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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! 👋
Say goodbye (mostly) to those bone-chilling temps that have been haunting us for the past week, as the thermostat will rise to a relatively balmy 49 degrees today, and you’ll awaken to a much more reasonable 38 degrees in the morning. Plus, you rain-lovers will have something to cheer about when showers move into the area starting Wednesday. OH! And something else to cheer about? The Portland Mercury‘s delicious WEINER WEEK is happening NOW through February 1, where you can try 46 delectable and creative hot doggies for only $8 a pop! Check ’em out here. And now, for those who cheer for news… here is some NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Yet another murder perpetrated by federal border patrol officers in Minneapolis (more deets on that later) has infuriated the country and inspired massive protests, including this weekend in Portland. On Saturday, hundreds of protesters braved the chilly temperatures to march and rally in Elizabeth Caruthers Park, and later at Portland’s ICE facility, where four people were arrested by Portland Police, while the Feds (according to witnesses on the scene) snatched up at least three people and dragged them inside. As usual, with little to no regard for the safety of those living in the neighborhood, federal agents heavily gassed the area five times before 9 pm. On Sunday, several hundred more rallied near Salmon Street Springs in a calm display of protest. Earlier in the weekend, Mayor Keith Wilson and new Portland City Council president Jamie Dunphy issued a statement asking protesters to keep it cool following the Minnesota murder, while firmly stating that the federal government’s current path (of kidnappings and public slayings) cannot continue. “We cannot accept the federal government’s current approach,” the pair wrote, “which is undermining safety and costing human life.”
• Speaking of ICE, nurses at Legacy Emanuel are sending up the alarm that ICE agents are potentially violating patient privacy at the hospital system—and that’s after the agents violently put the victims in the hospital in the first place. So how did Legacy management respond to their staff’s cries of alarm? By sending a cease and desist letter to the Oregon Nurses Association—the state’s largest healthcare union—claiming their whistle-blowing actions “are harmful to patient care, [and] discourage patients from [seeking] medical attention.” Staff told the Mercury in December that ICE and Homeland Security agents have reportedly singled out Legacy Emanuel as the “go to” place to take people after detaining (and often injuring) them. The agents then allegedly disrupt the victims’ treatment, which Legacy managment is reportedly allowing, according to the nurses. For their part, Legacy management denies the accusations, and you can read more in this report from our Taylor Griggs and Jeremiah Hayden.
• Advocates are raising the alarm about an entire Gresham family who was detained by immigration officers while trying to seek emergency medical attention for their 7-year-old at Portland Adventist Health earlier this month. The child, along with father Yohendry De Jesus Crespo and mother Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo, were allegedly kidnapped from the hospital parking lot and taken to the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement Center in Dilley, Texas. According to a local immigrants rights group, the incident is the first confirmed instance of an entire family being detained in Oregon. Ironically, but not surprisingly, the Portland Adventist Health parking lot is the same location where two immigrants were shot by border patrol agents last week. The parents had permits to work legally in the U.S.—not that the law matters to these kidnappers.
Genderbomb’s anthology show at Performance Works Northwest, Impact Play, encourages radical intimacy, which they serve up on a kinky (and, at one point, human!) platter.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) January 24, 2026 at 1:37 PM
• Happy 95th birthday to the “Mayor of Albina” Paul Knauls—the well-respected Black entrepreneur and booster of the historically Black neighborhood who, along with his wife, owned the former Geneva’s Restaurant & Lounge, Geneva’s Shear Perfection barbershop and salon, as well as the famous Cotton Club. Knauls was honored this weekend with a big shindig put on by Albina Vision Trust and the Portland Trail Blazers to point out his many accomplishments, which include being responsible for the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. that stands outside the Oregon Convention Center. Happy birthday, and many, many more! 🎉
How much do you know about Portland… the state of Oregon… and disposing of a dead body? Let’s find out in this sassy edition of the city’s funnest trivia game, POP QUIZ PDX! Plus, extinct volcanoes, celebrity baseballers, and… poker-playing water skiiers? See how well YOU score!
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) January 22, 2026 at 11:49 AM
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Americans erupted in fury this weekend after yet another US citizen was murdered in Minneapolis by border patrol agents. Alex Pretti, 37, was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital, and was participating in a protest regarding the January 7 killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer, when Pretti was shot 10 times by officers after being disarmed and held, powerless, on the ground. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims Pretti was killed after he “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun—which he was legally allowed to carry—however, video of the incident shows that the victim had not pulled the gun, and it was taken away from him before he was shot multiple times by a federal agent. Today state and local officials are in court asking a judge to constrain immigration enforcement in the state following the shootings of Pretti and Good, as well as making sure DHS does not destroy evidence related to the murders. As heated protests continue across the country (as well as in Portland), Dems are vowing to cut funds from the federal agency and demanding the resignation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, while Trump is blaming liberals for the “chaos” in the state.
DHS has shot 12 people during immigration enforcement operations since September:
— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) January 25, 2026 at 8:27 AM
So Kyle Rittenhouse, who attended a protest armed with a loaded assault rifle and killed 2 people is a right-wing hero.
But Alex Pretti who had a holstered, permitted handgun, was recording ICE, and tried to help a pepper-sprayed woman deserved to die?
No one is buying this BS.
— Ahmed Baba (@ahmedbaba.bsky.social) January 25, 2026 at 9:21 AM
• More than 200 million Americans are under freezing weather alerts following a weekend of severe snowstorms that caused the deaths of at least 13 people across the South, Midwest, and East Coast. While the storm has moved off the coast, an estimated 820,000 people are still without power, and 12,000 flights have been canceled.
• Regulators for the European Union have opened a formal investigation into billionaire creep Elon Musk and X, after his AI chatbot Grok suddenly began producing nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images on the platform, including pics of women and children. While Musk’s company announced that they will stop allowing users to depict people in “bikinis, underwear or other revealing attire,” they will only do so in countries where such activities are deemed “illegal.” (Apparently basic human decency is only necessary under certain conditions.)
• Rapper Kanye “Ye” West has taken out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal to apologize for his past anti-Semitic remarks and love for the Nazi swastika, saying his mental challenges were caused by an undiagnosed brain injury incurred by a 2002 car accident. “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability treatment, and meaningful change,” Ye wrote. “It does not excuse that I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.” No word yet on whether his sudden moral awakening will extend to his repeated support of Donald Trump.
• And finally… for those who assume I wake up every Monday morning looking this good, here are the actual receipts. Hang in there this week!
@vhsofdeath6662 #wakingup #morningcoffeeroutine #fypage #fyp #fypシ ♬ original sound – V/H/S Of Death666
