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Hey, Hey. It's Wednesday and we're trucking through. It might snow today? Or it might just rain or a mixture of both. Either way, Multnomah County opened cold weather shelters because it's freezing out.
Et voila, here's today's news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• New Seasons workers have been on strike for well over a week now, following the firing of a New Seasons Labor Union (NSLU) leader and cashier Randy Foster. Foster worked at the Arbor Lodge New Seasons for 19 years, but was fired last week for helping a disabled worker finish a task while Foster was on a break. Workers at the Arbor Lodge location immediately walked out, and have been joined by staff from other stores across the city. NSLU and store management are set to bargain again today, but in the meantime, the union is continuing the strike and members are asking customers to boycott the store until they reach a contract agreement. Read more from Cameron Crowell here.
• If you're in the mood for some light-hearted and sweet fare on romance and bikes, I have the perfect story for you (if I do say so myself):
Thinking of dumping the dating apps? Our Taylor Griggs offers some great advice on how biking can open up a new world of friendship, and in some cases, romance. 🥰
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) February 4, 2025 at 11:51 AM
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• If you’re an architecture or city planning nerd, or even mildly interested in cool art stuff, you’re going to want to check out the new City of Possibility exhibit downtown. Joe Streckert covered the exhibit, which features lots of architectural models of buildings in Portland, for the Mercury, and shared some of the coolest parts of the show. For instance, you can see a wooden model of downtown Portland that city planners used when developing the Downtown Plan in the 1970s, and scour the landscape for landmarks you recognize.
The show also features mini versions of the Portland Building, the never-built Mt. Hood Freeway, and a lot of really cool conceptual buildings that I’d love to see actually come to fruition. Read Streckert’s piece, and then check out the City of Possibility website for more. The exhibit runs through late March in tandem with a series of events on relevant topics, like a chat about "Bold Visions for Portland" next Monday. It's very important to find some hope and inspiration in Times Like These, and if anything can help with that, it's listening to smart people talk about interesting and hyperlocal projects. At least, that's my perspective.
• The Mercury has a new staffer! Meet Nolan Parker, our brand new music editor, who will be amping up the Mercury’s coverage of Portland’s great music scene. Nolan comes from a very interesting background. They ran a music magazine in Berlin, Germany (an unequivocally cool city) and then worked as a librarian in the Portland area for several years before joining us here. *I* am excited to have a coworker with a Master’s in Library Science, so I can bug them about research and stuff. YOU should be excited for all the great music journalism coming your way. Stay tuned!
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Every week, it feels more and more impossible to write this section—not only because it's so demoralizing to dig into what's going on on a national level, but also because of how fast everything's moving. My goal is to be as helpful as possible to the readers without sending us all into a tailspin. If you have any ideas for how to go about that, I'm all ears. For now, I'm experimenting.
A Brief (And Incomplete) Rundown of the Last 24 Hours in Donald Trump and Elon Musk's America:
• The Trump administration is putting all staff at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave, starting Friday night. USAID is responsible for administering civilian aid and development assistance in countries around the world, and has been a primary target in Musk's illegal, fascistic, and downright idiotic attempt to "trim the fat" in American government. USAID staff protested outside the agency headquarters in DC on Monday, and were joined by some Democratic lawmakers. We'll get to them later.
• At a meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, the president suggested the US help Israel "level" the Gaza Strip, turning it into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Netanyahu seemed pleased with the idea, calling it something that could "really change history." It has long been apparent Israel planned to take control of all the remaining Palestinian territory in Gaza and the West Bank, and the US has obviously assisted that mission by supplying weapons and funds that killed tens of thousands (if not more) Palestinians in Gaza over the last year and a half. But to so confidently and publicly discuss a plan to demolish what still stands in Gaza after Israel's military campaign, ruining any chance for Palestinians to attempt to regain some shred of normalcy after the terror they've endured, is just downright evil. And, in the wake of the VERY tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, this kind of incendiary language is completely reckless. That's all to say the very least.
• As Trump and Musk take over the federal government in completely illegal and terrifying ways, at least the Democrats are responding swiftly and decisively to do what they can to stop this. Haha, that's obviously a joke. For the most part, they've been twiddling their thumbs and making excuses. I am IMPLORING them to watch Mitch McConnell during Obama and Biden's presidencies, who was able to whip the Republican minority into stopping progress at every turn. Now that things have really become untenable, though, some Democrats are rising up. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut vowed not to vote to confirm Trump's nominees (the very least these Democrats can do), and gave some more good advice on the radio yesterday. More of this energy, and amplified by 10, please.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is literally sooo crucial for weather and climate data, is now under attack. Trump also picked Neil Jacobs, who supported the president when he drew on a hurricane trajectory map in 2019 ("Sharpiegate") to lead the agency. EXCELLENT!
They’re looting NOAA now. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
— Matt Ford (@mford.bsky.social) February 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
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• It's McCarthyism all over again, except at the behest of the executive branch this time:
Federal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of a number of workers across health agencies, describing them as “targets.”
— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) February 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
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• There's really not much non-Trump related news on American national sites (which is good, I guess), but I found this on BBC News: Thieves stole $40,000 worth of eggs from a single grocery store in Pennsylvania on February 1. That's more than 100,000 eggs, folks! According to the BBC, "the heist targeted the back of a lorry at Pete & Gerry's Organics in Greencastle," AKA (in American translation) they stole the eggs from a big truck parked outside the grocery store. It's unclear if they were caught, and if not, what they did with the eggs. Resale market? Crazy times we're living in, folks!!!
• We could all use some baby elephant content right now. As much as possible. OK BYE
