If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! 👋

Also good morning SHOWERS, which will be falling from the sky on and off today, with a high of 46 degrees. And look what just fell into your lap... a big, juicy drop of NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Remember election night? (I know you don't want to.) But Portland cops spent a cool million bucks in taxpayer money to do a full court press in anticipation of a repeat of 2016, when tons of protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against Trump's first election win—which, erm, didn't happen this time around? Okay, so what DID happen? Why didn't the usual people who do show up, NOT show up? In this super interesting report from Adlai Coleman, the Mercury asks local activists for their theories about protesting and if a new way of fighting back against the Trump administration is currently being cooked up. 

ODOT says it has enough funds to begin work on the plan to widen and cap I-5 in Portland's Rose Quarter. But its budget doesn't account for major parts of the plan to reconnect the Albina neighborhood and improve safety on surrounding streets, and filling the budget gaps may come with challenges.
⁠

[image or embed]

— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 11:57 AM

• A "death in custody" mystery: A North Portland man was arrested last night for allegedly stabbing someone who has been hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries. However, when the suspect was taken into custody by the cops and handcuffed, according to police he mysteriously "lost consciousness" and died before an ambulance could arrive. While police insist that no "resistance or force" was used against the suspect, they are currently refusing to offer any more information, which gives us free reign to be as suspicious about this incident as we like.

• After a much publicized attempted merger by grocery store giants Kroger and Albertsons was shot down by federal and state judges, Albertsons is now suing its former would-be partner. The store is claiming it is too small to compete on its own and had put their future survival prospects in the hands of Kroger, who they say also didn't do enough to put the fears of regulators to rest. Albertsons is seeking “seeking billions of dollars in damages" to compensate for the harm done to both customers and shareholders.

• In other legal news, Portland Vietnamese restaurant Pho Gabo is suing the City of Portland for $2.4 million after it was forced to close due to complaints from an anonymous neighborhood Karen that it was in violation of the city's "odor code." The Karen made numerous complaints citing that the restaurant “repeatedly produced the odors of grilled meat” (UMMMMMMM...), which led to multiple inspections by a city inspector who confirmed that the Vietnamese restaurant was producing smells akin to “a wok dish” (UMMMMMM...) and levied so many fines that Pho Gabo was forced to close. (Maybe they should've asked for more than $2.4 million?)

Portland's traditional holiday events are always fun—but everything can be improved, right? The Mercury's Wm. Steven Humphrey has a few ideas that could make these events even better... some of which might be illegal? (That's for the courts to decide.)

[image or embed]

— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 12:28 PM

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• In a record-breaking move, President Biden has commuted a whopping 1,500 prison sentences, and granted pardons to 39 others who committed non-violent crimes (such as cannabis posssession), which is the largest order of mass commutation for a single day in presidential history. Many of the commuted sentences involve those who had been released from prison and placed in home confinement during the pandemic, and while the guilty verdicts remain intact, their sentences have been reduced. Biden has been pressured to use his pardoning powers, especially to help those who have been convicted of long drug sentences—something the president helped cause when the then-senator championed a 1994 crime bill that many experts say led to unjust mass incarceration. 

Swarms of dozens of large, sometimes car-sized drones have traversed eight New Jersey counties on a nightly basis for nearly a month now ― and political leaders there are calling for a state of emergency

[image or embed]

— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) December 10, 2024 at 7:38 PM

• We're learning more about Luigi Mangione, the (admittedly dreamy) suspect charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In a now deleted Reddit account, Mangione spoke of undergoing spinal surgery following an accident and struggled with chronic back pain and sleeplessness that affected his mental health. He has also written about his deep-seated anger toward “parasitic” health insurance companies—you know, like the kind who charged this woman $13,000 per month for her leukemia treatments.

• Today in bullshit Trump news: 1) The incoming orange turd has been selected as Time magazine's orange turd person of the year. 2) Today the turd was invited by the coked-out turds of Wall Street to ring the opening bell on the New York Turd Stock Exchange. 3) The turd has reportedly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his Inauguration Day ceremonies, even though he's been a racist turd to the country for years. And 4) President-elect Turd vows to pardon every one of the January 6 domestic terrorist turds during his "first hour" in the Turd White House. 

• Oh, and speaking of turds....

Meta donated $1 million to the inauguration committee of President-elect Donald Trump, the company confirmed.

The donation comes weeks after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg visited his Mar-a-Lago resort as the tech giant seeks to mend fences with the political right.

[image or embed]

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) December 12, 2024 at 7:36 AM

• Congrats to actress/singer Selina Gomez and music producer/songwriter Benny Blanco who have announced their wedding engagement. The two have been seeing each other since December 2023, and in a show of enthusiasm for the happy couple, Taylor Swift jokingly announced she will be their "flower girl."

• And finally... in honor of the Mercury's annual SEX SURVEY that's launching a little later this morning, here is the SEXIEST version of Prince you will ever see! (Just you try to concentrate on your job for the rest of the day!)

@edwondawhite

I love this sooo much! ❤️❤️

♬ original sound - Edwonda White