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Good morning, Portland! February is flying by. Spring is less than three weeks away (yes, we’re counting down the days till the cherry blossoms make their triumphant return!). Today, we’re in for a partly sunny day today, with a high of 50 and a frigid low of 34 degrees overnight.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Yesterday, the city of Portland announced the official launch of a new Home Share pilot program. The program is exactly what it sounds like. Homeowners with extra rooms in their houses can rent them out to folks in need of affordable housing, while getting paid up to $200 a week (which must cover rent and utilities). Those who participate can also qualify for a one-time grant of $1,000 from the city after the first 30 days of a successful rental arrangement. Homeowners must commit to renting for a 12-month period. While Portlanders have been renting out portions of their homes for several decades, the new model has robust city involvement, as a way to add affordable housing stock without any new production. The Home Share model is already being used in states like California and Tennessee.
Note: This entry has been updated to clarify the rental terms and parameters of a one-time grant.
• Portland Police officers got a bit of a lucky break Tuesday night, when they were able to seize drugs and multiple guns from a guy's vehicle, simply because he was passed out. According to Portland Police Bureau, officers were called to check on a man who was slumped over in his car after crashing into a mailbox. They couldn't get him to wake up, so officers broke a window in his vehicle and "three handguns, two unregistered short-barreled AR-15-style rifles, ammunition, and drugs." The 34-year-old man has a felony criminal record, meaning he's not legally allowed to own the guns. He was arrested and booked into jail.
• You could probably use some good news right about now. Something to look forward to, perhaps? Well brace yourself, because Monday marks the beginning of the Mercury’s Sandwich Week! Start planning your culinary journey now, because we’ve lined up nearly 90 participating locations. Sandos are just $10 each–a steal in this economy.
• In other groovy news, OG Mercury readers may have noticed the recent return of Art Snack! For those who want to be in the know on cool happenings around Portland, without having to doom scroll all day or open up this newsletter each morning (but why wouldn’t you?!), Art Snack has you covered. Mercury Arts & Culture Editor Suzette Smith has synthesized this sweet little roundup of upcoming events, newsworthy tidbits and miscellaneous neat shit.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Yesterday, Trump gave a State of the Union address to a room full of people–some of whom couldn’t wait to lick the boot, and others who could barely stand any of that man’s bullshit. Oregon lawmakers, including Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, skipped the State of the Union and instead held their own town hall. Rep. Maxine Dexter also skipped, instead sending an Epstein survivor in her place. Trump was heckled by some Congressional reps in the crowd, which devolved into a tense rebuke from the poor guy who was probably just trying not to sh*t himself on live TV again. Unsurprisingly, the MAGAlomaniac rambled for nearly two hours. He railed against Somali Americans, and lied about how great the economy is doing (pssst…the stock market doesn’t matter to the millions of Americans who have no stake in it and can’t afford groceries). But he also gave a nod to some seemingly commendable ideas, like when he announced a “warrior” dividend program that gives enlisted members of the military a whopping $1,776 bonus (far less than what new ICE recruits are promised), unveiled a 401(k) type program for workers without employer-provided retirement plans (which is probably just a way for him to use tax dollars to further prop up the stock market and credit himself for doing so). And judging on his call to block private equity firms from hoovering up America’s housing stock (Ok, go on, we’re listening…), maybe Trump just watched this news clip of a live interview gone slightly awry.
This guy gets it.
— More Perfect Union (@moreperfectunion.bsky.social) February 23, 2026 at 12:42 PM
[image or embed]
• Speaking of the SOTU, Marco Rubio was likely bored, scrolling his phone while Trump blathered on, until Trump gave him a shout-out. A NYT photographer peeked, and saw Marco communicating with a high-level government official via WhatsApp.
• A California woman who was adopted from Iran by an American veteran in the 1970s says she now faces deportation, after learning she was brought to the US on the wrong type of visa roughly 50 years ago. The woman's immigration attorney says she was brought to the US on a tourist visa, "which was fairly common to use when adopting from countries that did not have formal intercountry adoption systems in place," NPR reports. The woman received a letter from the government informing her she's now subject to deportation proceedings. Her story isn't unique. Other adoptees have also encountered similar issues, including another woman who didn't learn of the errors until she tried to apply for a passport.
• A judge ruled the US DOJ may not search through the phone or other devices seized from a Washington Post reporter whose being investigated as part of a federal probe into leaked classified documents. Oddly, the ruling came from the same federal judge who gave the DOJ permission to seize the reporter's devices in the first place. CNN reports the judge was concerned that the DOJ would use the search warrant he granted them far too broadly, and search devices that are outside the scope of the investigation.
• Following a major snowstorm in New York City, police officers in the city were hit with snowballs while responding to a big snowball fight in Manhattan. The incident was apparently severe enough to warrant a police investigation. I understand snowballs could potentially hurt people, but this whole situation is a little too reminiscent of a TV show from the 1950s. What makes a snowball fight rise to the level that police presence is necessary? Mayor Zohran Mamdani told New Yorkers not to hit police officers with snowballs via a social media post, but later downplayed the situation when discussing whether or not the snow-throwers should get criminal charges. Now, the head of the NYPD union is mad at him. My opinion: let’s all take a breath. Unlike most “weapons,” snow melts. -TAYLOR GRIGGS
Finally, some words of wisdom:
@welshy8701 #CapCut ♬ original sound - Karina 🖤♿️ 🇱🇹
