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Good morning, Portland! Let’s cut to the chase: We’re all just waiting for the weekend, with its promise of sunshine and temps near 70 degrees. Until then, we can expect a drizzly afternoon with a high of 55. 

After shipping J.D. Vance and his wife off to Greenland, President Donald Trump said earlier today that Denmark tried to enact a steep import tariff on the US upon the vice president's return to the States, as punishment for sending Vance there in the first place. Trump apparently put up a fight, because tariffs are only supposed to be levied on countries that actually use the goods being shipped over. 🥁 This sad attempt at an April Fool’s joke would be mildly funny if it weren’t halfway believable. 

Now for some real news.

In Local News: 

• Half a road to nowhere: The I-5 Rose Quarter Project has been in the works for so long, it’s starting to feel like urban legend. The freeway expansion project proposes to widen parts of the freeway and add caps over I-5 that would reconnect Portland’s Albina neighborhood and allow for new development in the area. The Rose Quarter Project has struggled to find reliable funding sources for the full project, which has an estimated price tag of $1.5 to $1.9 billion. Now, ODOT wants to move forward with construction on a portion of the project, which is all the state transportation agency has the money for right now. With no guarantee that ODOT can secure future federal funding under the Trump administration, and no ability to implement freeway tolling, the news has Portlanders worried about whether ODOT can deliver on its promise to reconnect Albina. Taylor Griggs has the full rundown. 

Without the funds to pay for the entirety of the $1.5-1.9 billion plan, ODOT wants to move forward with the I-5 Rose Quarter project in phases. Critics are wary this means the agency won't make good on its promise to build freeway caps to reconnect the Albina neighborhood. ⁠

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) April 1, 2025 at 8:12 AM

• A protest movement, but make it cinema: The Venn diagram of people curious about the French ZAD (zone to defend) de Notre-Dame-des-Landes who also want a nearly four-hour slow cinema triumph of long, stationary takes may not have the most overlap, but Direct Action will likely win them over anyway. The indie documentary gives viewers an intimate, yet character-less glimpse inside the ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes–an autonomous zone occupied by farmers and activists who squatted and self-governed in an act of prolonged protest to successfully block an airport development. 

“While Direct Action submerges the viewer in frontline protests, much of the film’s power is in its exquisite slowness,” writes Dom Sinacola. “Even in a scene in which an overamped crowd for a celebratory punk show bears traces of unpredictable menace, as if anything could happen at any moment, Direct Action isn’t incendiary. It’s no rousing call to the streets.” Read the full review, and if you’re intrigued, see the film this week at the Clinton Street Theater. 

While Direct Action submerges the viewer in frontline protests, much of the film’s power is in its exquisite slowness. Portlanders have a chance to see it at the Clinton on Thursday with co-director Ben Russell in attendance.

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) March 31, 2025 at 2:19 PM

• The war on drugs: When Oregon voters approved Measure 110 to decriminalize certain quantities of drugs, it was hailed as a path out of jail and into drug treatment. Four years later, when Oregon lawmakers were hellbent on repealing the measure, public defense attorneys and drug treatment experts warned it would only force people back into over-crowded jails. In some areas, that’s exactly what’s happening. The Guardian profiled the situation in Medford, a city that is surpassing many others–including Portland, in the number of drug arrests since Measure 110’s repeal, with very few people referred to drug treatment. “According to the latest available data, while there have been nearly 1,200 possession arrests ... only 69 people have been referred to deflection,” The Guardian reports.

In National/World News:

• "Good trouble": Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) carried out a filibuster on the Senate floor Monday night, in an act of resistance against the Trump administration's agenda. Booker said Trump's actions have harmed Americans, throwing the country into crisis. His speech, which lambasted everything from policies that strip away health care benefits and access, to major fumbles in recent immigration enforcement, started around 7pm EDT Monday evening and was still going at 11am Tuesday. Booker was joined periodically by other Democrat colleagues, who filled in briefly to give Booker a bathroom and meal break.

I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis. Watch here:

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— Sen. Cory Booker (@booker.senate.gov) March 31, 2025 at 4:00 PM

• Your daily dose of lunacy: “Vote for me, you’ll never have to vote again,” Donald Trump muttered to a crowd during a campaign event leading up to the November election. It likely wasn’t a mistake. As we mentioned in yesterday’s news round-up, Trump fancies the idea of serving a third term as president–something explicitly prohibited in the US Constitution. During a recent interview with NBC, Trump said he “wouldn’t rule out” seeking a third term in the White House, but said it’s too early in his second term to think about it. It bears repeating that the 22nd Amendment clearly states presidents cannot be re-elected after serving twice. Trump supporters and far-right strategists argue there’s a loophole, via the succession process. In other words, if someone ran for president and made Trump their running mate, they could simply resign, leaving Trump to be the successor. Except, no. The Constitution is clear about that too, saying any vice president must be eligible to be president. But Trump is like a Tesla Cybertruck you can't get rid of; a ridiculous looking piece of shit that isn't good for much and constantly malfunctions, pretending to be something it isn't. The whole thing is designed to protect only its driver and passengers, while destroying anyone that clashes with it. And while you should've known better before committing, you now have buyer's remorse and no way out. 

I wish this were just some harmless fantasy cooked up in the rust-colored recesses of his muddled & macerated “mind”. But it’s not. This is a full-blown, authoritarian fever dream from a guy who looks like he fell face-first into a vat of expired self-tanner. open.substack.com/pub/jojofrom...

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— JoJoFromJerz (@jojofromjerz.bsky.social) March 31, 2025 at 7:17 PM

• A life-threatening government screw-up: In a rare move, the Trump administration is admitting fault for the accidental deportation of an El Salvadoran father from Maryland who had protected status in the United States. The Atlantic reports Kilmar Abrego Garcia was grabbed by ICE agents and "mistakenly deported" to the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador- a location infamous for human rights abuses. In court documents, federal attorneys acknowledged the serious misstep, saying ICE agents knew or should've known about Abrego Garcia's protected status, but said US courts lack jurisdiction to bring him home "because Abrego Garcia is not in United States custody." 

OMFG. Read this and weep for our country and the man whose life is ruined. The Trump administration did this and now claims it can't be fixed. That's not good enough. All Americans should be losing their minds over this, even those who don't usually pay attention. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

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— Jill Lawrence (@jilldlawrence.bsky.social) March 31, 2025 at 7:31 PM

• Foreign relations: The Chinese military is conducting substantial drills around Taiwan, according to officials there. In what’s described as “large-scale drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan,” China is deploying an aircraft carrier, along with rockets, in a fervent attempt to intimidate the self-governed island. China doesn’t recognize Taiwan as an independent territory, and instead considers the region part of China. Tensions between China and Taiwan worsened in 2016, when the Democratic Progressive Party was installed in Taiwan, further cementing the island territory’s resistance to a single, unified nation. 

@katelyn.chevier

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