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[In an extremely nurse Dana Evans voice] Good Morning, Portland! I know you don’t want to hear this from me, but it’s rain all day today, maybe tapering off in the evening—maybe. And y’know, you’ve just gotta get through it because Friday is gonna be beautiful. Saturday’s gonna be beautiful. Sunday’s gonna be damn near 80 degrees. Good luck to you, and keep your feet dry. Here’s the news!
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland Community College president Adrien Bennings directed the school to use a phrase “All Together, Together One,” on marketing materials. What’s the problem with that? Well, it’s her own trademarked slogan. Oregon Government Ethics Commission is investigating the matter after a complaint that Bennings could benefit from the conflict of interest, even if she’s not being explictly paid for its use. The Mercury‘s Jeremiah Hayden has more.
• Here’s something that should probably be all the time: If you’re attending tonight’s match-up at Moda Center between the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans, your ticket is your bus pass. A release from transit agency TriMet reads: “For up to three hours before and after… anyone with a ticket to the game has a ticket to ride TriMet — for free!” It seems so odd that they don’t already do this, but I suppose nearly everything about Moda Center seems hugely nonsensical to me. This one-time sweet trick is in theory brought to attendees as part of the team’s commitment to sustainability, but in actuality it’s sponsored by PCL Construction, so they’re the ones who actually cared.
• If you ever find yourself thinking wistfully that Portland used to have an International Film Festival or missing the art museum’s defunct Northwest Filmmakers Fest, Portland Panorama agrees. And they’re back for a second year of trying to do both! There are horror shorts, documentaries, VR and immersive works that “cannot exist on a traditional screen,” and interesting features you can watch NOW instead of waiting for them to show up on the international shelf at Movie Madness (no shade to the international shelf at Movie Madness). We’ve got picks and a little more about how the fest comes together.
• This week’s Mercury Music Picks contains 29 shows—31 if you count Quasi’s two-day, three-show Turn! Turn! Turn! residency as separate gigs. Yes, the new owners at Turn! Turn! Turn! have officially taken over the venue! Read about that and more!
IN NATIONAL /INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Despite some recent excitement about a bipartisan bill to fund Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through September 30, House Republicans nerfed the idea Thursday morning by not taking up new spending legislation sent over by the Senate. What does that mean? It appears that the partial government shutdown will continue at least through Monday—it may not even be considered until the House returns from a two-week recess on April 14. New York Times notes that “with the House in recess any one lawmaker can block efforts to pass the bill unanimously during brief procedural sessions.” This particular compromise funded essentially everything except for agencies carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, so ultraconservative Republicans are believed to be blocking it.
• On a personal note, I am concerned that funding the government until September 30 leaves a possible vulnerability when it comes to the Bureau of Land Management‘s annual bat beauty contest, which wasn’t held in 2025 “due to the lapse in appropriations.” Knowledge of “the most stunning bat photographed on BLM public lands” is an American right, even as it is also a tremendous responsibility.
• What’s this under the blurb about a bat beauty contest? It’s a note that President Trump gave a 19-minute address to the nation on Wednesday, during which he trotted out empty phrases like “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories” and estimated the war should wind down in three weeks. Trump claimed that regime change was never a goal of the war, directly contradicting his widely acknowledged statement from February 28: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take.” The president also stressed that the Strait of Hormuz isn’t really an issue for the US, which is a half truth. The US imports very little oil from that area, but we’re all feeling the heat (or lack thereof) from rising gas prices.
• This one is a little tricky: The security detail of New Hampshire governor Kelly Ayotte happened upon a car collision Wednesday, and a state trooper assigned to that detail pulled Bob’s Burgers voice actor and comedian Eugene Mirman from an enflamed car collision. It appeared that Mirman’s car had crashed into a toll plaza, and he was hospitalized with serious injuries .
• The four-person crew of Artemis II is on its way to the Moon as of Wednesday. They’re not touching down—just doing a flyby—but the 10-day mission represents the furthest astronauts have travelled since 1972. The trajectory will take the shuttle swinging around the moon, and the mission is expected to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 10. Plenty has already been written about their toilet.
• If I were entering communications at this time, I’d charge my focus and go for department of transportation. Everyday they’re just pushing one another to go harder—must be an incredible group or all the same guy. ODOT not really showing us weird road updates, but we believe.
