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Top Stories 2023
Posted inTop Stories 2023

The Biggest Portland City Hall News of 2023

This year, the city managed to help and harm the unhoused, while leaning on pre-pandemic work models to try to revitalize downtown.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

This year, much of the most impactful policy decisions to come out of city hall centered around homelessness and the conditions on Portland’s streets. The city opened more shelters, while approving rigid measures to limit homeless camping. City leaders also floated a new tax incentive for businesses downtown, which centers on mandating workers to return […]

Posted inTop Stories 2023

The Biggest Portland Environmental News of 2023

Oil company lawsuits, asbestos rain, and Rubio disappoints activists: A lot happened in 2023’s environmental news.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

Multnomah County filed a nearly $52 billion lawsuit against big oil companies for their role in the deadly 2021 heat dome event.   On a sunny June day, Multnomah County commissioners voted unanimously to sue 17 fossil fuel companies and big oil consultants, claiming the companies “have known their products were harmful for decades…and need […]

Posted inTop Stories 2023

The Biggest Portland Police News of 2023

Big police settlements, a new top cop, and whatever happened to oversight? All that and more in the biggest police stories of 2023!
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

This year was filled with major milestones and a few missteps from Portland police, who in October found themselves under new leadership. In 2023, the number of shootings by police was down from prior years, but efforts to form a new oversight system for reviewing uses of force and misconduct is already facing opposition from […]

Posted inTop Stories 2023

Portland’s Top VILLAINS for 2023—Ranked!

Portland’s villains were especially busy this year… here’s who caused the most trouble.
Avatar photo Wm. Steven Humphrey

Not sure if you noticed, but the pandemic brought out the best in people, as well as the WORST. Portland’s resident right-wingers, rich crybabies, police enablers, and fake Democrats crawled out of the woodwork during the pandemic to take advantage of our city’s various crises, and have been especially busy during 2023.  While there were […]

Posted inTop Stories 2023

The Biggest Portland Labor News of 2023

Move over “hot labor summer.” 2023 was a hot labor year for Portland workers.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

The biggest labor news of the year, by far: The Portland Public Schools teachers’ strike.  It was nearly a complete “no-school November” for Portland Public Schools students, whose teachers went on strike on November 1 and didn’t return until November 27. The month was marked by conflict between the Portland Association of Teachers union and […]

Posted inTop Stories 2023

The Biggest Portland Transportation News of 2023

PBOT struggles, Rose Quarter snags, and deadly crashes marked a busy year in Portland transportation.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) fell deeper into a massive budget crisis that’s been looming for years.  PBOT’s longtime budget concerns took a sharp turn for the acute when Portland City Council, led by Mayor Ted Wheeler, voted to cut an approved parking fee increase in half. PBOT had already budgeted for the extra […]

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