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Multnomah County sheriff's deputies arrested a Northeast Portland man wanted for bank robbery about 1 p.m. today while he was looking at cars for sale.

Deputy Paul McRedmond, a sheriff's spokesman, said Michael C. Deloney, 44, was accused of the robbery of a U.S. Bank branch at 16002 S.E. Division St. in November 2008.

The owner of a Portland electro-plating company was sentenced to a year in prison for illegally storing cyanide and other hazardous waste without a permit and letting hazardous pollution flow into storm sewers.

Larry Anson, 62, the owner of Columbia American Plating, had already pleaded guilty to violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act. He admitted that he operated his company in violation of industrial wastewater standards imposed by the city. He also admitted storing spent cyanide plating bath solutions from electroplating operations without a permit.

Fredrick D. Joe/The OregonianMaria A. Swearingen was driving home from work Wednesday and looking forward to walking her dog, Jadzia, in Lents Park when a bullet shattered the rear window of her vehicle. The two were sprayed with glass but not seriously injured. Portland police later found the bullet in the dog's bed in the back.

When Lola Ball's mechanic estimated it would be at least 30 minutes before someone could look at her minivan on Wednesday, the young mother didn't mind because it was such a lovely sunny afternoon. She left the Ford Windstar at the auto repair shop and took her two young children across Southeast Holgate Boulevard to play in Lents Park.

Two Clackamas County psychiatrists and the county administrator brought home more than $186,000 each last year. Two dispatchers and a jail guard racked up between $75,000 and $92,000 in overtime, in each case more than doubling their pay.

The Oregonian examined compensation paid in fiscal 2007-08 by three counties, eight cities with at least 25,000 people (from Portland to Tualatin) and the Metro regional government.

Collectively, the governments spent more than $1 billion on nearly 25,000 full- and part-time employees. The greatest share of their spending typically goes to payroll — 42 cents on every dollar in Multnomah County, for example.

Stephanie Yao/The OregonianMonster pothole on Northeast Grand Avenue on the north end of the Interstate 84 overpass was one of 280 called in to the Portland pothole hot line last week.

Sam Adams, on his first day as transportation commissioner back in 2004, donned an orange jumpsuit and joined a city pothole crew.

Adams has maintained a close relationship with potholes throughout his time in City Hall. He pushed — but later dropped — a plan to charge a street maintenance fee. During his campaign for mayor last spring, he released a video that showed him calling in to report a pothole outside his campaign headquarters.

Randy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianSecond-year apprentice students in the Northwest College of Construction receive instruction from Jerry Clark (right with beard and cap) at the Gates property in Southeast Portland where the land is being prepared for a future park. Last week, ground conditions from the recent rain and snow kept the students from working the site with heavy equipment and sent them to the classroom instead.

In most neighborhoods, the growl and rumbling of bulldozers and earthmovers would cause concern. But it's music to residents in Powellhurst-Gilbert on Portland's east side.

"People who live around here were pretty surprised and excited," said John McDonald, chairman of the neighborhood association's land-use committee and father of three. "We've been park deficient for a long time, and this will definitely make a difference."

Faith Cathcart/The OregonianDiane Kimes (front left) and Yvan Strong dish up dinner at Anawim Community Church where Steve Kimes (right) is pastor. The church reaches out to the homeless with services and a meal in the Sunnyside neighborhood and Gresham. "Anawin" is a Hebrew word that refers to the poor or the lost and forgotten ones.

"This will pass," says Steve Hanserd a little too frequently for someone who truly believes it.

He sold Fords for 22 years before being laid off from his job in Phoenix, Ariz., returning to Portland to look for work, failing to find it, and becoming homeless last summer. Not long after, he discovered Anawim Community Church, which for him is "a place that makes you feel like more than a piece of garbage."

Benjamin Brink/The OregonianJed Lazar chugs through the neighborhood on his electric-assisted bike. He and Shauna Lambert came up with SoupCycle while they were working on master's of business administration degrees.

SoupCycle, a company that delivers hearty organic soups by bicycle, joined the ranks of Portland's bike-centric businesses last July. Despite the economic downturn, business is booming.

Jed Lazar and Shauna Lambert came up with the idea last year when they were working toward master's of business administration degrees at Bainbridge Graduate Institute on Bainbridge Island, Wash. Founded in 2002, the institute helps students learn how to develop businesses that are environmentally sustainable, socially responsible and financially successful.

When word got out that gallons of melted snow came cascading through the top floors of the Multnomah County Courthouse, the news was received with a collective groan.

"This place is falling apart," "What a shocker" and "Didn't the county just re-tar the roof?" could be heard throughout the earthquake-unstable, 95-year-old courthouse.

Employees who use the building each day don't have much confidence in a structure that constantly seems to have something screaming for a fix.

Speculation has been rife among Portland's crafty types about the impending move of Scrap, the reuse and recycling center based at 3901 N. Williams Ave. The nonprofit announced the move but kept its new location a secret while posting tantalizing clues on its Web site. One clue said the new place would be between athletic gear and nature — Sellwood (Columbia Outlet store, Oaks Bottom) was the inspired guess of many.