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Good morning, Portland! Today, we can expect sunshine and a high of 87, with an overnight low of 57.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• It’s Tuesday, which means the Mercury’s latest Do This, Do That just dropped yesterday. This week, check out OMSI: After Dark for a special Pickle It! exhibit, or check out the debut of this year’s Converge 45 Triennial–a series of art installations happening at 16 different locations across Portland, all inspired by the work of Ursula K. Le Guin.
• In must-read news, in an attempt to peel back the curtain on Oregon’s low-income housing spending, ProPublica revealed a surprising roadblock. The state’s typically robust public records law, which favors disclosure, shields details of how public housing dollars are spent. “Oregon is one of the only states in the country with a carve-out in its public records law that prevents disclosing the financial details of subsidized housing projects, thwarting researchers and journalists who have tried to examine their costs,” the outlet reports. That means there is no way for independent entities to dig into spiraling costs of low-income housing projects, which often prevent thousands more units from being built due to bureaucratic rules around construction, and unchecked costs. While there are exceptions (for example, projects built with Metro’s Supportive Housing Services bond are disclosed) it still reveals why we need transparency at the state level: even those units have reached $900,000 each, which, for anyone doing the math, could buy everyone a huge house in the west hills rather than a modest apartment. Check out this reporting from local investigative journalist Rob Davis, whose byline you may remember from the Oregonian.
• TriMet’s transit cuts are officially in effect, and 34 bus lines now have reduced service, along with the MAX green line. That means thousands of people, particularly in Portland, who rely on public transportation to get to work, school, medical appointments, and other things will now find themselves in a bind. Some will have to pack significantly more time into their commutes to account for reduced service, while others may be forced to stop relying on transit, or may have to make more difficult decisions. To protest the cuts, a small funeral procession could be seen making its way around Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland Sunday afternoon, to mourn the services lost and protest the lack of state funding for transportation that got us in this mess.
• This log has a message for you! Check out the best look-alike contest on the planet, the Twin Peaks Log Lady look-alike competition, hosted right here in Portland at the World Forestry Center (because, duh). The grand prize? A damn fine pie.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Democrats in Congress are investigating a mining company based in Denver, Colorado whose CEO bought substantial shares in his own company right before President Trump paved the way for additional uranium mining rights near the company’s property in Utah. Grist reports Energy Fuels operates White Mesa Mill just outside Bears Ears National Monument. The nonprofit climate news site describes it as “the last conventional uranium processing site in the nation, which sat about a mile from the Bears Ears boundary before Trump slashed the monument by 90 percent last month.” Now, Congressional Dems, including Oregon’s own 3rd District Representative Maxine Dexter, are investigating potential insider trading surrounding the stock purchase.
• The father of a sailor who’s been stationed aboard the USS Lincoln in the Strait of Hormuz for nine months now was arrested by immigration agents in Florida. Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was on his way to drop his car off at a mechanic in Key West, when he was detained by immigration officials. Aviles has a work permit and has lived in the US for 19 years, according to his wife. His arrest comes as the Trump administration has aggressively ramped up deportations and clawed back protections, even for immigrants with legal status in the US, including family members of US military members.
• A journalist who broke a story in 2017 about a Chinese-American scientist who was under federal investigation, though never charged, over her alleged ties to China’s military is facing an unthinkable court battle that is costing her $800 a day unless she agrees to reveal her sources. The story explored whether that scientist, Yanping Chen, was using a school in Virgina that she ran to secretly aid China. Catherine Herridge says she’s holding firm, and intends to take her case to the US Supreme Court, though it’s unlikely she’ll prevail. Her former employer has stuck by her side and helped with her legal bills, arguing the case is a clear cut argument for the First Amendment rights of journalists fighting against government overreach. That former employer? Oddly, Fox News. Read more in the Guardian here.
And now, what you really came for.
