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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋
Let's celebrate, because the Mercury's latest BANGER of a print issue is now out on the streets! It's our delicious FOOD ISSUE, edited by our Janey Wong, and it's jam-packed with restaurant reviews, previews, profiles, and lots more amazing stuff about our terrific food community. Hate physical print products? Then read it all online here! However, if you do pick up the Food Issue, you'll be thrilled to know that inside you'll find our other latest physical print product, BlackOut: A Five-Year Retrospective on Portland’s Racial Justice Movement—written exclusively by Black Portlanders! Edited by Donovan Scribes, its purpose is to remember and reflect on the May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, and the 100+ days of protests in Portland that same year. You can find our Food Issue and BlackOut at more than 500 locales citywide—so do not miss it! And now let's read some non-physical NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS
• There's movement afoot to revitalize Portland's Old Town neighborhood (that's good!), however that movement also arrives with sweetheart deals from the city along with other financial self-dealing by members the Old Town Community Association (mmmm... not so good?) that some accuse of being less of a "community association" and more of a "business alliance." Our Courtney Vaughn digs deep into the story.
The Old Town Community Association has maintained outsized influence over urban renewal spending. Lately, the group’s sway over the city’s economic development agency and its leaders’ financial ties to major projects have raised questions about the group’s power dynamics and sphere of influence.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) May 21, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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• A Black man who was wrongfully accused of a 1996 shooting—and spent nearly three-and-a-half years in prison, thereby upending his life—has rightfully filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and eight former Portland police officers. Danyale Gill is claiming that the cops framed him for the attempted murder and blatantly ignored critical evidence until (whoopsy-daisy) the actual shooter came forward and confessed. Thanks to the Oregon Innocence Project, Gill's conviction was overturned in 2023, though he contends the experience as a young man ruined his future, leaving him homeless after being released from jail. At this point, it's unclear if the city attorney's office will fight the lawsuit.
In 2020, "abolition" and "defunding the police" became rallying cries for those on both sides of the issue. But what does abolition *really* mean? @macsmiff.com explains in this smart essay for "BlackOut: A Five-Year Retrospective on Portland’s Racial Justice Movement." Pick yours up today!
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) May 21, 2025 at 12:13 PM
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• Portland City Council really had their work cut out for them yesterday after introducing a neck-breaking 126 amendments to Mayor Keith Wilson's proposed city budget before eventually passing it at midnight in a marathon session. Most notably the council approved an amendment to move $2 million from the police bureau's proposed bloated budget to fund Portland parks (for basic maintenance and to save youth programs from the chopping block). Prior to yesterday's public meeting, Mayor Wilson sent out a call to the city's small, but annoyingly loud conservative class to show up and protect the cop's precious budget—WHICH, BY THE WAY, was $244 million in 2020, $295 million in 2024... and now they want a whopping $318 million? (So much for "defunding the police," I guess!)
What I actually said was idk why the big strong men are always scared to use transit when I’m a little 5’2” woman and I make that shit work 😂
— pnwpolicyangel (@pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 12:35 AM
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• A bill that would ban cellphone use by students in public schools is dead in the water after Oregon legislators were unable to come to agreement on how the ban would be enforced by the state's school districts—many of whom were nervous they wouldn't have the funding or resources to follow the new law. However, talk around the capitol says that Governor Tina Kotek "is actively exploring executive action" that could possibly save the plan.
Imago’s absurdist production 'Happyness (The Wrecking Ball)' wrestles with common questions that we all have, including: Do I need to buy a gun?
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) May 21, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Boo-hoo-hoo... tough news for Christian Nationalists: The creation of a taxpayer-funded religious charter school has been blocked following a 4-4 deadlock tie in the Supreme Court. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the vote due to several conflicts of interest. If the court had voted in favor, it would have been the first time a faith-based school received all their funding from taxpayers (hey, that's YOU), thereby violating that whole "separation of church and state" thing that's largely been keeping the US from devolving into a monarchy.
Trump makes false claims of white genocide in South Africa during Ramaphosa meeting reut.rs/4dsMzTr
— Reuters (@reuters.com) May 21, 2025 at 2:50 PM
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• King Fool's "big, beautiful bill" passed through the House last night, after Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to make several concessions to the various, bickering factions of his party. The immigration bill, which offers tax cuts (to you and billionaires) also happens to add billions in federal spending (DOGE, where are you?), while also adding trillions to the national debt. Some of the things included in the bill include finishing up Trump's racist border wall, cutting Medicaid (which is predicted to leave roughly 15 million Americans uninsured within 10 years), and adding billions to the Defense Department—which I guess will be needed to fight all our former allies who Trump has alienated and kicked in the nutz. Now the bill will move on to the Senate, so stay tuned for more bullshit.
New: Not only would Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” ban gender-affirming care via Medicaid, it would ban insurance under the Obamacare exchanges from covering it as an essential health benefit
— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 6:59 AM
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
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• Two Israeli embassy staff members (who also happened to be engaged) were shot and killed last night near a Jewish museum in Washington, DC. A suspect has been arrested, who police say was heard shouting "free Palestine" as he was being taken into custody.
• Rapper Kid Cudi is scheduled to testify in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs today, and will tell the court about Combs' alleged erratic behavior after Cudi began dating Diddy's former girlfriend (and abusee) Cassie. (This testimony may include Cudi's car being mysteriously blown up after Combs allegedly threatened to... [checks notes].... blow his car up.)
• And finally... this is what happens when those "11 herbs and spices" kick in.
@dailybingehub #fyp #trending #xyzbca #fypシ #viral #funny ♬ original sound - DailyBingeHub 🔌⚡️
