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Good Morning, Portland! If you hated that 90-degree business on Sunday, you’re going to loooove this upcoming weekend We’re looking at highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Next week we’re going a little warmer. So let’s take a stroll through the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland Community College celebrated its newly renovated Health Technology Building Tuesday, located at the college’s Sylvania Campus in Southwest Portland. The dedicated renovation began in 2018—funded through 2017 and 2022 ballot bond measures. A press release from PCC says that the renovated building has updated instructional and support spaces for programs in nursing, medical imaging and radiography, physical education, and exercise science. Additionally there’s a refreshed student commons and new fitness areas for both academic programs and community education.
• Bless the Oregonian‘s Mike Rogoway for keeping after this data centers story so faithfully. His reporting is probably why the Oregon Legislature introduced a one-year moratorium on tax breaks for data centers, which takes effect in June. But in advance of that moratorium, Hillsboro is holding a fire sale of deals with big tech companies to extend their incentives—sometimes for decades.
• Farmers market-heads know that the downtown PSU farmer’s market operates all year. But here, in May, we also begin to see smaller, neighborhood joints coming back into style. Last Sunday, the King Market at NE Wygant and NE 7th reopened, and yesterday, Shemanski Park, at SW Park and SW Main, returned to it regular Wednesday rotation. Look for Lents and Kenton to come back in June.
• Blue Heron is not a reenactment of Sophy Romvari’s childhood. But it tells the tale of a family that resembles her own and that of a film director piecing together old camcorder footage, trying to uncover circumstances she was too young to understand at the time. Romvari is one of the Pacific Northwest’s newest and most lucid directorial voices and her debut feature opens in Portland on May 7. Read film critic Dom Sinacola’s glowing review, because he has been yelling about this one since last year.
• Your favorite performer probably loves Dynasty Handbag: the performance alter ego of Jibz Cameron. She’s collaborated with Kate Berlant, Cole Escola, and Ayo Edibiri on her variety show Weirdo Night!—which SNL’s Sarah Sherman calls “freak church,” with Dynasty Handbag its “weirdo priest.” Cameron just published a memoir that connects her life experiences to the formation of her Dynasty Handbag persona. Ahead of FOUR (!) Portland appearances this weekend and next week, Lindsay Costello reviews the work.
• Hey, are you gonna vote? The Mercury has some recs.
IN NATIONAL /INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Today in Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration is being very chaotic (shocking!) about whether or not US ships are able to traverse the embattled waterway. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that the US military was escorting ships through. However, Trump also Truth-Socialed out that the US would pause that due to “tremendous Military Success.” Right. As of this morning, Iran is said to be reviewing US proposals to end the war as President Trump threatens to bomb them. Never saw that coming! /s
• Today in wild results, gas prices keep rising due to the war the US and Israel are waging on Iran, and that’s turning into profits for oil companies. NPR’s Camila Domonoske reports: “because of a sort of accounting quirk, Exxon and Chevron looked like they made less money this quarter. But that’s because a lot of the profits that they’re going to make from selling oil at the higher prices that we’ve seen they just haven’t been able to put on their books yet.”
• Canary Islands officials have sought to block a Dutch cruise ship from docking off Tenerife, the largest and most populous island in its Atlantic archipelago. Following an outbreak of hantavirus aboard the ship, the MV Hondius docked for several days in the Republic of Cabo Verde, but Cape Verde said it couldn’t handle such a large scale evacuation, treatment, and quarantine. So Spain said COME TO THE CANARY ISLANDS I GOT U, and the Canary Islands were like I’M SORRY? WUT? Several people were evacuated from the cruise ship in Cape Verde, and it also appears that more than two dozen passengers left the ship in late April, after the first passenger died on board. Contact tracing? Fuhgeddaboudit. COVID taught us nothing.
• Today in I’M FUCKING SORRY? Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a federal health department plan to wean US residents off antidepressant medications. BUT I NEED THAT BECAUSE OF YOU, said everyone on SSRIs.
• There’s no reputable sources or reporting saying that social media sensation/singer Jake Schroeder actually received a cease and desist email from Turning Point USA, demanding he drop the line “Erika Kirk is stupid as firk” from a one of his recent ditties. The songwriter posted a screenshot of an email, and those are easy to fake. Furthermore, he’s promoting a short tour currently. But IDK we’d better listen to the song to make sure we’ve done our due diligence here.
