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A for rent sign outside of an apartment building
Peter Dazeley / Getty Images

Good morning, Portland! It’s going to be downright HOT today. Don’t forget to pop on some sunscreen before catching some rays.

In local news:

• A check-in on Portland’s 2016 $258 million housing bond: The bond has funded 314 affordable apartments currently in use and is on track to deliver 1,200 more by next year. This means the housing bureau will exceed the bond’s goal of 1,300 affordable apartments by 2023. However, city officials note that the progress still isn’t enough to cover Portland’s affordable housing needs.

• Oregon schools received about $1 billion in pandemic-related funding last year. With a spending deadline of September 2024, education leaders in the state are directing about 30 percent of the money towards “unfinished learning,” or efforts that try to make up for student learning loss during the pandemic. That includes funding community organizations that offer tutoring and providing grants for innovative school programs.

• If an Oregon taxpayer has unpaid debts like old parking tickets or court fees, the state has a program that recoups the funds—and related interest—by taking the money directly from their tax return. A KGW investigation found that sometimes people aren’t even notified that they have outstanding debt accruing interest and that the program disproportionately recoups funds from low-income Oregonians and people of color.

In national news:

• Texas Governor Greg Abbott plans to use state funding to transport migrants from the Texas border to Washington DC via bus, seemingly as a protest against President Biden’s plan to end a pandemic-era policy that immediately removed migrants from the US. “We are sending them to the United States Capitol where the Biden administration will more immediately be able to address the needs of people that they are allowing to come across our border,” Abbott told reporters Wednesday.

• Prosecutors are not filing charges against the Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Amir Locke while executing a no-knock warrant in February. The officer shot Locke within seconds of entering the 22-year-old’s apartment after Locke was seen on his couch with a handgun. Prosecutors said there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges.

• The US Senate will vote this afternoon whether or not to confirm Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. The Senate is expected to confirm Jackson.

• Economists estimate that the average American family will need $5,200 more this year to cover the same purchases they made in 2021 due to the county’s inflation rate. Ooof.
 
• 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!

• An example of how to go outside and enjoy today's sun: