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Good Morning, Portland: Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory, falling on my head like a new emotion. We're looking at rain for the foreseeable future, folks. Let's hit the news!

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Following a LOOONG 10-hour meeting yesterday, Portland City Council failed to pass a measure that would have moved $4.3 million from the city program that funds sweeping camps of unhoused people to pay for rent and food assistance, and support for immigrants and refugees. It was... a spicy meatball of an evening. I know we say that about tear gas, but this was spicy meatball testimony. Jeremiah Hayden has more.

• Public job postings for “detention officers”—along with a few other indicators—point to the stealthy creation of a new US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility at the Newport Municipal Airport, the Oregonian reports. State and federal lawmakers are all 👀 (!!) about it, because nobody told THEM about the idea of adding a detention facility to a city of just 10,000 people. AND THE UPDATE: Texas military contractor rescinded ball but does not appear to have gone home. Newport politicians believe ICE is still working to build a detention center somewhere on the Oregon Coast. 

• Heir to Dig A Pony, SE Grand venue Lollipop Shoppe announced earlier in the month that it will close on November 27, citing financial stress. It's nasty news, as the spot had become a new home for the Thesis, and other showcases of local talent.

• A little jolt from our neighbors to the north—and our sister paper The Stranger:

www.thestranger.com/general-elec...

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— Vivian McCall (@vivmccall.bsky.social) November 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• The federal government has begun to reopen, following the passage of a spending bill. President Trump signed the package last night and many offices have already recommenced operations. He used the moment to blame Democrats, who had been trying to get their counterparts to negotiate the extension of federal health care subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year. In the end, six Democrats broke ranks to approve the plan—none of whom are running for office next year. The compromise package funds the government through January and programs related to agriculture (SNAP), the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction projects, and Congress itself for most of 2026.

• Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn in as a member of Congress on Wednesday, an action many have called long overdue. Grijalva won a special election to fill a House seat representing Arizona in late September, but House Speaker Mike Johnson had refused to seat the new member of Congress while the chamber was out of session. This led to a lawsuit from Arizona’s attorney general and speculation that Johnson was trying to block Grijalva's signature on a petition, which would force a vote on releasing records around Jeffrey Epstein. So anyway, she signed it. Let's goooooooo.

A good day to let everyone know we have submitted Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile for Best Live Action Short at the Oscars. If you know anybody in the Academy who is part of the process, it's in the portal. Get us shortlisted and nominated. An easy way to prove you, too, are not an elite pedophile!

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— Tim Onion (@bencollins.bsky.social) November 13, 2025 at 7:46 AM

• For nearly ten months, hundreds of men have been imprisoned at and eventually deported from Guantánamo Bay, in Cuba, in buildings that once held suspects related to the "war on terror." This was due to an order from the Trump administration which called for the creation of sites large enough to accommodate up to 30,000 people. Documents studied by the New York Times reveal that, at any given time, no more than 178 migrants were held there. It's kind of a clusterfuck, and not very long if you want to read some document shade this morning.

• Speaking of document shade, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released two emails on Wednesday—after they received more than 23,000 documents from the Epstein Estate, in response to a subpoena. Republicans on the committee then flooded the zone with approximately 20,000 more pages from the batch.Polticos ahave been trying to extrapolate meaning from the docs ever since, and I tip my fedora to them.

• The US made its last pennies Wednesday afternoon, in Philadelphia, PA. The slightly copper coin's discontinuation has long been forecasted by the Treasury Department and financiers, many of whom pointed out that it's been costlier to make a penny than to spend it for at least a decade. In the end, President Trump gave the order to end the penny; telling Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, to stop producing the coins back in Februrary. The Mint estimates that ceasing production of the penny could save the US $56 million a year. Pennies are still legal tender and people still have to take them.

• For those who celebrate, here's your video of robot powered by AI face-planting during its debut:

A humanoid robot powered by artificial intelligence, believed to be one of the first in Russia, face-planted during its highly anticipated debut in Moscow on Tuesday after briefly staggering onstage. nyti.ms/49Ly3GI

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— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) November 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM