A federal judge has approved a package of police reforms years in the making.
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.
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Hall Monitor
Watching a Promise
The upshot of no Trader Joe’s: millions more for housing.
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Man Shot by Police Had Been Placed on a Mental Health Hold the Night Before
DeNorris McClendon, 27 The Portland Police Bureau this morning has confirmed TV reports, citing relatives, that the man shot by an officer along Interstate 84 yesterday was deep in a mental health crisis when he reportedly waved a replica handgun at drivers on a freeway ramp and then again at responding cops. DeNorris Laron McClendon, […]
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Police Swarm to Report of Gunman, Shut Down Interstate 84; One Report Says Cops Fired at Man
DeNorris McClendon, 27 UPDATE 10:17 PM: Police have just identified the man shot and wounded by an officer this morning near Interstate 84—and a bit of research shows he’s dealt not only with mental health issues, as has been reported, but also with the aftermath of a nearly 12-year-old high-profile encounter with police. DeNorris Laron […]
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Fortunate Timing? City Pushing Ahead With Three Finalists for Police Reform Monitor
Among the many newly firm deadlines looming over the city’s finally approved package of police reforms with the US Department of Justice: the need to hire someone credible and qualified to monitor the deal—an independent compliance officer/community liaison (COCL)—within the next 90 days. That might sound ambitious. But thanks to all the time bought by […]
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BREAKING: Federal Judge Approves Police Reform Deal Between City, Union, and Feds
A federal judge this afternoon has decided to accept a proposed package of police reforms negotiated between the city, the US Department of Justice, the Portland Police Association and the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform—setting in motion a rapid series of deadlines for putting the deal in place nearly two years […]
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Good Morning, News!
VLADIMIR PUTIN IS LAUGHING AT YOU. The Russian leader is deflecting from the obviousness of his technical invasion of Ukraine by comparing the Ukrainian government soldiers to Nazis, insisting that no one can tell the difference between Russians and Ukrainians anyway, and also, for good measure, threatening to spread his war with the West into […]
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Trader Joe’s Do-Over: Another Grocery Chain Chosen for NE Alberta and MLK
Four months after Trader Joe’s definitively killed any hopes it might reconsider an abandoned plan to move to NE MLK and Alberta—fallout from controversy over gentrification and claims of miscommunication—Mayor Charlie Hales’ office this morning has just announced a fallback deal reviving the city’s plans for the long-vacant lot. Natural Grocers, a chain based out […]
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Good Morning, News!
Super-duper first things first!!! Maybe you thought Hello Kitty was a kitty, who also had, oddly enough, a smaller pet kitty of her own. YOU WERE WRONG. The company that produces the insipidly cute icon says “she is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat.” Nothing is as it […]
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Coming Out Ahead?
Letter, Modest Payment Persuade Fired Finance Boss to Drop Bias Claims
Letter, modest payment persuade city’s fired finance director to drop discrimination claims.
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Hall Monitor
A Collision with the Calendar
With weeks to go, many major street fee questions still remain unanswered.
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Council Settles With Fired Finance Director; Mayor Writes Him a Letter
Illustration by Wilder Schmaltz (Editor’s note: This is a slightly updated version of a story published in this week’s edition.) Last November, Mayor Charlie Hales seemed reasonably clear about why he was firing Jack Graham, who’d worked for years as the city’s top administrator and finance official. Noting the din of unwanted headlines—led by the […]