Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today.
Don’t Be Buzzfeed: Buzzfeed is in the process of laying off 200 of its employees and, in doing so, is refusing to reimburse those employees for their paid vacation days. Hundreds of employed and unemployed Buzzfeed staff have signed a letter demanding the pay.
Today in “Who’s Running for President?”: A former Starbucks CEO is pursuing a 2020 run as an Independent (yawn). Senator Kamala Harris formally kicked off her presidential campaign with a massive rally in Oakland, California (see highlight below).
lol this was my favorite part about going to the Kamala Harris rally today 😂 pic.twitter.com/Ko8tzeT3HV
— lucy (@__itslucy) January 28, 2019
Cops Behaving Badly: A police officer in St. Louis, Missouri has been charged with manslaughter for fatally shooting his 24-year-old colleague in the chest during a game of Russian Roulette last week.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯: Chris Christie wrote a book.
Things You Don’t Need to Put on Conversation Hearts: “Build That Wall.”
Emotional Animal News: According to the Guardian, “Trevor, world’s loneliest duck… who lived in a roadside puddle is found dead after being attacked by dogs.” HAPPY MONDAY.
Emotional Support Alligator News: His name is Wally and he helps alleviate this man’s depression.
Um:
Brokaw: “The Hispanics should be working harder on assimilation.” pic.twitter.com/D4QGQhSRZh
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 27, 2019
In Case It’s Unclear: Just because Donald Trump reopened the government for a minute, he’s still not getting a border wall. In the words of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Have I not been clear on the wall?”
“You Don’t Fund the Government Three Weeks at a Time”: Here’s what Oregon members of Congress had to say about the temporary shutdown.
Vaccinate. Your. Children.: The Vancouver-area measles outbreak has grown to 34 cases—including one in Multnomah County. All cases involve unvaccinated kids between the ages of 1 and 10.
Police Union Justice: Mayor Ted Wheeler is rolling back a decision to fire a Portland police officer for joking about killing a Black man in 2017. Afraid that a police union arbitrator would overturn the city’s decision to fire the officer, Wheeler’s asking city council void the firing (instead, he’s “retired”) and hand over $100,020 in backpay.
This morning, ICE agents got on my Greyhound bus that was headed from Spokane to Portland. They walked around before they asked me and few others to step outside and took my documents and interrogated me for around 20 mins then claimed my papers were fake and that I’m “illegal”.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
The State of Mental Illness in Oregon: Excellent investigation by Gordon Friedman into Oregon’s flawed criminal justice system for mentally ill people who commit a crime. TLDR: We’re still locking people up for months at a time for having a mental disorder. It’s inhumane.
Suck it, Atlanta: Despite all-star Damian Lillard sitting last nights’ Blazers game out, Portland beat the Atlanta Hawks 120-111.
Longread of the Day: What’s up with award ceremonies falling hard for films where people of color are forced to teach white people how to be decent human beings?
