If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution to the Mercury, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋
While we should stay alert for those sneaky, intrusive spring clouds, we should be looking forward to a mostly sunny Monday and Tuesday, with highs topping 74 today and possibly screaming up to 84 tomorrow! And now? Let’s scream up some NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Tough news this morning for Oregon Governor Tina Kotek: A poll commissioned by the Oregonian reveals that, according to the majority of voters in the Portland metro area, the governor is growing increasingly unpopular, with 59 percent of residents having a negative view of her job so far. As the clear Democratic frontrunner for the governor’s seat in this November’s election, this news cannot bode well for her campaign, as there’s a good chance she will once again face Republican Christine Drazan, who lost to Kotek in 2022 by a scant 3.5 percent. So why is Kotek doing so terribly in the state’s bluest Democratic stronghold? As the Mercury wrote in this May’s primary election endorsements, “Kotek has soured many Oregonians with her constant need to court conservative interests, her efforts to torpedo Preschool For All, her narrow vision of what ‘prosperity’ means for a state steeped in arts and culture, and her hyper focus on Portland.” And in a first for the Mercury, we chose not to endorse anyone in the primary, hoping that Kotek will finally get the message and become the governor we elected her to be: a champion for progressive values. (Does this mean a Republican will finally claim the governor’s seat this fall? While Portland voters may be disenchanted with Kotek, they also know that her annoying, regressive centrism is still better than any Republican anti-abortion, Trump-loving, climate change denier… but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.)
• While they may have lost their first regular season home game against the Chicago Sky, our Portland Fire are proving they’re here to blaze their own trail… and they have a huge, vibrant fan base to prove it. (In fact, Saturday’s game was the biggest crowd ever for the first game of a WNBA franchise.) Cameron Crowell files this report on Saturday’s super fun game, and includes lots of fan pics and reactions!
• For the last three decades, logging on Oregon’s federally-managed land has focused on balancing wood production with wildlife management and recreation—but now? A revised resource management plan from the Bureau of Land Management aims to quadruple the agency’s annual timber harvest. If the plan goes through, environmental advocates fear it could destroy Oregon’s old-growth forests and increase wildfire risk. Get all the details from our Abe Asher.
• Talk about whiplash: Last year, more than 380 incarcerated people saw their sentences reduced due to an Oregon Supreme Court ruling that allows judges to grant credit for time served prior to their sentencing. About 40 people were released from prison early, but after blowback from prosecutors, victim advocates, and others, the recalculations were paused by Gov. Tina Kotek, leading the state to return 17 freed people to prison. Others were told they’d be released early, only to have the state restore their original sentences. Get the infuriating details from this article that comes to us from the Prison Journalism Project!
• Looking for a fun, new bar to call your second home? Behold: Good Girl, the new occupant of the classic brick storefront on lower Morrison, opened on April 23. Owner Paige Cooper calls it a “slutty goth dive bar,” where you can have a $3 Hamm’s or a Dirty Shirley, while tucking into corn dogs and PB&J freezer waffles. Give it a shot, and then order a shot! Our Ben Coleman has the details.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Are you ready for gas prices (now well over the $5 per gallon mark in the Portland area) to finally come down? Well, keep dreaming, dreamer! Trump’s completely unnecessary war against Iran will continue thanks to a stalemate between the two countries. The president has firmly rejected Iran’s latest proposal for peace, which asked for war reparations from the US, recognition that it controls the Strait of Hormuz, and an end to American sanctions against the country. The news of Trump’s rejection sent gas prices skyrocketing even higher, at $103 per barrel of oil, as compared to February of this year when it was closer to $70 per barrel. While the US says that their own blockade of Iranian ports will stay in effect, experts say that Iran could easily survive this stalemate for months. 🙄
• The man accused of a presumed assassination attempt against Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month has pleaded not guilty to the charge in federal court. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly sprinted past a security checkpoint in the lobby of the hotel where the dinner was taking place, and exchanged gunfire with Secret Service members before he was apprehended. Inside the dining area, Trump and other officials were rushed off the stage, as most participants—but notably not all— hit the floor until the melee was over. Notably, according to a Newsguard/YouGov poll, 30 percent of Americans feel like at least one of the three Trump assassination attempts was staged, and only 38 percent of respondents believe that ALL of the deadly attempts were real. (See what happens when you let a lying liar run the country?)
• Seventeen passengers of the cruise ship that experienced a hantavirus outbreak have returned to the United States, landing in Nebraska, where one of the passengers has tested positive for the deadly virus. All are being quarantined and are under round the clock supervision, after three passengers aboard the cruise ship HV Hondius died, while five others became ill from the virus which doctors say is contagious and often deadly. Officials say that the possibility of risk to the American public from the hantavirus is extremely low.
• A person who allegedly scaled a fence and ran out onto a runway at the Denver airport was struck and killed by a departing Frontier Airlines plane on Friday. The incident reportedly also caused an engine fire, forcing the evacuation of the plane. Twelve passengers were hurt and five hospitalized. The name of the person who was struck by the plane is currently unknown.
• And finally… did you wish your mom a happy Mother’s Day yesterday? YOU DIDN’T?!? Then you are hereby required to watch this video from Mr. T who has a special message for you… FOOL!
