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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Happy hump day, and a fitting reminder to buy your tickets to the 2025 HUMP! Film Festival , which is running for three more weekends. You won't wanna miss this year's lineup of short, sexy films, so get yer tickets fast.
As for the weather report, it's set to be mild and cloudy with some showers today. But things are definitely warming up compared to last week—just wet. WITH THAT, let's get to the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the former Republican Oregon congresswoman, is back DC today for a confirmation hearing for her U.S. Department of Labor secretary nomination. But will she be TOO pro-labor to get the votes? Chavez-DeRemer, who lost her seat to a Democrat last November, was one of the few Republicans who voted for the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act during her term in Congress. This has earned her some union support, but also skepticism during her confirmation hearing. However, Chavez-DeRemer seems willing to abandon any previous convictions for the job.
“If confirmed, my job will be to implement President Trump’s policy vision,” Chavez-DeRemer said. We'll see what happens!
• Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day, who former Mayor Ted Wheeler pulled out of retirement in 2023 to lead the bureau on an interim basis (and later, a permanent one) is now set to stay in the role for another three years. At this evening's City Council meeting, Mayor Keith Wilson will propose Day stay on, citing his leadership and relationship-building skills. The mayor has the authority to choose who leads the Portland police, as long as they get city councilor approval.
• Erykah Badu at the PDX Jazz Festival?! Dreckig's EP release show at Lollipop Shoppe? The Jonny Cat Harbin memorial concert at Polaris Hall? These are just a few of the events featured in this week's Mercury' s Music Picks, showing the abundance of upcoming opportunities to experience some great live music in Portland. Find out more HERE .
• Portland's Public Works Service Area will see some major staffing shakeups soon, with the directors of both the Water Bureau and Bureau of Environmental Services (Edward Campbell and Dawn Uchiyama, respectively) set to retire in March . Their departures are said to be voluntary and coincidentally timed, but they'll leave an expertise gap in their wake—and during a challenging time for Portland infrastructure.
• As much as we might like to laugh at the people getting what's coming to them, I will instead hope they change their minds and join us in fighting back. (I'm not above feeling retributive! But I am hoping for revolutionary feelings to catch fire!)
Eastern Oregon voted for Trump; now federal firings are landing hard
— The Oregonian ( @oregonian.com ) February 18, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was charged with leading a far-right plan to overturn the 2022 Brazilian presidential election , in which he lost to current President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. His plan, which included an alleged plot to POISON Lula, was heavily inspired by the January 6 plot in the US. It similarly failed to win Bolsonaro power at the time, but unlike in the US, Brazilians were able to hold him accountable and prevent him from seeking political power in the future. What's it like to live in a real country???
• Pope Francis, who is not perfect but has been an outspoken ally for Palestinians and against Donald Trump in recent months, is hospitalized with pneumonia in both lungs . The 88-year-old is apparently awake and in good spirits, but being 88, this diagnosis is concerning!
Even while Pope Francis is hospitalized, he still keeps in touch with a Roman Catholic parish in Gaza City, making near-nightly phone calls to the priest and congregation there.
— NPR ( @npr.org ) February 18, 2025 at 11:26 AM
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• Here's some terrible/pretty good news, depending on how you feel about the future of life on Earth: NASA says there's a 3.1 percent chance an asteroid will hit our planet in 2032 . While the odds are low, this is the highest risk level ever recorded by the agency. The space rock in question is known as 2024 YR4, and is estimated to be around the size of a large building, around 130-300 feet wide. In other words, it's a "city-killer" asteroid, not a "planet-killer" one, like the rock that led to the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. (That one was about 6.2 MILES in diameter.) But it would still be bad if it were to hit! Luckily, a bunch of Elon Musk's 19-year-old friends will probably replace NASA scientists pretty soon, so we won't hear anything else about the asteroid until its impact.
• Oh...
A sign that the Trump admin is taking your egg price concerns very seriously www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...
— Catherine Rampell ( @crampell.bsky.social ) February 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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• Finally, the warm and fuzzy content you need today. TTYL!!
