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Good Morning, Portland! We can expect a rainy day, but unlike last week, we'll have a reprieve from the bitter cold. Today's high is 50 degrees, with a low of 46.

Portland’s weather may be back to normal, but current affairs are anything but, so let's catch up.

In Local News:

• Protests against the Trump administration have endured, and Monday was no exception. Protesters marched through downtown to Portland City Hall on Monday, for a Presidents’ Day (or as some referred to it “Not My President” Day) demonstration against a flurry of draconian executive orders and a government takeover by billionaire online bully Elon Musk. Since taking office nearly a month ago, Trump has enacted an agenda that threatens to chip away at civil rights, erase transgender people, and eliminate DEI measures that have historically worked to make our society more friendly to people with disabilities, people of color, and women. It’s a political agenda built on hyper masculinity, false bravado, disregard for separation of powers, and a fundamental misunderstanding of how our federal government operates.

It’s hard to stay on top of the deluge of petulance that Trump and his unelected lackey have unleashed, and that’s the point. As former Trump strategist and convicted fraudster Steve Bannon once clearly laid out , their strategy is to overwhelm opponents, particularly the media, so that no one can keep up (or fight back against) the magnitude of governmental overreach.

So far, Americans have taken to the streets to show outrage, while Democrats have (sorta) tried to introduce bills in Congress to thwart Musk’s takeover of government financial institutions. Meanwhile, attorneys general in multiple states have filed complaints in federal courts to block several of Trump’s executive orders from taking effect, allowing for judicial review of the orders, several of which are unlikely to pass legal muster and are temporarily on pause.

The magnitude of frustration among the public was on full display last weekend in Hillsboro, when a town hall hosted by Sen. Ron Wyden drew a packed house that exceeded the middle school auditorium’s capacity. At Wyden's next stop in Scappoose, he was reportedly met by around 600 people—a crowd unheard of for town halls before now.

A Presidents Day protest gathered in downtown Portland on Monday, February 17, 2025. Demonstrators carried signs condemning the actions of President Donald Trump and his specially appointed liaison, the billionaire Elon Musk. 📸 Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

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— The Oregonian ( @oregonian.com ) February 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM

• Last week we told you about Portland City Council’s policy committees getting into full swing. Some key takeaways: the new Homelessness and Housing Committee is determined to address the city's housing affordability and supply crisis. For a start, Councilor Angelita Morillo plans to introduce a policy that would crack down on landlords who use algorithmic software to determine what they can get away with charging for “market rate” rent. More on that here .

Over at the Climate, Resilience and Land Use Committee, councilors have their work cut out for them. Portland isn’t on track to meet its climate goals. While the city has made some progress, more substantial action is needed if the Rose City is serious about reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent of 1990 levels in the next five years. As Taylor Griggs reports , "data collected in 2022 show the city has cut emissions by 21 percent since 1990." Councilors on the new climate policy committee say they'll use an environmental justice lens to guide their work.

Time is of the essence for climate action in Portland and beyond. But the city is behind on its climate goals. City leaders hope Portland City Council's new Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee can make a dent in what one committee leader called "the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced."

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— Portland Mercury ( @portlandmercury.com ) February 17, 2025 at 12:11 PM

• When the city of Portland opened the Sunderland RV Safe Park village in mid-2023, it was hailed as a long-awaited solution to give people living out of their RVs a place to do so without having to park illegally all over the city and risk impoundment. The only problem? The 55-space site was set up without a permanent funding source. Until last week, the RV park was slated to close this May. On Friday, Mayor Keith Wilson announced the village will stay open a whopping extra month. The mayor noted upcoming funding decisions by City Council will ultimately determine whether the lifespan of the RV Safe Park site gets extended beyond 2025.

• Your favorite raunchy indie film fest is back! HUMP! returns to Revolution Hall this Friday. Check out the collection of homemade erotic short films (five minutes or less) in this weekend's screening, or catch it again next Friday.

@julienashawaty Replying to @Chelsea ♬ Low - Flo Rida

In National/World News:

• Investigators are trying to piece together what caused a plane to skid and overturn on a Toronto tarmac Monday. A Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto carrying 80 people flipped while trying to land on a snowy runway. The plane caught fire, spewing fuel everywhere. Miraculously, all 76 passengers and four crew members were evacuated. As of Tuesday morning, 19 of the 21 people taken to hospitals after the crash had been released.

• As mentioned earlier, the US Department of Justice is among the three branches of government that are supposed to maintain checks and balances on power. But under Donald Trump, the Justice Department is being weaponized to carry out revenge on political opponents, and show favoritism to J6 rioters who supported Trump.

It’s difficult to word it any better than the Associated Press did in its unflinching report on the issue. “Even for a department that has endured its share of scandals, the moves have produced upheaval not seen in decades, tested its independence and rattled the foundations of an institution that has long prided itself on being driven solely by facts, evidence and the law. As firings and resignations mount, the unrest raises the question of whether a president who raged against his own Justice Department during his first term can succeed in bending it to his will in his second.”

• As Elon Musk uses DOGE to gut the federal government of workers and resources under the guise of "efficiency," Axios recently dug into which states rely heavily on federal funding, and which ones actually send more money to the government in taxes than they receive. Turns out, most of the country relies on the federal government's help. Among the states most reliant on federal government assistance: New Mexico, Virginia, and Maryland. States that are a net positive for the feds: California (data was collected pre-wildfire damage), Washington, Wyoming, New York, Massachusetts, Utah and about seven other states. Oregon falls on the lower end of net loss, costing the US government about $2,000 per capita, according to 2022 data that doesn’t account for COVID relief funds.

• This animal is all of us: A large opossum is now in the care of a wildlife rehab center in Nebraska after the creature meandered onto the porch of a home in Omaha and scarfed down half a chocolate mousse cake from Costco. Apparently, the cake was set outside because the home’s refrigerator was full and it was cold enough to chill on the porch. The opossum was found panting and sick looking, so the family contacted the Nebraska Humane Society, which transferred the critter to Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, Inc. Bless her heart. Doctors say the cake bandit’s antics might have saved her life. Turns out, she also had lead toxicity, which can be fatal to animals. The opossum is OK, and will stay on a strict diet before she’s released back to the wild.

Opossum eats whole Costco chocolate cake; fans have big feelings: ‘Me too girl’ www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...

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— J. Stryker | Memento Vivere 🍁🌿 ( @easterncoyote.bsky.social ) February 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM

• Just for funsies: Our beloved Damian “Dame” Lillard (he will always be a Portland treasure, no matter which jersey he’s wearing!) joined a few other NBA stars in partnering with plant-based company Beyond Meat for a cookbook. The free digital recipe lookbook includes everything from spicy tortellini, to stacked breakfast sausage sandwich, to Lillard’s own vegan sloppy joe recipe, all using Beyond Meat products, of course. And no, we weren’t compensated or encouraged to include this tidbit in your news roundup, we just think it’s cool. And if Kyrie Irving’s chimichurri bowl can fuel him for a game, it should be enough fuel for that brisk walk I keep promising my dog.

ICYMI: I’d hate for anyone to miss this absolute internet gem. This song is an instant earworm.

@agiftfromtodd

🙃

♬ Hostile Government Takeover - Todd (TJ)

As is the EDM remix.

@veryveryvinny Your song deserved an EDM remix @Todd (TJ) ♬ Hostile Government Takeover - Todd (TJ)