So those persistent pro-weed petition-wavers lurking on SE Hawthorne are getting somewhere. This week, the Campaign for Sensible Law Enforcement hit a mile marker in their push to legalize marijuana in the state: Collecting over 50,000 signatures on their petition for an amendment. The constitutional amendment would legalize personal use of marijuana for those 21 […]
Alex Zielinski
Alex Zielinski is a former News Editor for the Portland Mercury. She's here to tell stories about economic inequities, cops, civil rights, and weird city politics that you should probably be paying attention to.
Posted inEvents
PSU Students’ GOOD Ideas for Portland
Last night, LA-based GOOD magazine came back to host a second GOOD Ideas for Cities event, this time featuring the work of Portland State University students. Following the layout of February’s Ziba event (where top Portland creatives faced city design challenges), students in PSU’s Design Thinking course presented their ideas on how to improve the […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning News!
Back Off: In an apparent response to a U.S. sergeant’s Sunday shooting rampage in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai demands that the U.S. pulls back from combat outposts in the country. Which also leads to… The Afghan Tailban suspends peace talks with the U.S. Face Time: Archeologists find an unclassifiable—but clearly human—skull in China, tentatively deem […]
Posted inNews
Equal Share
A Q&A with Portland’s New Equity Director
A Q&A with Portland’s new equity director
Posted inNews
Rolling Along
Concerns Grow as Bike Sharing Advances
Portland’s bike-sharing program advances amid concerns about equity.
Posted inCrime
Police Brutality Victim Wins Trial
A police brutality case, first reported by the Mercury in 2008, has finally come to a close. A federal jury yesterday ruled unanimously that Portland Police Officer Benjamin Davidson used excessive force when he Tasered Dan Halsted after suspecting that he’d tagged a nearby commercial building. The 2008 incident left Halsted—who was innocently walking home […]
Posted inTransportation
TriMet Budget Cuts, Take Two
TriMet’s budget cuts may not be as brutal as previously drafted! Instead of a $17 million budget gap, TriMet formally announced at today’s board meeting that it is only looking at a $12 million shortfall to make up for. Okay — so they’re still a doozy, but the $5 million reduction definitely makes a difference […]
Posted inPolitics
Female Lawmakers’ Answer to Anti-Abortion Bills
Carolyn Main Democratic Senator Nina Turner introduced a new bill to the Ohio Senate this week limiting men’s access to erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra. The proposal would require an interested man to “attain an affidavit from a sexual partner attesting to his impotency, see a state-approved sex therapist, complete a stress test to assure […]
Posted inNews
Portland Goes Virgin
Virgin Airlines is coming to Portland. As of June 5th, the low-rate airline will offer two trips to Los Angeles International Airport and one trip to San Francisco International Airport daily. Sure, it’s not that exciting, but the company puffed up its announcement with some interesting bonuses. Along with a promo video (see below), Virgin […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning News!
It’s Getting Old: So it snowed a bit last night. Expect a lovely day of mid-30s weather and sporadic rain. Ho boy! Scandal Town: As Denis and the Oregonian reports, the O’s Opinion Editor Robert Caldwell went into cardiac arrest (shortly before his death) after a romp at a 23-year-old Portland Community College student’s apartment. […]
Posted inBikes
City’s Bike Sharing Website Goes Live
Portland Online Portland Bureau of Transportation has finally unveiled a website to educate and engage the public in the city’s much-anticipated bike share program. “If you haven’t been to a city with bike sharing, it’s hard to imagine what it’ll look like,” says PBOT’s Dan Anderson. “The website was created to show the basic reasons […]
Posted inNews
Candlelight Vigil Honors Shooting Victims
Last night, a group of 30 to 40 Portlanders met with candles underneath the Morrison Bridge on SE 2nd Ave, the very spot where an anonymous driver shot at two sleeping homeless men last month. Their purpose: to shine a light on the dangers of living on the street and the importance of each person’s […]