the Mercury News Team

Portland City Council voted to return green bike boxes back to SE 26th and Powell, 15 days after cyclist Sarah Pliner was killed at the intersection. On October 4, a semi truck hit and killed cyclist Sarah Pliner at the intersection of SE Powell Blvd. and SE 26th Ave. For many cyclists, Pliner’s death was […]

The Portland Clean Energy Fund distributed $107 million in green energy project grants in 2022. The Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) distributed its second round of grant funding in 2022, doling out $107 million to 65 projects slated to reduce carbon emissions, expand the green energy workforce, and lower Portlanders’ utility bills. The grants came […]

Oregon’s attorney general sued the Center for Covid Control, which was operating three questionable COVID-19 testing sites in the Portland area. In the height of the first Omicron surge in late 2021, COVID testing—both at-home tests and appointments with testing clinics—was scarce. One independent testing company, the Center for Covid Control (CCC), opened three testing sites […]

A political group called People for Portland raised $450,000 to unsuccessfully advance a ballot measure that would funnel tax dollars meant for housing toward a strategy to criminalize unhoused people. A dark money group called People for Portland attempted to push through a ballot measure to the November ballot that would have grabbed 75 percent […]

The city of Portland is three months overdue from its previously stated starting date for a body camera pilot program for the Portland Police Bureau. After finally agreeing that arming Portland police with body worn cameras is the right call in 2021, city attorneys and the city’s police union, the Portland Police Association (PPA), began […]

Multnomah County’s homeless population hit an estimated 3,057 in 2022. After a two year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Joint Office of Homeless Services conducted a regional “Point in Time Count” to estimate the size of the unsheltered population in the tri-county area. They tallied 3,057 people sleeping outside—as opposed to shelter or temporarily staying […]

One out of three members of Patriot Prayer were convicted on riot charges for their involvement in a May 1, 2019, street brawl.  In July, a jury found Mackenzie Lewis, a member of far-right group Patriot Prayer, guilty of engaging in a riot during a May Day brawl with anti-fascists in 2019. The decision came […]

One Dead, Five Injured From Shooting at Black Lives Matter March  Oregon Has Legalized Psilocybin Therapy—So When Can I Take Magic Mushrooms? Silence on the Set: Claims of Harassment and Assault Within Portland’s Film Community Uprooted and Unhoused: Portland’s homeless camp sweeps undermine the efforts of people seeking permanent housing. “It’s psychological warfare”: Old Town […]

The City’s Homeless Encampment Plan:     In 2023, City Council’s plan to build mass outdoor tent encampments for homeless Portlanders is expected to kick off. According to the mayor’s office, a contractor will be selected to oversee one or more camps in January (and the city already has its eye on one controversial contractor […]