• Portland "gladiators" battle in chariot bike wars

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    Dan Oviatt, known as "Captain America," rides his mini bike during a three-day Mini Bike Winter Olympics on Sunday, Feb.19, in Portland, Ore. "Zoobombers" are known for riding pint-sized kids' bikes at breakneck speed down steep streets in Portland. (

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    Chariot riders battle in a "Ben Hur"-like chariot race at Chariot Wars during a three-day Mini Bike Winter Olympics Saturday, Feb.18, in Portland, Ore. Armed, variously, with all manner of foam-padded apparatus, at least five teams did battle on Saturday under gray skies for the pleasure of hoisting a three-foot-tall, homemade skull-bearing piece of welded junk, called the "Ben Hurt" trophy.

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    Chariot rider Jon Penfold drinks from the "Ben Hurt" trophy following the "Ben Hur"-like chariot race at Chariot Wars during a three-day Mini Bike Winter Olympics Saturday, Feb. 1, in Portland, Ore. Armed, variously, with all manner of foam-padded apparatus, at least five teams did battle on Saturday under gray skies for the pleasure of hoisting a three-foot-tall, homemade skull-bearing piece of welded junk, called the "Ben Hurt" trophy.

     From AP:

    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Looking like punk gladiators, teams of young adults on junk bikes pulling chariots made of junk parts frenetically chased each other around a makeshift arena, slamming each other and swinging away with foam clubs.

    Spectators tossed beer cans, flour and smoke grenades. Firecrackers popped and obscenities flew during the battle, called the "Ben Hurt Chariot Wars."

    And then, toward sundown, the grown-ups arrived. Seven police cars pulled up and told all 400 or so people they had to leave because they were trespassing on railroad property. They complied. But the contest was over anyway.

    Click here to read the full story about the "Ben Hurt Chariot Wars" in Portland.

     

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    Is that Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds"?

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  • Portland police dismantle 'Occupy' camps after confrontation

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    Police officers arrests protesters in the Portland encampment, Nov. 13, in, Portland, Ore. In a tense escalation of the Occupy Portland protest, police in riot gear Sunday surrounded demonstrators in a downtown park area after hundreds of people defied the mayor's order to leave the park by midnight.

    Natalie Behring / Getty Images

    Protesters sit in the middle of a road in defiance of police instructions near the Occupy Portland encampment Nov. 13, in Portland, Ore. Portland police have reclaimed the two parks in which occupiers have been camping after a night of brinksmanship with protesting crowds of several thousands.

     

    According to msnbc.com staff and news service reports:

    Police numbers shifted throughout the night, but they showed no signs of moving against the protesters.

    Around 4 a.m. a line of about 200 police stretched across a street and in front of a federal courthouse.

    Protesters put up barricades of pallets, couches and chairs at Southwest Main Street, but they were taken down as the crowd retook the parks.

    When crowds thinned, police moved in.

    The mood at the parks on Sunday was "peaceful and respectful" after some raucous marching overnight, said City Council member Nick Fish.

    "It's almost like the fever broke last night," he said.

    Read the full story here.

  • 'Allure of the Automobile' celebrates classic car design

    By Rich Shulman

    It almost looks like she is praying in front of the Corvette. This exhibit opened in Atlanta last year, and opens tomorrow in Portland. Slideshow.

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    Sharon Deming, of Vancouver, Wash., photographes a 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray at the Allure of the Automobile exhibit Friday, June, 10 at the Portland Art Museum, in Portland, Ore. The Allure of the Automobile examines the golden age of automotive design by celebrating some of the world's finest cars from the 1930s to the early 1960s. During this era of brilliantly designed automobiles, engineering combined with artistry and craftsmanship to produce objects of unparalleled beauty.

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    A 1937 Dubonnet Hispano-Suiza H-6C "Xenia" is shown at the Allure of the Automobile exhibit Friday, June, 10 at the Portland Art Museum, in Portland, Ore. The Allure of the Automobile examines the golden age of automotive design by celebrating some of the world's finest cars from the 1930s to the early 1960s. During this era of brilliantly designed automobiles, engineering combined with artistry and craftsmanship to produce objects of unparalleled beauty.

  • Rick Bowmer / AP

    A man who would only be identified as 'Redeye' singing a rendition of Sublime's 'Two Joints' during karaoke night at the Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Ore., in a picture taken on May 5 and released today. The cafe has farmer's markets of donated weed-laden goodies, a weekly comedy show and even an employees' night. On Thursdays, it's karaoke. An ill-lit stage catches an occasional cloud of puffy white smoke blown from a pipe or a bong or a vaporizer.

    Free weed, free tunes: Ore. pot bar hosts karaoke

    AP reports: It's karaoke night at Portland's Cannabis Cafe, a combination of the bar from Cheers and a street-side pot palace in Amsterdam. It is perfectly legal in this smoky room for medical marijuana patients to burn, eat, rub, filter and roll marijuana.

    There are cancer patients, AIDS patients and sufferers of smashed vertebrae and pinched nerves. There are also those who find refuge under Oregon's "severe pain" allowance — tell a marijuana-friendly doctor you've got pain, and you've pretty much got weed. Continue reading.

  • Aaron Josefczyk / Reuters

    Cleveland Cavaliers' Christian Eyenga, left, and Samardo Samuels react during the fourth quarter of their NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers in Cleveland, Feb. 5. The Cavaliers lost their 24th consecutive game to set an NBA record.

    Cleveland Cavaliers set NBA record for consecutive losses in a season with 24th straight

    Read the full story here.

  • Craig Mitchelldyer / Getty Images

    A person walks in Pioneer Courthouse Square, the site of an attempted bombing Nov. 27, in Portland, Ore. A Somali-born teenager, Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction when the previous night he allegedly attempted to set off a car bomb during Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the park. It was reported that civilians were not at risk because the bomb was supplied to him by undercover federal agents and the explosives were inert.

    Somali-born teenager arrested and charged in plot to set off car bomb at Portland, Ore., tree lighting ceremony

    Read the full story here.

  • Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

    Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier from Canada compete during the Ice Dance-Free Dance of the 2010 Skate America in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 14.

    Don't worry. I've got you...I think.

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    Photographer Gabriel Bouys caught this moment that struck me as quite humorous (as long as nobody got hurt, that is). I guess Crone and Poirier were more confident about this move than what it looks like they are, as the pair won silver. Read more about the Skate America ice dance results here.