Yup, it’s yet another food recall, and this time it is romaine lettuce from True Leaf Farms of Salinas, CA. The farm voluntarily recalled the romaine, which was thought to be tainted with listeria. The recall involved 90 cartons and affected three states, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Since then, however, the recall has been increased to some 2,500 cartons and affects 19 states as well as Canada.

So what happened? The farm says the 90 cartons of bagged lettuce went to retail sales. The bulk of the lettuce, that would be the 2,000+ cartons, went to commercial institutions, including restaurants. So far no related illnesses have been reported, but the farm recalled the romaine after food safety inspectors discovered listeria in a sample. The source of the listeria is still unknown.

You know, between the Portland Police and TriMet, there are plenty of stories to share. The most recent TriMet story concerns a bus driver who allegedly kicked a woman and her infant off her bus because the baby was crying too loudly and the mother could not make the baby stop. This took place on a route in Hillsboro around 8pm last week.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just issued a warning not to eat raw oysters from Washington State. Apparently a number of oysters from Hood Canal’s “growing area 4″ have been associated with a bacteria, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, to be exact, that causes illness. The oysters were distributed across 23 states.

The “outbreak” in question affected, so far, three confirmed cases and two possible cases. The tainted oysters were delivered between August 30 and September 19. The illness associated with the bacteria often includes diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. The victim can get sick within a few hours after eating the oysters or up to five days later.

This is kind of a funny story. We often find fault with TriMet, our local transit authority, but apparently TriMet thinks very highly of itself. When a U.S. News & World Report article rated Portland as “the nation’s best city for public transportation,” TriMet interpreted that to mean the agency was the nation’s top transit agency and took the ball running. TriMet spent some $8,000 on signs for its buses and trains that proclaimed “#1 Transit.”

Unfortunately for TriMet, U.S. News & World Report changed its mind, or rather, a correction noted that the original article had been incorrect, and just like that Portland dropped from #1 for public transportation to #5.TriMet plans to take down all 168 signs.

Seven weeks ago a Bend teenager riding a bicycle was killed when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Erik Mackenzie Conn. Conn claims he had been glancing at the speedometer and thus did not see the rider, who was riding a bicycle with his friend. Conn’s story may not hold up, as he was just arrested on a number of charges, including reckless driving, criminally negligent homicide, and second-degree manslaughter.

Last year the president of the Portland Police Association (the union) was involved in two road-rage incidents, oddly with the same vehicle but in different parts of the city and on different days. Scott Westerman allegedly was the instigator of the encounters, on both occasions yelling at the driver of a smart car. I guess it was bad luck for Westerman that he targeted the same car. The driver of the smart car took down Westerman’s license plate and filed a report, but the license plate was labeled as “unable to locate.”

We’re always hearing about salmonella outbreaks and the like and the investigations to narrow down the culprit(s), but this is something new: Del Monte Fresh Produce plans to sue William Keene, Oregon Public Health’s senior epidemiologist, for, well, dissing its canteloupes. The company filed an ethics complaint and tort claim alleging Keene made misleading statements about the cantaloupes and Del Monte Fresh Produce’s Guatemalan farm, which produced the cantaloupes. Del Monte Fresh Produce is also suing the Food and Drug Administration, which issued a recall of the cantaloupes.

This is practically unbelievable–the head of the Portland Police Bureau’s traffic division, while off-duty, was involved in a road-rage incident in Idaho in which he allegedly pointed a gun at another driver. He was stopped by Washington State troopers but was not arrested. The incident is under investigation by the Idaho State Police.

In the meantime, Todd Wyatt, the gun-brandishing off-duty supervisor, has returned from vacation and has been temporarily reassigned to the drugs and vice division. The irony of Wyatt being involved in a road-rage incident is that he heads the division that deals with road rage.

What is it with off-duty Portland police officers these days? It seems they are getting into trouble left and right. The latest story involves Portland police offers Sean Sothern, who was arrested in Tillamook County for allegedly driving drunk and then attempting to escape police. Oh, yes, and because his wife was in the car with him, he has also been charged with reckless endangerment.He was off duty at the time of the incident.

A wrongful death lawsuit names not only the drunken driver who killed the victim, Tessa Elizabeth Conradi, but two bars and a used-car dealership as well. The $7.1 million civil suit was filed by our own John Coletti on behalf of the victim’s husband, Walter Marrella.

The suit holds responsible drunken driver Jesse Lee Ream as well as Darren’s Auto Sales, the used-car dealership that loaned Ream the SUV that collided with the victim’s car and killed her. The dealership is owned by Ream’s sister and brother-in-law. The suit also blames two bars that served Ream the night of the accident: Rovon Inn and Fremont Ridge Inn. The bars were negligent for continuing to serve Ream, who was visibly drunk, and for letting him drive.