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Good Morning, Portland! GRASS POLLEN IS VERY HIGH, even as the area’s weather forecast remains cloudy and cool for the next few days. Expect rain on Saturday before a springy mix sweeps in next week, bringing super changeable days of cloud, sun, drizzle, and even a little 80-degree heat. Now, let’s git the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• The Mercury‘s first dedicated music issue since the pandemic hit the web THIS MORNING—but it’s already on stands around Portland—and inside you’ll find a robust guide to Portland’s summer music festivals, local artists sounding off about their favorite snackeries, and the story behind the duo who rescued beloved community venue Turn! Turn! Turn! FROM THE JAWS OF DEATH! Check out the whole 2026 Mercury Music issue here! Ahhhhhhh [vocalizing] hhhhhh!
• And not only is there a whole dang ISSUE of music writing ready for your eyes, Merc music editor Nolan Parker turned out a new Mercury Music Picks. Of course they’re amped about the Music Issue launch party tonight at Turn! Turn! Turn! but they’re also shoutin’ Carlos Niño is at Jack London Revue, Cyberplasm at High Limit Room, and much more!
• Love it or hate it, Portland’s arts tax may soon grow from $35 to $50—though not if Portland Metro Chamber (the outrage formerly known as Portland Business Alliance) has anything to sue about it. The large, influential business organization sent a letter to Portland city councilors warning them that city lawmakers have no authority over taxes without voter approval.
• A 56-year-old woman was sentenced to 180 days of jail time and four years probation this week, after pleading guilty to setting the Northwest Portland Elephants Delicatessen location on fire in March. The woman said she had been looking for food in the shop’s patio trash after hours, and relying on a torch lighter to see. Some tissue paper caught, and she couldn’t stop the spread. She pleased guilty to two misdemeanors, presumably being homeless and hungry. Baja Blast restorative justice it was not.
• Local game publishers Panic opened up more preview slots for their in-house demos of Big Walk—which we wrote about in the Spring Arts Preview. If you live in Portland (or will be in Portland between May 20-June 14), you can go play the game in their offices.
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Democratic Senators once again tried to pass legislation that would limit President Trump’s war with Iran. While plenty of pundits would pund that a war powers resolution wouldn’t have passed the even more Republican-controlled House, the vote drew in more Republican support, such as number Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who cast a vote against the war for the first time since popped off in February.
• In Strait of Hormuz news, today a ship was sank and another one seized by as yet unknown actors. Pardon the passive voice, but there’s not much currently confirmed about the incidents, which have led to escalated tensions in the strait.
• Erik Fleming, the drug addiction counselor who delivered ketamine to Friends star Matthew Perry, was sentenced to two years in prison. Perry died in 2023; he was found unresponsive in his jacuzzi—the victim of an apparent drowning caused by high levels of ketamine, cardiovascular overstimulation, and respiratory depression. Fleming was profiting off ferrying doses of the anesthetic drug to the actor for unsupervised use. While Perry had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, reports indicate that his unsupervised use had ballooned “out of control.” After connecting investigators to his own supplier Jasveen Sangha (who received a sentence in April of 15 years), Fleming received an estimated reduction of his own sentence.
• Taylor wrote about this on Tuesday, but it’s hard to ignore that painting the bottom of a body of water blue—as the Trump administration is doing with the reflecting pool on the National Mall—is directly ripped from jokes Canadians make about the US’ pathetic environmental protections.
• Maybe this is AI, but it’s the energy I’m sending you this morning. Thriving. Unbothered. Confident. Embraced and guided through troubles by your close community. You owe Thursday nothing. Thursday owes you everything.
