The legislature might help keep Portland Meadows from closing.
Dirk VanderHart
I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters elsewhere.
I've been in Portland three years, love it and want to help make it better. Let's keep it amicable!
Posted inBikes
Could Seattle’s Bike Share Program Offer the Spark Portland’s Needs?
Portland’s Alta Bicycle Share has won the right to usher another large city into the age of bike share—and that could spell a boon for Portland’s currently cash-poor system. Puget Sound Bike Share yesterday announced it had selected Alta to build and operate a 500 bike system in Seattle. Officials say they’ll have the system […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Three US allies now say there’s proof the Syrian government has used a “sarin-type” chemical against civilians. Britain, France and now Israel are making the claims, drawing partly on soil samples and photos of attack victims foaming at the mouth. US defense officials call the reports “inconclusive.” Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the lone surviving suspect in the […]
Posted inNews
Beaumont-Wilshire Residents Take Fight Against Apartments to LUBA
While fresh plans for a 50-unit, parking free apartment building in Kerns are just being revealed, Beaumont-Wilshire residents are attempting to derail an almost-identical project. Bolstered by a partially-successful initiative in the Richmond neighborhood, the group Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth earlier this month signaled it will appeal the city’s permitting of a four-story, 50-unit […]
Posted inNews
New Parking-Free Apartment Building Proposed in Kerns
The stalled development at SE Division and 37th has been the centerpiece of a debate over apartment parking. The era of the parking-free apartment building isn’t dead yet. Taking advantage of doomed zoning policy before its May demise, Beaverton developer Dennis Sackhoff last week applied to build a 50-unit apartment building at NE Couch and […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Stocks this week trended higher, with commo—JUST KIDDING! BOSTON. Following the most-intense manhunt in recent memory, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the bombing at Monday’s Boston Marathon, was located huddled inside a boat in a Watertown, Mass., last night. After a brief gun battle and prolonged standoff, authorities took the grievously wounded Tsarnaev into […]
Posted inNews
Cops Catch “Hammer Pants Bandit”: A Win for Them, an Enormous Loss for Us
Cue the “guess you CAN touch this” quips. Police are announcing they arrested the so-called “Hammer Pants Bandit” on Thursday, after the suspect eluded authorities for months. Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office According to a fresh release from the Portland Police Bureau, cops arrested 46-year-old Weston Miner Rogers at his residence on SE Aspen Summit Drive, […]
Posted inNews
St. Francis Park Caught up in Portland’s Building Boom
The trees and paths of St. Francis Park are about to give way to Portland’s inexorable push toward density. If all goes as planned, the unassuming private-public space that’s sat on SE Stark Street between 11th and 12th Avenues for more than three decades may soon play host to nearly 150 apartments with ground floor […]
Posted inNews
Change-Up on Gambling Bill Offers a Glimpse of Salem’s Puppetry
Turns out the swift change in fortunes for a bill that would help Portland’s aging horse track yesterday had less to do with lawmakers’ soul searching and more to do with a misunderstanding of Democratic leadership’s wishes. That’s at least the take of Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City, a vice-chair of the House Business and […]
Posted inNews
Public Defenders Union now Looking into Another Route to Pay Parity
If you’ve read our story in today’s Mercury (on newsstands now!) about the relative paucity of pay for the state’s public defenders, you know it’s a situation the Oregon legislature’s not likely to improve meaningfully in the near future. Developments in Washington in past years, however, suggest there might be another route for defenders to […]
Posted inNews
A Bizarre Twist in the Fate of Portland Meadows Bill
Dirk VanderHart A bill that could mean a financial reprieve for Portland Meadows will go before the Oregon House of Representatives—but only after benefitting from a bizarre reversal in fortune this morning. In session today, the House Business and Labor Committee initially voted to send HB 2613 to the House Rules Committee. The bill would […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
It’s morning! Welcome to your slightly late but always essential rundown of the day’s top stories. Authorities still don’t know who was behind Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon, but they’ve learned more about the bombs. The explosives were created using pressure cookers stuffed with nails and ball bearings, investigators now say. Monday’s attack has […]