This segment was from the Local portion of program 86.

Local (Al Young)   The Portland City Council recently approved a plan that would impose new regulations on where and how developers can build along an 11-mile stretch of the Willamette River.   The River Plan, as it’s called, would require developers to set aside 15 percent of their property for landscaping when they start projects, and would require any existing project that expands a business’s footprint would undergo a new city review process.   Many businesses along the river are already crying foul, and rumor has it that Washington is already courting the ports and railyards to move north.   Is the new River Plan the best way to strike a balance between businesses and the river environment, or will it just drive businesses out of the state?

This segment was from the Local portion of program 85.

Local:   (Al Young) The City of Portland is taking unspent money from the Big Pipe waste-water project, to use for other purposes, such as bike paths.   The Willamette Week newspaper has documented other cases where the City of Portland is taking money collected for one purpose and using it for other purposes.   Are these the kind of decisions Portland officials were elected to make?

This segment was from the Local portion of program 84.

Local:   (Al Young) As we sit here and tape this show, the Metro Council is discussing the urban growth boundary, and voting on agreements with the three Portland-area counties to designate which land will be developed and which will remain rural for the next 40 to 50 years.   Should Metro be picking the winners and losers, and will these property owners have any recourse if they want to but can’t develop their land?

International (Al Young) Five Blackwater employees, all of them U.S. military veterans, were charged Monday with manslaughter and attempted manslaughter in a case where at least 17 Iraqi civilians were killed.   Was it self defense? Were they following orders? Should their superiors be held responsible as well?

Al Young answers this question followed by a discussion by the panelists.

Like many other cities across the country, Portland's affordable housing problems grow worse every day.   Some say we need the government to build more affordable housing. Some blame our land-use planning system.   But what are politicians actually doing about it?