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Good Morning, Portland: We're calling in Walt Whitman this morning, who wrote in "Song of the Open Road:" "Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road / Healthy, free, the world before me / The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose." How 'bout a little news for that road?

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Today in the Oprah-like dispensation of permits, Gov. Kotek appeared at Portland City Hall on Thursday to announce she and Mayor Wilson have cooked up a multi-pronged plan to spur more affordable housing in Portland.The plan? Waiving developer fees for the next 5,000 multi-family units built over the next three years. Kotek says she's directing the state's economic development agency Business Oregon to help prioritize office-to-residential conversion projects in the city. Aaand the state is providing staff to help speed along the permitting process. Wilson says he'll incorporate a self-certification process to make it easier for developers to get building plans approved, so expect to be able to do more at those Fred Meyer kiosks soon (kidding, unless?). All this and a can of beans both politicians swear they won't skimp on safety! Expect more about this from us!

• At the intersection of courts and cops, a Tigard police officer pleaded guilty Thursday, saying that he lied during a November criminal investigation of a man charged with dealing and possessing methamphetamine and cocaine. Oregonian reporter Zaeem Shaikh notes that police held back details about how the officer lied. It involved texts—read the whole piece here.

• Last week in Cottage Grove, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI report a new record-breaking drug seizure, found hidden in a car traveling from California. As the result of a combined investigation and effort, the FBI seized 278 pounds of methamphetamine and over 2 pounds of cocaine from a single man.

• The rumor raging around Oregon politics right now is that the state's junior Senator Jeff Merkley is considering bowing out of running again in 2026. And there's absolutely no confirmation (nor denial) yet—but just to be on the safe side, some Oregon representatives appear to have been shopping for senate race domain names. 

• Oaks Amusement Park celebrates 120 years this Saturday, offering visitors an online preorder ride bracelet special of $19.05 (because they opened in 1905, get it?). I didn't realize that Oaks Park was built as a trolley park, which was a kind of amusement center built at the end of commuter trolley lines to transportation encourage weekend use. It's right next to the wonderful Springwater Corridor, and in the winter Oaks is where you pick up Oregon Rail Heritage Center's Holiday Express, but based on every time I try to lock my bike up at Oaks Park, it's obvious that most people visit by car.

• Tuck that little tidbit in you memory because you can expect to find things like Oaks Park's dignified age in subsequent Pop Quiz PDXes How did you score on this week's quiz?

• Did you enter to win any tickets for Free Ticket Thursday?

• New Column! 650 possible new owners for the Portland Trail Blazers!

Who could become the Trail Blazers’ new owners? Here are 650 possibilities Sally Rooney calico train conductor Gotama Olympian Mike Powell Björk Trimet Unified command Sims creator Will Wright who will buy the team with the express purpose of splitting it up and dispersing it (1/100)

— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 12:04 AM

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Today in crude oil rail lines' time to shine, a Thursday Supreme Court ruling overturned a lower court's finding, regarding a crude oil rail line in Utah—putting environmental watchdogs on alert for how this might impact future National Environmental Policy Act rulings. The lower court had ruled that US Surface Transportation Board's 3,600-page report on the proposed rail line failed to consider environmental effects from oil drilling and production and oil refining and distribution. The Supreme Court released a unanimous decision stating that the OG report was fine.  

• Also in Supreme Court this morning:

JUST IN: The Supreme Court allows Trump administration to end humanitarian status for some migrants.

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— NPR (@npr.org) May 30, 2025 at 7:52 AM

• A report released last week by the Make America Healthy Again ... 🙄 (MAHA) commission which called US children "the sickest generation in American history" appears to have cited studies that did not exist, New York Times reports. The nonprofit that originally broke the story, NOTUS (which stands for... 🙄 news of the United States) now reports that a new version of the report was uploaded to the White House website, on Thursday, with five "completely different" citations swapped in.

• Pretending for just a moment that they are people who follow laws or guidance, Elon Musk will join President Trump for a final press conference this afternoon to commemorate the end of his 130 days as a special government employee. Right, that's why he's leaving. 

• Oooooooof: Columbia Journalism Review dropped a damning report this week about Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award winner Wesley Lowery, after several women professionals shared stories alleging that Lowery assaulted them or used his power and influence to pressure them into sexual acts. Read for the chillingly verbose apologies, stay for the candle intrigue.

Absolutely ludicrous behavior *with a student*

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— Thomas Chatterton Williams (@chatterton.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 3:05 PM

• Breaking in "getting back together" with your first six albums:

BREAKING: Taylor Swift says she has regained control over all her music after buying back her first six albums.

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— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 30, 2025 at 9:11 AM

• Sending you into the weekend with positive vibes like WHY DOES PENNSYLVANIA GET TO HAVE THIS AND WE DON'T 😭 😭 😭 Please make this for MAX honk; it is so special.