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The first of its kind in the nation, Electric Avenue’s charging station, unveiled on Feb. 29 could change the entire model of electric vehicle charging, simply by using a battery. “It is wonderful to have this new station on Electric Avenue,” said Stan Sittser, transportation electrification project manager at Portland General Electric. “It is a terrific test bed for electric vehicle charging and information gathering. It is a showcase for new technology.”

For the paranormal researcher, science is vital to understanding paranormal events, but it still has its limits. Explaining the unexplainable means looking at all the factors and knowing that not everything can be explained. The researcher’s goal is not to invalidate the paranormal experience, but to help people understand the experience.

Education is one of the most widely discussed areas in local and national politics. President Obama, in his 2012 State of the Union Address,focused on the increased difficulty of affording higher education. According to the Oregon Education Association, 33 of all considered bills in the recently closed 2012 Oregon State Legislative Assemblypertained to education. And last month, Oregon was one of 26 states to file a waiver temporarily exempting it from the nation’s highly contested No Child Left Behind Act.

Super Tuesday results indicate Mitt Romney leads the race for the Republican presidential nomination. While Romney won six key state primaries on March 6, Rick Santorum won three key primaries and still garnered enough support to remain a viable candidate.

There’s a lone smoking shelter between Smith Memorial Student Union and Cramer Hall, but despite the “no smoking” signs posted on the bench next to it, some people still sit there to have a cigarette between classes. The current Portland State smoking policy mandates that certain areas remain smoke-free and prohibits smoking within 25 feet of doorways, building entrances and exits, operable windows and other areas. Signs are posted all over campus, reminding the PSU community of the rules and regulations. Despite the signs, some designated smoke-free areas remain problematic. Soon, however, this could change.

Right now, a student who walks into the Campus Public Safety Office may think that it looks more like a construction zone than a public safety office. New renovations are part of a larger effort to restructure and rebuild how Portland State’s CPSO office functions.

With the identity of the city as a mecca of hipness and forward thinking, it sounds like fiction to hear that before the 1970s, Portland—the land of hipsters, urban farming and bicycles—was characterized by a relatively provincial conservatism. To locals who can claim more than a 30-year residence, though, it puts Portland’s historical trajectory from conservative to hip in perspective.

March 1 was a day of celebration for six Portland-area students and for the programs that mentored them. In a ceremony held at the Native American Student and Community Center, students, family members, PSU faculty and staff gathered in recognition of National TRiO day.


“I have one of the most fun jobs on campus,” said Shannon Timm. A faculty member of the Student Activities and Leadership Program, Timm wears many hats, but her primary role as coordinator of Student-Led Services brought her to the six-member Speakers Board. “I get to stay really plugged in to what’s happening on campus,” Timm said.