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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋

Reminder! The wildly entertaining (and oh-so-sexy) last weekend of the 2025 HUMP! film festival is THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, so if you love watching expertly-produced, hot, and often hilarious home-grown porn along with a very fun audience, then get them tickets now! And now, settle in for some expertly-produced (and occasionally hot) NEWS.  

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• There are so many good reasons for Portland to invest in public restrooms—but did you know the prevention of old-timey disease dysentery is one of them? While normally associated with being contracted in rural areas in foreign countries, dysentery (a fancy name for extreme diarrhea) is on the rise in Multnomah County, and officials strongly suspect it's occurring in the houseless community which does not have enough public restrooms where they can wash their hands. According to the latest county estimates, there are roughly 6,000 unsheltered people living in Multnomah County, who are having to share a scant 116 publicly maintained toilets.

Public records obtained by Street Roots show Portland Metro Chamber’s influence over a city administrator’s work on Zenith Energy, providing political cover for the controversial land use approval earlier this month.

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— Jeremiah Hayden (@jeremiahhayden.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 9:35 AM

• In other houseless news, officials across the metro area are ready to pull their collective hair out over the revelation that Multnomah County is facing a possible $104 million budget shortfall in homeless service funds over the next fiscal year. The county was apparently blindsided by changes to Metro’s homeless services tax revenue forecast, and are now scrambling for ideas to fill the hole. While the idea of closing shelters is being considered, members of Portland City Council are advising the County to cut administrative bloat first.

• The Trump resistance is alive and well across Oregon, with regular protests happening at local Tesla dealerships, on university campuses, on main streets in eastern Oregon communities, and in town halls across the state. From Hermiston to Hillsboro, Oregon's congressional members are finding their public meetings jam-packed with angry, frustrated citizens demanding that action be taken against the cruel (and frankly, deeply stupid) policies of Trump and his woefully unqualified hatchet man, Elon Musk. Republican US Rep. Cliff Bentz was practically booed out of his own meeting by angry constituents when he weakly tried to defend Trump's actions. Ha-ha-haaaaaaaa, and keep up the good work, Oregon! 👏

A Senate committee voted 13-9 to advance the nomination of former Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to head the Department of Labor. Though she's widely viewed as pro-labor, some Democrats have said they'll be voting no on all of President Trump's nominees to protest his efforts to reshape government.

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— OPB (@opb.org) February 27, 2025 at 8:00 AM

• After being paused last year after it was discovered that hundreds of Oregon noncitizens had been mistakenly registered to vote, the state's Motor Voter program is back in business. While only 17 people out of that large group actually cast ballots, numerous new failsafes have been applied to the drivers license voter renewal process, leading the governor to reactivate the program.

• Our Jenni Moore (as usual) has the hip hop news you can use in the latest edition of Hear in Portland, which includes this month's edition of The Thesis, starring Portland-raised Filipino American singer-songwriter Victoria Yabut, a hot new release from LA-to-Portland transplant Zyah Belle, and the all ages music nonprofit Friends of Noise is gearing up for their annual Spring BreakFest showcase! DO. NOT. MISS.

By design, Annie Baker's "The Antipodes" is a script that’s difficult to summarize, but Shaking the Tree’s captivating production will reward audiences who enjoy sitting with big questions.

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) February 26, 2025 at 11:59 AM

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Trump's Supreme Court has given its leader a temporary victory after pausing a lower court's verdict which ordered the White House to continue dispersing nearly $2 billion in USAID money to impoverished countries around the world. The clearly deranged orange turd has promised to cut a whopping 90 percent of foreign aid contracts. The Court's delay will reportedly give Trump's judges time to consider whether or not using our country's vast resources (that were partly gained by stepping on the necks of other nations) should be used to help others and basically be decent human beings. Guess we'll see!

Gee I wonder why there’s a shortage of air traffic controllers

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— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 7:43 AM

• Meanwhile, the "fuck around and find out" administration is getting ever-closer to "find out" mode, as Trump signals that his tariffs against Canada, China, and Mexico will kick off next week, which according to most economists will result in MUCH HIGHER PRICES for his cult members and the rest of the nation who warned everybody multiple times that this was going to happen. How are your egg prices doing?

• Just curious... does this news make you quietly whisper to yourself "oh-oh"?

Pop star Katy Perry and CBS’s Gayle King are set to fly to space alongside Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez, on an upcoming all-women flight of Blue Origin’s tourist rocket www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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— Paul J Davies (@pauljdavies.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 6:51 AM

• Oh, and what's this? An estimated 242,000 jobless claims were filed across the nation last week, indicating that the previously strong labor market (under Biden) is now softening (under Trump). I wonder if the firing of thousands of federal employees had anything to do with it? Meanwhile, GOP senators—who threw their weight behind the reelection of Trump—are now reportedly panicking behind closed doors about Elon Musk's chainsaw of federal unemployment which is wrecking their reputations with voters back home. (Hee-hee, double hee.)

The possibility of Medicaid cuts has become a headache for the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress — some of whom are vowing to reject any final bill that slashes the program — and it has handed Democrats a potent issue ahead of the 2026 midterms.

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— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) February 27, 2025 at 7:56 AM

• RIP to actor Gene Hackman (The French Connection, Unforgiven) who has died at the age of 95, and was found alongside his also dead wife and dog in their Santa Fe home. While the investigation is continuing as to the cause of death, authorities say that, as it stands now, no foul play was involved.

• RIP as well to actor Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, and my personal fave, The Adventures of Pete & Pete), who has died at the far-too-young age of 39. Again, officials think no foul play was involved.

• And finally... did you know that "raccoon core" is a thing? IT'S A THING!

@cute.pet.world12 Raccoon Core#raccoon#raccoon#raccoonsoftiktok ♬ QKThr - Aphex Twin