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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! First and foremost, happy Indigenous Peoples Day (and may Columbus Day rot in hell). Expect mostly sunny skies this week with crisp temperatures tiptoeing down to the low 40s in the morning, with highs topping out at around 65 today through Wednesday. And now let’s tiptoe into some NEWS! (Careful not to step in anything.)
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• The case of Councilor Dan Ryan’s “disappearing cell phone” gets screwier and screwier! As we reported last week, a court ordered Ryan to refrain from deleting messages off his personal phone and other devices, which may contain public records that aren’t being shared with the public. (BTW, city employees aren’t allowed to conduct business on their personal phones in the first place.) But oopsy! Ryan told the court he was no longer in possession of that phone because his spouse traded it in—on the very same day the judge issued a temporary restraining order. (What a coincidence!) But after the Mercury—who’s suing Ryan to get any missing public records—wrote about the disappearing phone, it suddenly reappeared late last week. (What a coincidence!) Ryan filed an October 8 declaration stating that, actually, the phone had not been traded in, but is still in his possession. This flip-flopping of facts did NOT please Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David F. Rees, who scolded the councilor, saying, “This is not a game of cat and mouse. There are some indications that those games are being played, and it has to stop today.” (I think the Mercury is the “cat” in this scenario.) And so, lots of questions still remain: Did Ryan wipe the phone despite the judge’s order? What type of messages—if any—were being exchanged between himself and Portland’s power players? Per court orders, did he actually disable the auto-delete function from his phone which erases messages after 30 days? Hopefully we’ll find out more as the court case continues, but in the meantime get all the details surrounding this mysterious mystery from the Mercury’s own “Encyclopedia Brown,” Jeremiah Hayden!
• On Saturday morning, roughly 30 protesters were tear gassed by ICE agents in Salem, Oregon. According to law enforcement, the demonstrators were using their cars to surround and block the agents—who, as of late, have been ramping up their efforts to track, kidnap, and detain undocumented immigrants in Oregon. By the time Salem police arrived on the scene, the ICE agents had escaped, but not before they gassed the crowd, many of whom reported irritated eyes and difficulty breathing. Democratic U.S. House Rep. Andrea Salinas released a statement following the incident, saying that ICE had “followed and harassed U.S. citizens” and “deployed pepper spray, pepper balls and smoke canisters against the elderly and children.” Salinas also alleged that the agents were driving recklessly and at one point “shut down 99E and nearly caused several accidents.” The incident is currently being investigated by Salem police who say they will be sending their evidence to the Oregon Department of Justice (yay!) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (booooo) for further review.
• Welp, the deeply untrustworthy Oregonian Editorial Board released a raft of their November election endorsements over the weekend, revealing another shocking (and unsurprising) example of how their thinking is utterly divorced from reality. The board spent the first half of their endorsements bemoaning how unfair it is that four DSA-affiliated councilors out of 12 “wields outsized influence” (without noting that big business interests have dominated Portland politics for well over 100 years), and blaming progressives for any supposed “deadlock,” even though most of the legislation blockage has been caused by those who they are endorsing. For example, the O is recommending that Portlanders vote for what I’m calling the “cop bloc” in District 4—Eric Zimmerman, Olivia Clark, and (actual cop) Eli Arnold—all of whom have been blindly supportive of police, their bloated budget, and stubborn refusal to reverse the systemic racism, militarization, and violence that permeates their bureau. (Just think, we could have an actual “police state” in District 4!) Meanwhile in District 3, the O’s top choice is establishment candidate Kellie Torres—a former chief of staff to the beleaguered Councilor Dan Ryan (and his phone), who’s supported by Mayor Wilson and the city’s wealthy class—and is fond of wrapping tired policy in progressive language. However, the O did throw a very reluctant bone to Portland’s progressives by ranking Councilor Angelita Morillo third in D3, begrudgingly and very briefly noting her many accomplishments thus far on council, while simultaneously playing “tone police” and spending a whopping four paragraphs on how offended they are by Morillo’s outspokenness. Luckily for you, the Mercury’s palate cleansing election endorsements will be out later this week—so don’t vote without them!
• Late this summer, a construction crew broke ground on a massive solar panel installation at a former demolition dumping ground on 82nd Avenue. The installation is part of the Bird Alliance of Oregon’s larger plan to transform the site, which the organization purchased a few years ago. The lot, located across the street from McDaniel High School, previously housed a gravel quarry and then a landfill, which caused lingering environmental contamination. For decades, it sat vacant and overgrown. Now, with help from the Portland Clean Energy Fund, the Bird Alliance and other organizations are working to turn it into a nature sanctuary with restored wildlife habitat—and a hub for renewable energy. Our Taylor Griggs has more!
• Who says Halloween treats have to be limited to October 31? Turns out there are plenty of places in town to take part in all kinds of edible and chuggable holiday delights all October long—some within an extra-spooky setting, if you so dare. Our Katherine Chew Hamilton has rounded up treats from spots like Cookie McCakeFace and Doe Donuts, as well as collecting a list of themed pop-ups, including Social Spoon and LaVerne’s, as well as year-round haunted locales like Raven’s Manor. (Costumes optional!)
IN NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS:
• Despite the fact we’re less than a month away from the November 3 election, Federal Homeland Security agents entered and searched the home of candidate and Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, reportedly hoping to find evidence concerning her family’s immigration paperwork. According to Justice Department policy, agents are supposed to refrain from taking any overt steps (such as raiding a candidate’s home in early morning hours) in the weeks before an election, as long as it doesn’t impair the ongoing investigation. (But when has that ever slowed the utterly corrupt Trump administration?) For her part, Omar maintains the investigation is without merit and politically motivated… because of course it is.
• World’s worst boss and trillionaire crybaby Elon Musk has recently become the biggest donor for struggling Republicans, donating more than $276 million since July to rescue their plummeting House and Senate campaigns. Reminder that back in May, Musk vowed to take a step back from influencing politics after his embarrassing accomplishments with the government wrecking DOGE. However, the master meddler is reportedly back in the politics business, donating $158 million to Republican senate candidates, $76 million went to America PAC (which helped Trump get elected), and $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, to assist GOP senate hopefuls in Texas. (Sidenote: Why is it that the richest people, who won’t stop bitching about having to pay taxes, end up spending even more money on campaigns which promise to lower their taxes?)
• Some Republican senators are losing their minds and breaking ranks with the president over his proposed deal with Vladimir Putin to purchase diesel fuel from Russia to alleviate soaring gas prices in the U.S. (which he clearly caused). Russia has reportedly agreed to eventually deliver nearly 5 million tons of diesel to the US, which has infuriated at least four GOP senators and two of their Democratic colleagues, because the administration failed to consult congress about the decision. “Congress was clear: the U.S. should not import oil from Russia until it ends its aggression against Ukraine and ceases threats against our NATO Allies,” the six lawmakers wrote in a statement to the press. “President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law.” And besides that obvious point, energy experts agree that Trump’s deal with Russia is unlikely to lower fuel prices for Americans. (Maybe Trump should start importing “sad trombones” instead?)
• And finally… hoping you’re getting hyped for the week ahead like this guy.
