News briefs

Bike collective to open Dec. 1

Good news for Portland State’s many cycling enthusiasts: Bike Farm, a new bicycle collective in the Rose City, will be opening its doors in N.E. Portland on Saturday, Dec. 1.

The volunteer-based collective will have an open shop in the afternoon every Saturday and Sunday, as well as evening hours every Monday. Additionally, Bike Farm will host a meeting every Tuesday evening for community members to meet and discuss all things related to cycling in Portland, as well as shop-specific events and operations.

For additional information on volunteering or accessing Bike Farm’s resources, visit http://www.bikefarm.org.

–Melinda Freeland

Food drive for homeless to last through Wednesday

The Portland State branch of Students for a Democratic Society is holding a food drive for Portland’s homeless, and hopes to collect items such as non-perishable foods, socks, and outerwear garments.

The drive runs Monday, Nov. 19 through Wednesday, Nov. 21, in the Portland State Park Blocks and will last each day until the early evening. Students for a Democratic Society is a national organization that aims to promote democracy among young people through social action and education.

People interested in helping cook or hand out food can call 419-349-4427 or 847-863-4940 for additional information.

–Melinda Freeland

Pay based on teaching performance could see 2008 ballot

Teachers across Oregon are gearing up for a big fight over a potential 2008 ballot measure that would tie their salaries to their “classroom performance.”

Oregonians voted down a related proposal to link educator salaries directly to student test results in 2000. But since then, so-called merit pay programs have caught on across the country, in a big way.

Schools and districts in 19 states have incentive pay plans, including Minnesota, New York City, Denver, Texas and Florida.

Such plans have varied widely from state to state, but many areas have chosen to tie the bonuses to teachers who agree to teach at high poverty, low-performing schools, and manage to have some impact on student achievement. Often, higher bonuses are given to teachers who accept hard-to-fill jobs in math, science or language departments.

But the Oregon proposal, backed by anti-tax initiative machine and teachers’ union foe Bill Sizemore, is much broader in scope. It would make all teacher raises dependent upon the loosely defined criterion of “classroom performance,” instead of on experience or seniority levels.

Years spent in the classroom, in other words, would no longer matter.

–Julia Silverman, Associated Press

Hate crimes rose 3 percent in 2006

Hate crime incidents were up slightly in Oregon in 2006, according to new data from the FBI.

There were 141 such incidents in Oregon in 2006, up from 137, or by 3 percent, in 2005, according to the FBI’s data, which was released Monday.

Race was the motivation for 66 of the attacks, the FBI says, followed by religion, which was behind 27 of the incidents. Twenty-five of the hate crimes have been linked to sexual orientation, and 23 have been connected to ethnicity.

The FBI says that more than half of the hate crimes were connected to violent offenses, including assaults and intimidation.

–Associated Press