season for sitcoms, Matt LeBlanc’s “Friends” spinoff is struggling for traction/ Page 3
