Give city hall your thoughts about the downtown ban on malt liquor and tallboys. That is, if you can dodge all the semen.
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 inTransportation
Hey, Uncle Sam, It’s Portland’s Transportation Wish List!
Denis C. Theriault Suits and hardhats. Talk about finding the sweet spot for a tightly scripted press conference on federal transportation funding: just east of the newly (mostly) reopened Broadway Bridge, the streetcar tracks on one side, industry, the Fremont Bridge, and the light-rail on Interstate on the other. That was the backdrop this afternoon […]
Posted inPortland
Schedule It: Rally over Police Oversight
Just in time for police union contract talks to resume—and maybe a decision on what to do with the officers involved in Aaron Campbell’s death this January—the Alberta Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform is planning a rally and march this month at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The group has been perhaps the […]
Posted inMedia
Sam Adams Won’t Say It, So We Will: John Canzano is Kind of a Dick
Even at this morning’s city council meeting, Mayor Sam Adams couldn’t escape the idiocy of sportswriter John Canzano and his ill-timed rantings about the departure of the Portland Beavers. Citizen Charles E. Long sat down across from the council and proceeded to read some of the choicer lines from Canzano’s Monday Oregonian column into the […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Hey, guess who’s been shit-canned? Pissed-off, emergency-sliding, beer-stealing flight attendant Steven Slater. A JetBlue spokeswoman relayed the news that Slater is no longer working for the airline, even though he’d hoped to one day be back on the job. He’s been hailed as a hero for bitching out a bitchy passenger, but another side of […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
The Oregonian says bedbugs are here. Which all you loyal Mercury readers already knew. Plus y’all got to look at a pretty (and apparently pretty controversial) lady while getting in your Cimex lectularius education. Ooooh, Portland has a firebug, too! TriMet and fire investigators want you to look at this fellow’s picture in case you […]
Posted inCrime
Portland Police: Hey, Kids, Cool It Now!
After an alarming rise in gang violence this summer—culminating in a stretch that saw nearly two dozen shootings last month—the Portland Police Bureau has announced a “Cool Down Mission” this holiday weekend in hopes of forestalling a new round of trouble. The shootings began to subside after police flooded hot spots with extra officers and […]
Posted inPortland
From Old Town: Hung Far Low’s Splendid Re-erection
After two years in limbo, including a graveyard for dead signs, the rejuvenated Hung Far Low sign was unwrapped last night in a televised party, and a piece of Chinatown’s bawdy past found itself celebrated by the well-fed, booze-rouged faces of its future. Denis C. Theriault Wrapped Denis C. Theriault Unwrapped Except for a brief […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
It Could Have Been Worse, Part I: He’s done with North Carolina, where he wasn’t such a boor, and now Hurricane Earl is inviting himself to a few thousand Labor Day barbecues in Cape Cod and Long Island. How social!It Could Have Been Worse, Part II: The oil rig off the coast of Louisiana that […]
Posted inNews
Coming Soon: Place for Homeless to Safely Stash Their Stuff
Portland’s Housing Bureau is very close to announcing the site of a new facility downtown where homeless residents downtown can store their things during the day without fear of having them stolen or confiscated. Once its location is revealed, the storage facility is expected to open within the next two weeks. The storage facility won’t […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Um … OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! Meanwhile, North Carolina is chewing on a whiskey-soaked rope, hoping that when Hurricane Earl finally arrives with his roof-ripping, window-smashing, road-flooding surgery kit, he does his business as gently and quickly as possible. But in these parts, it seems, we’ll enjoy a gorgeous break from […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
A Table Not Only for Two
Contract talks between the police union and Portland officials are close to resuming—and we might be invited in.