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Good morning, Portland! We’ve got another cold, rainy day in the worksโgood thing you’ll never leave your house again and time and weather are nothing but illusions!
Anyway… here are the headlines.
โข The man whose terrifying hit-and-run spree in Southeast Portland left one person dead and many more injured has been officially charged with murder, along with 13 other charges. Paul Rivas of Oregon City has plead “not guilty,” claiming he lost control of his car.
โข Gov. Kate Brown announced yesterday that she’s sending 17,000 additional vaccine doses to the Portland Metro area, to help ensure all health care workers and other Phase 1A recipients get vaccinated soon. That was welcome newsโjust one day earlier, Multnomah County officials had warned they were running out of vaccines.
โข The Alpenrose Dairy heir who was pepper sprayed by Mayor Ted Wheeler in a McMenamins parking lot while former Mayor Sam Adams looked on has apologized, saying he regrets confronting Wheeler and hopes to meet with him in person to resolve the issue. He’s also sorry he embarrassed the partners at his law firm.
โข Drafts of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plan would significantly reduce the number of people deported from the US. Under the Trump administration, any undocumented immigrant was essentially fair game for deportationโbut under the Biden administration’s new plan, ICE would primarily focus on people seen as national security threats (which is its own can of wormsโjust ask any Muslim person who was put on the no-fly list after 9/11).
โข President Joe Biden plans to sign two executive orders today focused on reproductive justice: One to make abortions more accessible under the Affordable Care Act, and one that reverses a Trump policy barring federal funding to international organizations that offer abortion counseling or referrals.
โข John Kerry has become Biden’s new special climate envoyโand he’s warning that a global climate summit in the UK in November could be “the last best chance the world has to come together” to tackle climate change.
โข Just days after Biden reversed the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people enlisting in the military, an army chaplain is under investigation for calling trans people “mentally unfit” and “unqualified to serve” in a Facebook comment.
โข An impeachment trial is coming to the Senate next monthโbut don’t expect enough (if any) Republicans to vote to convict Trump. New reporting shows that while Mitch McConnell was initially considering ridding himself and the party of Trump, most of his colleagues feel differently. That means McConnell will probably back off from any cooperation with Democrats in impeaching Trump.
โข In California, a far-right extremist who was recently arrested with explosives may have been planning to target Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as the Bay Area offices of Twitter and Facebook.
โข Wow, this is a stressful news day! We’ll end with a way you can relax:
I tried some Oregon-grown CBD teas (and one hot chocolate) for the @portlandmercury cannabis guide: https://t.co/OBYzrCll6k
โ Blair Stenvick (@BlairStenvick) January 28, 2021
