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Denis C. Theriault
Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and civil liberties. Before arriving in Portland, Denis wrote and edited for the San Jose Mercury News, covering the California Legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the city of San Jose—a real-live million-person town.
Posted inPolitics
A Leap of Faith
Is $20 Million Enough to Defy History, Fight Gentrification, and Revive the Black Portland that Was?
Is $20 million enough to defy history, fight gentrification, and revive the black Portland that was?
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Some Fond Parting Shots!
If Charlie Hales is vulnerable ahead of 2016, it’s his own fault.
Posted inPortland
Is $20 Million Enough to Reverse Gentrification?
Illustration: Eatcho THIS TIME, the smartly dressed Bishop Steven Holt wasn’t presiding onstage, clutching a mic the way you might imagine him leading a sermon. Instead, he was sitting down—though still impeccably dressed. There was a microphone, resting a few inches from his face, though it was hardly a personal instrument of rhetoric. This time […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Goodbye, Leonard Nimoy. LLAP.
Spock is dead. Leonard Nimoy had warned us a year ago that it wouldn’t be long, after he announced having chronic pulmonary disease—a byproduct of his long relationship with cigarettes. He was 83 and a hero. I’m unsurprisingly pretty sad about it. Getting to be a pretty good cast reunion off in the beyond by […]
Posted inNews
Required Reading: Amanda Fritz’s Speech on Why Portland Should Have Kept Out of the JTTF
denis c. theriault Last week’s hearing on rejoining a federal ant-terrorism task force. Commissioner Amanda Fritz was perfectly clear last week when explaining her vote against Portland’s reunion with a federal anti-terrorism task force, unpersuaded by the promised gains in safety and lamenting an inevitable diminishing of community trust once we send two of our […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Bike Thieves Beware! Donald Trump! A Crack-Scandal Tie!
They’re among the most unassailable laws (of a certain prevailing segment) of Portland: If your bicycle hasn’t been stolen, it will be. And even if you’ve been lucky, someone you know hasn’t been. That’s because bike theft is an astonishingly consequence-free crime in Portland (for the thieves, that is). The Portland Police Bureau, prodded by […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
For Hales, Earnestness Pays Off
In explaining his JTTF reversal, the mayor zings a rumored re-election rival: Mike Reese.
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Filthy Airport Carpet, Another Ground War in Iraq, and the Magic Blood of Ebola Survivors
It was a blood clot. Jerome Kersey died because of a blood clot. If you missed it yesterday, Mercury columnist Ian Karmel wrote a fine essay about maybe the most beloved, and maybe the most Portland, of all the players who’ve filed through town over the years and put on a Trail Blazers uniform. We’d […]
Posted inNews
Hales, with “Reluctant” Vote, Swings Portland Back into FBI Anti-Terror Task Force
denis c. theriault Chief Larry O’Dea, left, sits benignly. Across the room, activist Joe Walsh turns his back to the council. It was so much easier back in 2001, almost a generation ago, when Mayor Charlie Hales—still just a city commissioner—cast the lone vote in favor of pulling Portland out of an FBI led task […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Jerome Kersey Has Died, You Can’t Smoke in Parks, and Eddie Murphy Failed Us All
Jerome Kersey, who famously wore No. 25 for the Portland Trail Blazers during what was arguably their apotheosis, was a legendary link to the Portland that lived and grunted before all the complaints about transplants and bike investments and gentrification. More important, after he quit basketball, he was a good and giving neighbor and communitarian. […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Business as Usual in City Hall?
Hales’ plans for the Central Eastside would benefit a major campaign donor.