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Good morning, Portland. It's going to be unseasonably warm today and for the rest of the week (high 50s, maybe even 60 degrees tomorrow.) However, the groundhog said winter isn't over yet, so don't worry. Cold weather and rain (and hopefully, some snow!) are in the forecast next week.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• The Portland Housing Bureau has found additional millions in its coffers, adding to the $21 million in unspent funding disclosed late last year. It is unclear exactly how much money is in the fund, but Council President Jamie Dunphy told the Mercury Monday that it is expected to be in the millions. The newly uncovered dollars will impact two pieces of legislation the City Council is considering this week. One resolution on Wednesday's agenda would require the release of public records and open an investigation related to the hidden funds. On Thursday, the Council will consider how to prioritize the previous $21 million, including funding rent assistance and a cash-strapped Prosper Portland housing project. The new money could help notch a win for the mayor and all 12 city councilors. Find out more in Jeremiah Hayden's story here.
• Court documents reveal holes in the federal government's story about last month's US Customs and Border Patrol shooting of two Venezuelan immigrants in East Portland. After the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately began pushing the narrative that they were connected to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, apparently trying to portray them as dangerous criminals whose presence on Portland's streets posed a risk to us all. But court documents show federal prosecutors have admitted one of the people shot, Luis Niño-Moncada, was seemingly never believed to be a gang member. The other, Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras, was said to be affiliated with the gang via a "transnational prostitution ring" and was also "involved in a recent shooting in Portland," but according to court records, she was a victim of sexual assault and was not a suspect in any shooting. Neither Niño-Moncada nor Zambrano-Contreras have prior criminal convictions.
Though many saw past DHS's story, pointing out that the government may well have been lying about Zambrano-Contreras and Niño-Moncada's gang affiliation—and even if they weren't, they still didn't deserve to get shot—the government's narrative still made its mark. An article in The Guardian describing what the court records show also quotes Portland Councilor Sameer Kanal: “The federal government cannot be trusted. Our default position should be skepticism and understanding they lie very regularly."
• As the Mercury reported over the weekend, federal agents hit a group of thousands of people with a heavy dose of tear gas during a peaceful protest outside the Portland ICE facility on Saturday. The federal officers, standing on the roof of the ICE building, launched round after round of tear gas canisters into the crowd, which included many children and elderly people. One of those canisters broke a window at the Gray's Landing apartment building across the street, likely alarming the resident of the unit, who was home at the time. Luckily, the apartment's windows are double-paned, so the tear gas remained outside the building. This is just the latest incident residents of the Gray's Landing apartment building, a low-income complex of 209 units, have had to put up with in recent months. The building's proximity to the ICE facility means residents have frequently experienced the effects of the excessive chemical munitions federal officers use on protesters outside the building. Those impacts have led to a federal lawsuit filed by Reach Community Development, which owns the apartment building, against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Protective Service, Customs and Border Protection and the Secret Service. The lawsuit, which was filed in December, alleged the federal officers' actions make up a "shocking and unconstitutional poisoning" of Gray's Landing residents. A hearing will be held in federal court next week on a preliminary injunction filed by Reach, seeking to end the use of tear gas at the ICE facility.
Judith Arcana was an abortion advocate and legend in Portland—as well as being part of Chicago’s underground abortion service known as Jane. Megan Burbank writes about her recent passing, her relationship with Arcana, and how her legacy as an activist and poet will live on.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) February 2, 2026 at 2:03 PM
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• Lake Theater & Cafe, a movie theater in Lake Oswego, is banned from showing the film Melania after making jokes at the expense of the movie (and the First Lady it's based on). According to the movie theater, Amazon (which produced and is distributing the film) revoked its rights to show the documentary about Melania Trump after the theater put up marquee messages like “TO DEFEAT YOUR ENEMY. YOU MUST KNOW THEM. MELANIA.” Lake Theater & Cafe general manager Jordan Perry (who is known nationwide for marquee humor) wrote a thoroughly entertaining blog post about the saga. In the blog post, he explains his reason for showing Melania in the first place: "Mostly, I thought doing so would be funny." It's unclear how Amazon found out about the marquee messages. But, sheesh, these guys (Amazon execs and Melania Trump fans) are touchy and can't take a joke! (For more savage takedowns of Melania, read The New Yorker's Isaac Chotiner's brutal interview with the movie's cinematographer.)
• Say it loud, say it proud, Portland is a basketball town! And that extends beyond the Portland Trail Blazers, who we obviously love and adore even if they are struggling. Mercury writer Cam Crowell has suggestions for where Portlanders should go to get their basketball fix, from the Moda Center to University of Portland's Chiles Center (for UP and Rip City Remix games) to Viking Pavilion at Portland State University (for what the author calls the "most electric basketball in town.") Click here to find out more!
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• The killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis ICU nurse who was shot by federal agents while legally observing and recording them, has been ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County medical examiner. (This could also be determined by anyone who saw the horrific footage of the incident.) A homicide determination only means someone's death was caused by another person. It doesn't necessarily mean those at fault will be held legally responsible for murder. But it does open the door for further investigation into the incident—hopefully, beyond just the federal investigation, which we all know should be taken with a grain of salt.
happening this morning in Minneapolis — ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 3, 2026 at 8:19 AM
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• Bill and Hillary Clinton are in the news currently after agreeing to testify in a House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt if they did not appear in front of Congress. Despite their apparent compliance, Republican Rep. James Comer, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, still maintains they could be held in contempt, which would lead to a substantial fine and possibly even incarceration??? If the Clintons are in the Epstein files (and they well may be), fine, hold them accountable. But it's a bit interesting how this aggressive energy re: Epstein seems to be reserved for Democrats who don't currently hold political office, and not for the current president and his pals who are all over those files.
• In Trump's war on wind energy, wind is winning. Yesterday, a federal judge struck down the administration's order to halt work on a major wind farm development off the coast of New York. It's the fifth ruling against the Trump administration's attempts to stop offshore wind energy development along the East Coast.
• Just a reminder, apropos of EVERYTHING.
Tear gas is banned in international warfare, yet classified as a “riot control agent” that law enforcement can use for crowd control.
“It just doesn’t work well, and it hits the weakest people the most, and causes the most complications in them,” an anesthesiology professor at Duke University said.
— ProPublica (@propublica.org) February 2, 2026 at 6:40 PM
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• That's all for today. May we all get a chance to frolic like this cat. Happy Tuesday, TTYL, XOXO.
