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Trimets new Frequent Express (FX) buses.
Trimet's new Frequent Express (FX) buses. Trimet

Good afternoon, Portland. Hope you didn't pack all your sweaters away over the weekend because it's about to be cold again tonight, with a low of 33 degrees. Then we'll have a nice weekend of rain. Get the sunshine where you can and here's the news!

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• A recent two-year PSU study of "tiny pod villages" in the Portland region concluded that villages are a reasonable interim housing alternative for people without permanent housing. Due to the report's detail, it may also serve as a guide for those interested in operating their own village.

• TODAY IN BUS NEWS, Trimet has begun training drivers to wield the awesome power of the accordion bus. No, it is not actually called that. The new Frequent Express (FX) buses are 22-feet longer than a standard (pathetic) 40-footer and will help Portland join the company of Seattle and San Francisco systems, whose superhero fights often hinge on a bus' ability to separate in a crisis.

• In this week's Savage Love column, Dan delivers important insights on dating app matches that don't have time time to text, but DO have the energy to hand their phone to a paramedic and ask that paramedic to find one particular person in their contacts and then send that one particular person a message cancelling a date. Don't send money!

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

• Russia’s retreat from areas around Kyiv has revealed evidence of indiscriminate destruction and targeting of civilians by Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared disturbing videos with the UN Security Council and questioned the purpose of a world body unmoved by and immobile in the face of possible war crimes.

• Ivanka Trump testified today, via videoconference, to the January 6 committee, which is investigating the 2021 US Capitol insurrection. The committee had been trying to secure her testimony since January. The committee's chairman said Ivanka had not been “chatty” but had been helpful.

• Inflation has been hitting US residents across the board, but it will perhaps not surprise you that lower income demographics have less flexibility about where they can make cuts, in the face of rising prices.

• AHOY THERE, STONERS! The SPLIFF Film Festival—featuring short, hilarious, trippy, and thoughtful mini-movies about cannabis and made by stoners just like YOU—is coming to Revolution Hall for one night only on Saturday, April 16! GET THOSE TICKETS NOW!

• I haven't watched either of these Nextflix sensations, and I still get the joke.