Good morning, Portland! It’s been way too hot the past couple days. Luckily, it’ll cool down today, with forecasts predicting a high of 63 degrees. The weather is expected to warm up again later this week.
The last piece of the headline of this article is the most important piece of news here, but I have included some other information as well. It’s pretty hard to go about one’s day after the president of the United States levies horrific threats at a nation of 93 million people. Take care of yourselves and others.
In Local News:
• If you can’t beat ’em, SUE ‘EM. At least, that appears to be the mindset of one Rene Gonzalez, who readers may know for his very brief stint in Portland City Hall and failed run for mayor in 2024. After some time out of the spotlight, Gonzalez made headlines yesterday after he filed a lawsuit against the city of Portland, alleging officials harmed his chances in the 2024 mayoral election by making determinations about his conduct without giving him the chance to defend himself.
Some background: In the lead-up to the November 2024 election, Gonzalez was under investigation by the Portland Auditor’s Office for two separate possible campaign finance violations. In two decisions made right before the election and then right after, Auditor Simone Rede’s office determined Gonzalez had, in fact, broken campaign finance rules, and levied around $11,500 in fines against him. Months later, a judge ruled the city hadn’t allowed Gonzalez to defend himself before issuing the determinations. The judge’s ruling forced the city to return the fines. But that was evidently not enough, as Gonzalez is now seeking financial compensation from the city for supposed damage done to his reputation and electoral chances. If he is trying to make a comeback, I think this will backfire pretty big, considering the people of Portland are smart enough to know the real reasons they didn’t vote for him, and won’t be convinced otherwise.
• Early Monday morning, a driver sped the wrong way through downtown Portland before crashing the car through barriers at Waterfront Park and into the Willamette River. There were seemingly four people in the car at the time of the crash, including the driver. Yesterday afternoon, we got an update on the horrific and bizarre incident. While one passenger was rescued shortly after the crash, the police said yesterday that two others were found dead in the river about 12 hours later. A third person is presumed dead, but their body has not been found. Police have said they believe everyone in the car was very young—between 17 and 20 years old. The situation is awful and strange. It’s unclear if or when we might get more details about what happened, but an investigation is ongoing.
• As state and local government agencies consider whether to throw millions to renovate the Moda Center, labor advocates and employees are trying to ensure they get something out of the deal. The Teamsters are currently pushing for the Portland Trail Blazers owners and other Moda Center bosses to agree to a labor peace agreement, which would ensure workers could unionize without interference. Seems like the bare minimum the new Blazers owners should do if we’re gonna hand over millions in taxpayer money for the remodel—the whole situation has been rife with manufactured urgency and emotional manipulation, but we have some leverage here, too. Read Abe Asher’s latest in the Mercury for more!
• Speaking of the Blazers, they lost to the Denver Nuggets in overtime last night—a discouraging end to a game where they started strong. The loss puts a lot of pressure on the Blazers to beat the LA Clippers on Friday, or the team will most likely fall behind in rankings and reduce their chances of continuing far into the post-season. They beat the Clippers last time and can do it again, but will the high pressure get in the way? Good luck, guys!
• Check out the Mercury‘s DO THIS, DO THAT—your guide for this week’s must-do events.
In National/World News:
• President Trump’s threats toward Iran in the criminal war he started haven’t always come to fruition, because he has no idea what he’s doing. But that doesn’t mean his words shouldn’t be taken seriously as, at the very least, extremely reckless and troubling indications of how unfit he is for office. This morning, after days of escalating threats of action against Iran if its government fails to agree to open the Strait of Hormuz by 8 pm ET, Trump posted this: A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
It can be difficult to describe this administration’s actions in harsh enough terms, because its leaders have used absolute buffoonery to keep us in a constant state of overwhelm. But if anything deserves outright condemnation, it’s this. The idea that Trump is genuinely going to annihilate the entire Iranian nation, as he seems to be threatening, is terrifying beyond words. The act of targeting civilians and destroying their infrastructure is reprehensible and a war crime. But even if Trump backs down, which we should all demand and pray he does, the simple fact that he would write these words is grounds for immediate action. If you haven’t realized it yet, this man is woefully and horrifically unfit for office. You should care about the country of Iran, which has 93 million residents, who are people just like you and me. But if you don’t, at least know that Trump is putting us all in grave danger by simply posting this threat. I encourage you to call your officials and demand they take whatever action they possibly can to stop Trump from carrying out his worst impulses.
• Nothing else seems to matter very much other than the threats Trump levied this morning. But I wrote about some other news last night, which I’ll include here.
Everyone has had their eyes on the moon, where the Artemis II astronauts have been for the past few days. They’re heading back to Earth now after their lunar voyage, which included a trip around the dark side of the moon yesterday. The astronauts’ flyby of the moon took them deeper into space than humans have ever been before—more than 250,000 miles away from Earth. Space is big and scary and I kinda think humans don’t need to be up there, but I’ve gotta say, I’ve been entranced by this beautiful journey. The astronauts are expected to return Friday.
• The University of Michigan won the NCAA basketball championship last night, defeating the University of Connecticut by six points and wrapping up March Madness for the year. It’s the team’s second championship win.
• New budget docs show the White House requested a TSA budget of $11.7 billion for the next fiscal year, TIME magazine reports, “which would represent reductions of almost 8,400 positions and about 9,400 full-time equivalents (FTEs).” That budget includes the reduction of nearly 2500 transportation security officer positions. To offset the reductions, the Department of Homeland Security budget document notes that the Trump administration is suggesting privatizing security at some smaller airports. The White House says the reductions will save millions, but it also includes a request to allocate $226 million toward computerized security operations and screening systems, which will replace the need for human agents in some cases, according to the budget request. COURTNEY VAUGHN
• The music here is a little dramatic, but look at these cute little swans. Love you all and be well.
