LIVING

Health, religion, travel, family and personal style news from around Oregon

• Antibacterial battle
Dish soap. Conveyor belts. Toothpaste. Socks. Deodorant. Latex paint.

• Daily doubles keep retired nurse going
Who: Dot Beland, 84, Portland; 5 feet, 61/2 inches; 140 pounds

• Wine events
For expanded listings of wine events, type the keywords "Wine Events" into the search tool.

• AT YOUR SERVICE
Nathan Brown is 5 and pretty handy with a putty knife. Saturday he pried pounds of previously chewed gum that had been stuck under desks at Gresham's Sam Barlow High School for who knows how long.

• Let us know why you do the Komen race
The 2008 Komen Race for the Cure takes place Sept. 21. Portland's race draws thousands; it's the largest on the West Coast and was the third largest nationwide last year. People run or walk for a variety of reasons -- we want to know why you take part. Tell us by e-mailing howwelive@news.oregonian.com. Be sure to include your full name and hometown. We'll publish some responses in a special section on the race Sept. 14 and on OregonLive.

• Painterly brushwork celebrates Oregon with new stamp
At 11 a.m. today in the state Capitol, the artwork for the postage stamp to commemorate Oregon's sesquicentennial next year is scheduled to be unveiled.

• Take Me Home
THE WEEK

• SONGWRITER SUES McCAIN OVER TV AD
Jackson Browne doesn't want John McCain running on anything fueled by his lyrics.

• Oregon Zoo anxiously awaits a baby elephant that could supercharge attendance
Anxiety simmers at the Oregon Zoo, and it's no wonder.

• Everyman's volcano
ATOP MOUNT ST. HELENS -- Like a steady stream of ants trekking up a very steep mound, they kept coming. One right after the other throughout the day, all bound for glory.

• On the wings of swifts
So this ambitious, creative guy moves to town, explores the city, stumbles upon a wild and whimsical scene, picks up his camera and makes a film that embodies all that is ambitious, creative, wild and whimsical about Portland.

• ALL RISE!
Celeb court is now in session.

• A Portland mail carrier's essays on the Web gain fans, prizes
"Twenty-nine years ago, on my first week on Postal Route 531, I stood at the door of an apartment building with forty-odd pounds of mail wedged between my hip and chin and prepared to pry my way inside with my elbow . . . I was about to meet Edna."

• College's anthem OK despite dubious past
A college with which I am affiliated discovered that its anthem was written for a blackface minstrel show in the 1900s. Although the lyrics are innocuous, the school banned the song from this year's graduation and formed a group to discuss its future use, part of a campaign to make students aware of things they take for granted. Is this a good response, or should the school focus on more important issues? Is it unethical to sing the song?

• New Clue: It wasn't the colonel, and not with a lead pipe
NEW YORK -- Goodbye, professor. Farewell, colonel.

• Portland houses of worships weather disruptions
During weekday Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Parish, also known as Burnside's Downtown Chapel, two dozen people stand, kneel, make the sign of the cross and receive Communion.

• Reasons you
Race for the Cure

• HEF PULLING PLUG ON PLAYBOY PARTIES?
After decades of wild nights, Hugh Hefner is winding down the partying at the Playboy mansion, according to numerous sources.

• Road trip! Rock hall of fame to open NY branch
NEW YORK -- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is going on the road to New York -- the city that spawned hip-hop and gave Bob Dylan and the Ramones their start.

• Marionberry shake, extra thick with history
SISTERS -- To taste August, push through the Sno Cap Drive In's door. Squeeze past the squirming kids crammed into the first booth and belly up to the counter. Order yourself a marionberry milkshake.

• FATHER KNOWS BEST?
Dickering celebri-dads in the news:

• Share your story
The 2008 Komen Race for the Cure takes place Sept. 21. Portland's race draws thousands; it's the largest on the West Coast and was the third-largest nationwide last year. People run or walk for a variety of reasons -- we want to know why you take part. Tell us by e-mailing howwelive@news.oregonian.com. Be sure to include your full name and hometown. We'll publish some responses in a special section on the race Sept. 14 and on OregonLive.

• Their Own Home
THEIR OWN HOME

• MY WORKOUT
Who: Emily Roth, 51, Portland; 5-foot-4, 135 pounds

• New DVDs: catch Blu-ray reissues and some offbeat gems
This week's DVD download is heavy on TV series and Blu-ray reissues of titles that weren't all that hot in their original formats. But there are some offbeat gems lurking among the shovels of coal.

• SUITS ME!
All rise for these celebrity lawsuits: Vanessa Hudgens: A music producer has sued the "High School Musical" star for $5 million, claiming the actress and her father have repeatedly violated a contract and failed to pay him his share of her earnings. Hudgens entered into an agreement with producer Johnny Vieira when she was a minor, the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, states. Vieira claims Hudgens and her father, Greg, sued to get out of the agreement but also have failed to abide by settlement terms. Ed McMahon: Westmoore Lending of Huntington Beach, Calif., has joined the parade of creditors suing the former "Tonight Show" sidekick, saying the pitchman owes them $275,000 from a 2006 loan. The Allman Brothers Band: The Southern rock band has sued a record company to demand a bigger cut of recordings sold through third parties such as Apple's iTunes. The band filed its lawsuit against UMG Recordings Inc. in federal court in Manhattan, demanding at least $13 million and additional royalties from the sales of newly configured compact discs and digital downloads for use on telephone ring tones.

• Wine events
For expanded listings of wine events, type the keywords "Wine Events" into the search tool.

• BIG HUNK O' ELVIS
Elvis Presley's favorite performance costume, the peacock jumpsuit, has sold for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia sold at auction.

• Novel reissue tied to Edwards stain
NEW YORK (AP) -- An old Jay McInerney novel featuring a party girl based on John Edwards' future mistress, Rielle Hunter, is getting a fresh printing from its publisher.

• Take Me Home
THE WEEK

• Words in progress
Sitting in a coffee shop, three writerly types debated one of their favorite topics: why Portland seems to attract -- and cultivate -- so many writerly types.

• You had me at hello
The banners appeared seemingly overnight, massive portraits strung from the sides of buildings in downtown Madras, Bend, Roseburg, throughout Portland -- along North Interstate, Mississippi Avenue, Southeast Stark.

• Charity bike ride's fundraising should not subsidize rider's costs
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• Computer 1, 'Go' player 0
First, in 1992 a computer program called Chinook became the first nonhuman world checkers champion.

• No bailout for a borrower
LaVon Rigsby stopped writing the mortgage check in April because paying it meant she couldn't buy groceries. Then she quit answering the telephone that some days rang 17 times in 24 hours. But in June, a registered letter arrived that she couldn't ignore: Her home of three years will be auctioned Oct. 25.

• Talking about race in a sacred place
Since Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., parted ways in May, churches across the country have been talking about race. A former Portlander has been keeping tabs on many of those conversations.

• Vivian McInerny muses on Goth fashion, and Armani
Ever since Giorgio Armani dressed Richard Gere in "American Gigolo," the fashionable have crushed on the Italian stallion.

• Red Cross chief is image-conscious
Former business executive and Harvard marketing professor Gail J. McGovern wants to turn the American Red Cross into a "cult brand."

• Oregon proves a spam magnet
Give us your Nigerian scams, your cheap Rolex watches, your huddled underenhanced males yearning to breathe free.

• Soap will float your boat, and set off fireworks, too
What makes soap such an effective cleanser? Find out by playing with surface tension in this science experiment duet.