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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋

Get ready for two more gorgeously sunny days (with highs in the low- to mid-70s), before showers move in this weekend to possibly RUIN your Easter egg hunt. 😭 But at least you can still hunt around for the best slices in Portland by joining the Mercury's delicious PIZZA WEEK which runs through this Sunday! Get those one-of-a-kind scrumptious slices for only four damn dollars from Portland's top 68 (!) pizza slingers as soon as possible. Now let's hippity-hop over to some NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Earlier this week in the NW quadrant of the city, Portland Police disengaged after a three-hour standoff with a houseless man reportedly carrying a knife and pepper spray, realizing that they were simply aggravating the situation. Yesterday, police once again descended on the neighborhood in armored vehicles to confront the same person, who cops say has outstanding warrants, and used tear gas, a police K9, a flash bang grenade, and robots to flush the person out of his tent, where he was then arrested. (Again, all those weapons for just... one... person.) Our Courtney Vaughn and Taylor Griggs has the details.

• According to a new (and most likely more accurate) report of how many houseless people are currently living in Multnomah County, the number has jumped 26 percent from 11,400 last year to 14,400 currently. While certainly alarming, there's some nuance here: The new reporting method counts people by name and by how many social services they've used over the past year, as opposed to the previous "point in time" method of counting, in which the county simply counted the perceived number of houseless folk they saw in one single evening. Still? Not good. In addition, according to the same report, more people are becoming homeless as opposed to exiting it. This is most likely due to the escalating number of evictions, rising inflation, and a shortage of mental health and addiction services.

For all the talk you hear from politicians about wanting to address the rising cost of living, somehow there never seems to be any meaningful reckoning with how much money most Americans are essentially forced to spend on car payments, gas, insurance, maintenance just to participate in society

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— amb (@amb.fyi) April 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM

• Check out this infuriating story from Abe Asher about how local tech workers are reportedly getting screwed by Adidas, who subcontracts its IT work to a company in India. The contracted company allegedly does not pay employees on a regular basis, while also forcing them to work full time, even though they don't get the same benefits as direct employees of Adidas. File this under "IT AIN'T RIGHT."

• An Oregon State University student is justifiably suing the Trump administration for revoking his student visa earlier this month. While the president's cronies (and proven liars) are claiming the 32-year-old PhD student, Aaron Ortega Gonzalez, had a criminal record, Gonzalez' lawyers counter that the student has exactly ZERO criminal offenses. “Not only was Aaron unilaterally stripped of his status and denied due process rights, as it violates the law, the critical research he was working on [wildfire control] has been halted,” Gonzalez' lawyers wrote in a press release. 

In which acclaimed director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther) keeps alive the tradition of hiding  art in a vampire movie.

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) April 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• And Trump's list of perceived "enemies" (AKA anyone who looks at him funny) continues to grow with Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, who had the AUDACITY to suggest that Trump's imbecilic tariffs are likely to lead to higher prices while slowing economic growth. The president has threatened to fire Powell for his sage warning, even as the prices for groceries (AND EGGS) continue to skyrocket. Oh, and what's this? Immediately following Trump's blistering condemnation of Powell, stock prices fell again. (It's almost like no one trusts him!)

• In more "Trump the economic genius" news:

The Trump administration reportedly plans to kill a highly popular program that allows millions of people to file their taxes for free.

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— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) April 16, 2025 at 5:07 PM

• A federal judge has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for their drag-ass attempts to return the people they wrongly deported to El Salvador. Judge James Boasberg ruled that "the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.” However, the judge also says he would consider revoking the charge if the administration brings the deportees back and gives them their due process in court. (Unfortunately, Trump has no use for "due process"—unless, of course, he's the one standing in front of a judge. "Witch hunt," anyone?)

New: Google was found by a federal judge to have illegally monopolized some online advertising technology markets in a blow to a key part of the company’s business

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— Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) April 17, 2025 at 7:53 AM

• Woefully unqualified Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has canceled more than $2.7 million in grants to Harvard University, who had the AUDACITY (so much AUDACITY) to reject Trump's racist calls to jettison their DEI programs. King Fool is also threatening to get the IRS to cancel the university's tax exempt status—even though the president has no authority to order the IRS to investigate anyone. While Harvard definitely depends on its tax status and grants to successfully operate its school, the institution has very deep pockets and lots of political friends... which means they have a better chance than most universities to invite this president to go fuck himself.

The cause of death for actress Michelle Trachtenberg, who died in February, was confirmed to be complications of diabetes mellitus, a spokesperson for the New York City Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed to CNN. cnn.it/43Xw5jF

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— CNN (@cnn.com) April 16, 2025 at 4:44 PM

• In case you're thinking of skipping off this world (and who can currently blame you?), astronomers believe they may have found a massive water-covered world 120 light years from earth that might have some form of life. The researchers discovered a molecule that has the same building blocks as oceanic algae, and while it's too early to lose your mind and hop on a rocket ship, one of the study's authors says, “This is a revolutionary moment… It’s the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet.”

• And finally... here is a highly accurate dramatization of how Trump treats his MAGA voters. Enjoy!

@roswick

 

♬ original sound - roswick