If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋

Here's your reminder to empty your stomach NOW... because the Mercury's honkin' delicious WING WEEK starts in just a few days on Monday, September 29! Think of it: a pile of delectable, creatively-sauced wings made by some of the best restaurants and bars in Portland, and they're only $10 per plate. See hot pics of all those gorgeous wings here, and now get ready for some creatively sauced NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• After a months-long hiatus, Mayor Keith Wilson says that police will once again begin enforcing "camping ban" rules against Portland's houseless community, and issuing citations to those who violate the rules. The mayor was quick to add that arresting these individuals is not the goal, and the citations are intended to serve as a way of enforcing the city's "existing codes on open drug use, illegal dumping, blocked rights-of-way, fire, and other sanitation and quality of life issues.” Enforcement of the rules–which includes prohibiting people who have been offered shelter from camping on public property—had been put on pause while the mayor implemented his plan to build more shelters, and (as he loftily promised during his campaign) to end houseless camping by December 1. While the city has reportedly added 630 new shelter beds as well as a downtown outdoor day center in recent months, according to the most recent counts, there are still currently more than 6,000 houseless individuals living unsheltered on the street, many of whom have very good reasons for refusing the shelter being offered to them (such as personal safety, rules against pets, etc). Oh, and while these citations may seem toothless, it will give the police a reason to target certain individuals whose only crime may be being poverty-stricken in society where most of us are one big medical bill away from being on the streets ourselves.

Lawmakers have said OR statute essentially bars cities from penalizing camping unless there's enough shelter capacity to accommodate the unsheltered pop (It's v much open to interpretation)

At the moment, region has estimated 7k unsheltered pop & , including county shelters, a little over 3k beds.

[image or embed]

— Alex Zielinski (@alexzee.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 2:53 PM

• Meanwhile, Portland City Council is getting a lot of support for their plan to codify the city's sanctuary status, and make it legally binding. Inspired by Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants, Councilors Sameer Kanal and Steve Novick introduced the proposal which will now go to back to committee before being allowed a vote by council, but if passed, will insist on the city doing more to protect our immigrant population, including training on immigration law for city staff, establishing protected areas, and keeping a much closer eye on ICE activities. However, the councilors also have two other proposals under consideration: banning law enforcement officers from wearing masks, as well as prohibiting the use of chemical weapons against Portlanders. While those proposals are still being worked on, they are expected to be brought to council within a few weeks—though the masking proposal is already getting pushback from the police union who claim it will be impossible for them to enforce. Councilor Kanal disagrees, saying there's more than one path to enforcement, including court orders, and is reminding everyone of the bigger issue at stake here: “If you’re going to be deprived of your liberty, you deserve to know who’s doing it,” he said.

Eugene police has previously said it would not assist federal officers in enforcing immigration laws. The agency said “no immigration-related activities were occurring” at the federal building on Tuesday.

[image or embed]

— OPB (@opb.org) September 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM

• In sporty-sports news, if you thought that the new Blazers ownership deal—led by Texas financier Tom Dundon and a group which includes the Cherng family, who owns Panda Express–was a slam dunk? Well, apparently it ain't. According to reports, RAJ Sports (which owns the Portland Thorns and the city's new WNBA team) has filed for a temporary restraining order to hit the brakes on the deal, targeting the Cherng family in particular. While the details remain unclear, it's assumed that RAJ Sports—who also submitted a bid for the Blazers—felt like they were unfairly shut out of the deal. Stand by for the court documents to be released, which is when we'll find out more.

• If you love looking at fun pics of Portlanders dancing their asses off at house parties, then check out this Mercury interview with Corbin C who has gathered nearly a decade's worth of super fun pics in Choice Cuts: Disposable Camera Archives 2015-2023. Even better? They're throwing a launch party for the book TONIGHT at Tomorrow Theater with Corbin C and special guest Karma Rivera. Do not miss!

Choice Cuts: Disposable Camera Archives 2015-2023 pulls eight years of point-and-shoot photography into a portrait of Portland's house show scene.

[image or embed]

— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) September 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• One detainee has been killed and two more injured after a gunman fired on an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas, yesterday. According to reports, the gunman died from a self-inflicted wound and no law enforcement agents were hurt during the shooting. The reasons behind the shooting remain unclear, though DHS officials identified the suspect as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, and were quick to say he was targeting law enforcement—pointing to ammunition that officials say were labeled with the phrase “ANTI-ICE.” Other than that, officials have released very few details—but that's not stopping Trump and his cronies from making wild, unsubstantiated accusations about the incident. 

An escalator malfunction that required President Trump to walk up one flight of steps at the United Nations had false claims swirling on social media that it was a deliberate act of sabotage by UN staff. nyti.ms/3IDjidS

[image or embed]

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) September 24, 2025 at 2:00 AM

• The Trump administration is threatening a mass layoff of federal workers if congress is unable to come to agreement on a spending bill, which could lead to a government shutdown next week. Naturally, the brunt of those firings will fall upon the agencies whose funding depends on a spending bill being passed, and whose missions are "not consistent with the President’s priorities" (AKA any agency the president wanted to get rid of anyway). Democrats—who are shockingly being blamed as the source of the potential shutdown by Trump—are pushing back against the proposal, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying, "[The president's action] is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back."

• Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies have given late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel the gift of a lifetime: Upon returning to his show Tuesday night after being suspended for allegedly disrespecting the slain right-wing propagandist Charlie Kirk, Kimmel received the highest ratings in ten years with over six million viewers, as opposed to the 1.6 million he receives on normal nights. And it would've been much more had the two major owners of ABC affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair (the latter of whom owns Portland's KATU) allowed the show to be broadcast on their stations, which stopped 23 percent of viewers from watching the show. 🤷‍♂️

Breaking News: A Justice Dept. official is pushing prosecutors to investigate a group funded by George Soros, the billionaire Democratic donor whom President Trump has demanded be thrown in jail.

[image or embed]

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) September 25, 2025 at 8:31 AM

• Trump is also putting pressure on wildly unqualified Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly giving false statements during congressional testimony in regards to the allegations of Russian election interference in 2016. An indictment could come down as early as today, though lawyers within the department are unsure whether their case would hold up in court. (Probably because it won't—but when has that ever stopped Trump before?)

• And finally... after watching this video, I was like, "SAME, GIRL!"

@thewitchymom #Meme #MemeCut #WitchTok #witchcraft #witch ♬ original sound - The witchy mom page