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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Hold tight, y'all. This damnable RAIN is scheduled to cease (at least temporarily) on Tuesday, which is expected to be mostly sunny with a high of 44. But today? (Sigh.) Expect more damnable clouds and RAIN. And now, here's some only somewhat damnable NEWS!

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Multnomah County Commissioners are teeing up to discuss a resolution which would call for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza at the county’s upcoming board meeting this Thursday, March 7. However, the proposed resolution isn't as supportive for Palestine as some people had hoped, and activists are asking for changes before the resolution is adopted. Our Taylor Griggs and Kevin Foster have the details!

• Possibly VERY good news: The successful, but politically persecuted Portland Street Response program may be shifted away from the vengeful grasp of Commissioner Rene Gonzalez and the Fire Bureau and into the city’s Community Safety Division. Gonzalez and his cronies have seemingly despised the program from day one (possibly because it was successfully instituted by his former rival/Commish Jo Ann Hardesty) and has consistently hobbled it throughout their tenure at the bureau. And while he's trying to pass off the move as his own choice, don't be surprised if PSR returns to live underneath the Fire Bureau's umbrella when Gonzalez is (fingers crossed) drummed out of office later this year.

• Some absolutely terrible news: On Friday the Oregon Senate—led by Democrats who have caved to a cynical conservative pressure campaign—passed House Bill 4002 which will dismantle the voter-approved Measure 110 and return the state to the bad old days of criminalizing drugs, which has been repeatedly proven to negatively affect people of color. Now it goes to the desk of Governor Tina Kotek who is expected to sign it into law, as our elected officials continue to turn a blind eye to Oregon's shameful history of white supremacy. (We'll be sure to remember these gullible, spine-free politicians and their actions when a new election rolls around.)

• Did you purchase a new Portland Timbers jersey, with the DaBella team sponsorship plastered across the front, only to learn that the Timbers dropped the company after learning DaBella's CEO has been accused of unwanted advances and sexual harassment of three employees? You have 30 days to return your kit for a full refund—unless you want to sell it on eBay to some collector who's building a museum dedicated to the Timbers' management's repeated blunders under the leadership of Merritt Paulson. 

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• You undoubtedly saw this coming, but the US Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that legally flailing criminal Donald Trump can remain on the presidential ballot in every state, despite his clear involvement with the domestic terrorist attack on the nation's capitol. The judges rejected the Colorado challenge, saying that it's the job of Congress—not the states—to decide whether the president's insurrectionist actions were a violation of the 14th amendment, and since our Republican-led congress certainly isn't going to do that, then it's gonna be a Trump-Biden fall, I guess! (I am looking forward to another abject Trump humiliation, though. 🤞)

• Meanwhile, GOP longshot Nikki Haley won her first Republican primary in the District of Columbia, which is her first (and possibly only?) win of her doomed campaign. She will hopefully savor this brief victory as tomorrow marks Super Tuesday, when her orange competitor will most likely pick up hundreds of additional delegates.

• In other Trump crime family news: Ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg is expected to plead guilty to perjury in the Trump Organization's civil fraud trial in which he delivered false statements about his former boss on the witness stand, and is not expected to enter into a cooperation agreement that would require his testimony at any future trial. (Because liars are gonna lie.)

• After losing a federal antitrust lawsuit that challenged their deal, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines have put the kibosh on their $3.8 billion merger which the feds say would have stifled competition in the airline industry. 

• And finally... I'm sorry, but if there's anything funnier than cats being startled by toasters, I'd love to hear about it.