Doug Brown

Good morning, Portland. Get your Burger Week plans in order (starting Monday!) and then read these links, please. Some big news yesterday: Portland City Council voted to approve a water filtration plant that could cost a half billion dollars: The humble ultraviolet wave, it seems, never had much of a chance. From the first moments […]

yokeetod / getty images You’re aware that it’s fucking miserably hot outside right now, and it will be for the next several days. Now spread the word to people vulnerable to heat-related illnesses that Multnomah County is doubling the number of cooling centers they can go to get a break from the punishing temperatures. Here […]

An anti-Trump march led by Portland’s Resistance last November Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is on the verge of selecting a chief for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) after a nationwide search. Activist group Portland’s Resistance really, really, doesn’t want Chief Mike Marshman—a finalist—to keep his job. The group, which formed last November in the wake […]

Good morning, Portland. Link time. First up is this week’s Mercury feature by Rachel Petrovich on an “existential clusterfuck” that led her to Muay Thai at the age of 44. Pick up a print copy (out as of yesterday) and read it here. Jade Schultz Also out in print as of yesterday is our story, […]

Jade Schultz As the summer heats up, Multnomah County’s two jails are packed to the brim. They’re so full, in fact, that 20 inmates were released last weekend just so another round of incoming detainees could be locked up. It was the first time in nearly four years that county inmates were prematurely booted—a process […]

The county’s jail capacity is at its lowest in decades.

Doug Brown The search for the next chief of the Portland Police Bureau is winding down. While the names of the six finalists have yet to be officially revealed—though current Chief Mike Marshman is one of them and has a shot to keep his job, and Oregonian reporter Maxine Bernstein says Seattle Assistant Chief Perry […]

Multnomah County has had a “jail population emergency” twice this month—meaning more than 95 percent of the available beds were taken up by inmates—Sheriff Mike Reese told the board of commissioners this morning. He pushed for the board to pass a resolution allowing a committee to review people who could released to make room for […]

Good morning, Portland. Link time. First up is this week’s feature by tour guide/writer Joe Streckert, out in print as of yesterday. It’s good: “I became an unlicensed teacher, got laid off, and found a tour guide job on Craigslist. That was in 2010, and it ended up being one of the most formative gigs […]

Kenneth Huey On August 15, there will be an unprecedented battle in a Multnomah County courtroom over the fate of local campaign finance reform. In an opinion that could come to shape political races statewide, a judge will decide whether strict contribution limits approved overwhelmingly by county voters last fall are constitutional. And now, after […]