The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

A persons hands holding a white face mask
You have just under two months to make the bottom half of your face presentable again. Good luck! EMS-FORSTER-PRODUCTIONS / Getty Images

Good afternoon, Portland! Hope your week is off to a good start. Here’s a look at our Monday headlines.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• A new city and county study has found that an earthquake-induced oil spill in Portland’s Northwest industrial zone could cost well more than $2 billion in damages and clean up. The report could boost efforts in the state to require oil companies to foot the cost of a spill. Isabella Garcia has more.

• Citing a decline in COVID-19 case numbers, the Oregon Health Authority has announced that it will lift the state’s mask mandate no later than March 31. The mask mandate for schools will also be lifted at that time.

• Three ballot initiatives to—finally—limit campaign contributions are in trouble after Secretary of State Shemia Fagan announced that she is planning to reject the language of the initiatives because they did not include the full text of the Oregon laws that would change. Oregon is currently one of only five states that does not limit contributions.

• Workers at the NE Portland Nabisco factory, who just settled a strike last fall, are claiming that management is routinely forcing them to work overtime shifts with little notice or face penalties. The report comes as the legislature weighs a bill that would prohibit employers from disciplining workers who decline to work mandatory overtime shifts if they have not been given advanced notice.

• With the 2022 season just weeks away, here’s a look at how demand for Portland Timbers tickets may be changing and the reasons why.

• The hit 2020 show Hedwig and the Angry Inch has returned to the Ellyn Bye Studio at the Armory, and despite pandemic restrictions, it’s still excellent entertainment. Elinor Jones has our review.

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• A new study from The Guardian and the University of Washington has found that the number of Americans who died while homeless grew exponentially in the last five years, increasing by 77 percent from 2016 through 2020. Experts at the National Health Care for the Homeless Council estimate between 17,000 and 40,000 people die homeless in the U.S. every year.

• The Supreme Court—shockingly enough—handed Republicans a major victory this afternoon, halting a lower court ruling that Alabama’s new congressional lines violate the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Black voters.

• New Jersey and Delaware, are, like Oregon, ending their mask mandates for schools as the Omicron surge abates in the U.S. New Jersey will end its mandate on March 7, while Delaware will end its mandate on March 31.

• The international gamesmanship over Russia’s threatened invasion of Ukraine continued today, with President Biden urging all Americans in Ukraine to leave the country and Biden’s show of unity at the White House with German chancellor Olaf Scholz complicated by the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

• It’s back for 2022! America’s sexiest, funnest dirty movie fest, HUMP! Coming at ya starting February 24 at Revolution Hall—GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

• Finally…

Abe Asher covers city news, politics, and soccer for the Portland Mercury. His reporting has appeared in The Nation, VICE News, Sahan Journal, and other outlets.