Portland filmmakers hope to build on success at Sundance
Alex Wolf Lewis and Kaitlyn Schwalje saw their short documentary about a turtle, Snowy, premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year and are now working on films about squirrels and wastewater treatment.
Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Alex Wolf Lewis and Kaitlyn Schwalje are hoping a 25-year-old box turtle named Snowy will help them with their next two film projects, including one about the havoc wreaked by squirrels and another about the “unsung heroes” who process our wastewater.
Lewis and Schwalje premiered their turtle documentary, “Snowy,” virtually at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. It’s arguably the country’s best-known and most prestigious film festival and getting selected as just one of the dozen documentary short films to be screened – out of thousands submitted – was like “winning the lottery,” Lewis and Schwalje said. The Portland filmmakers set out to find if Snowy – wh
Police find no bias, terror motive in Portland road rampage
Woman killed in mass hit-and-run identified By Associated Press | January 27, 2021 at 8:01 AM EST - Updated January 27 at 8:29 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Investigators have found no evidence that terrorism, politics or any bias motivated the rampage of a 64-year-old Oregon man who witnesses said repeatedly drove into people along streets and sidewalks in Portland, killing a 77-year-old woman and injuring nine other people, police said.
Police identified the driver as Paul Rivas of Oregon City. He was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on initial charges of second-degree murder, assault and failure to perform the duties of a driver, the Portland Police Bureau said in a news release.
Alleged hit-and-run driver faces 31-count indictment, accused of killing 1, injuring 7 others in SE Portland rampage
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
A Multnomah County grand jury returned a 31-count indictment Wednesday against a man accused of striking and killing one woman and injuring seven other people in a wild, 15-block rampage in his Honda Element last week in Southeast Portland.
The indictment charges Paul Rivas with second-degree murder and failure to perform the duties of a driver in the killing of Jean Gerich, 77, a pedestrian who was hit twice and then dragged for a block.
She died about three hours later from blunt force trauma at OHSU Hospital, according to her son and daughter.
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Alleged hit-and-run driver pleads not guilty to 31-count indictment in Portland vehicle rampage that killed 1, injured 7
Paul Rivas, who at one time lived in Woodland, has March 2019 conviction in Clark County for second-degree voyeurism By Maxine Bernstein, oregonlive.com
Share: Motorist Paul Rivas, 64, speaks behind a protective glass alongside sheriff s deputies as a public defender, in red mask, listens in the court room at the Justice Center in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2020. The motorist accused of hitting pedestrians, bicyclists and killing a 77-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty to murder and has given detectives bizarre explanations about the incident, according to court documents. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP)
Jean Gerich’s legacy transcends her death in a hit-and-run rampage through a Portland neighborhood
Family thanks all who reached out to help her: “We lost our mom violently, but we also know that a community was traumatized.”
Updated on Feb 02, 2021;
Published on Feb 02, 2021
Jean Gerich, 77, was killed Monday, Jan. 25, after she was hit by an SUV in Southeast Portland, police say. The driver of the SUV went on to hit at least 10 other people, mainly pedestrians.
Jean Gerich wasn’t one to sit home.
Between her passion for hiking in Portland’s wooded parks, her weekly Pilates classes and the water volleyball matches with her team “The Plunkers” at the retirement home, Gerich was usually on the move.