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Good morning, Portland! It’s officially fall, and even though temperatures have been in the 70s the past couple days, I think it feels like it. Expect another partly sunny, warm day today, but don’t get too comfortable—forecasters expect showers tomorrow. Now, onto the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Last week, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) Chief Bob Day spoke out harshly against City Councilor Mitch Green, following widespread attention to the councilor’s anti-police tweets from 2020. Day said, after reading Green’s old tweets, he “no longer [had] confidence” in the councilor’s decisions regarding PPB. (Day’s comments came shortly after Aaron Schmautz, head of the PPB union, called on Green to resign. Green has declined to do so.) Green, who represents Portland’s District 4, is up for reelection in November. Considering the political landscape, Day’s comments about the councilor struck some people as questionable and potentially even illegal, as public employees aren’t supposed to use their positions to speak out about political campaigns. Since last week, multiple people have filed complaints against Day with the Oregon Secretary of State and the city’s Bureau of Human Resources, alleging the PPB chief used his high-profile position to meddle in an upcoming city election. With Election Day drawing near, the complainants have asked the state to investigate their claims with haste.
• Last year, Portland’s Innovation Law Lab filed a class action lawsuit against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing the agency had broken the law in repeatedly arresting Oregonians without a warrant. Now, a federal judge in Oregon is weighing the issue. The current court proceedings come after the judge, Mustafa Kasubhai, issued a preliminary order in February siding with Innovation Law Lab and dictating that ICE could only make an arrest without a warrant if the person they’re arresting is likely to flee. In the months since that preliminary order, however, Innovation Law Lab lawyers say ICE has carried out hundreds of warrantless arrests. Kasubhai is expected to issue a decision about whether or not ICE violated her February order next week.
• The Trump administration has announced a plan to fast-track logging in part of the Deschutes National Forest that was burned by the Akawa Butte Fire this summer. The US Forest Service has provided very little time to comment on the plan, announcing it just a week before the public comment deadline. The plan would target 5,000 acres in the Central Oregon forest, in an apparent attempt to reduce future wildfire risks. But many environmentalists dispute the idea that forests should be logged right after wildfires. The lack of public process is also very concerning to forest advocates, who fear the precedent such a rushed process will set.
• Important news on the Chicken Beauty Contest front, per the Mercury‘s Stephanie Kaloi, who says the chickens competing for the grand prize at last weekend’s Weird Fest “were resplendent in their beauty and each offered something different.”
• The Portland Fire, our city’s new (well, newly-revived) WNBA team, played its final game of the season last night. To the surprise of some naysayers, the team ended the season with a bang, beating the Golden State Valkyries in overtime. The Fire has been struggling a bit recently, but still did very well considering how green the team (and most of its players) are. We’ll all be eager to see what’s in store for our WNBA team next season!
• The University of Oregon is getting an engineering school, thanks to a $1 billion donation from the Duck Daddy himself, Phil Knight. The donation is the largest known contribution to a public flagship university in the US. It’ll position the U of O up to compete with Oregon State University on engineering programming, which the Eugene university has historically lacked. At a time when federal funding for university research has dried up, thanks to the research-hating Trump administration, this donation is quite notable. It further cements Knight’s status as the University of Oregon’s greatest benefactor, which has been something of a double-edged sword for the school. The U of O has (fairly) earned the nickname the University of Nike due to Knight’s major presence in the institution. (That name was also given to a good book on the weird relationship between Knight and the University of Oregon.) Going to the University of Oregon be like: Wake up in the Knight Library after pulling an all-Knighter (TM) in the stacks. Head over to the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact for class. Grab a “Swoosh Sandwich” (a sandwich shaped like the Nike logo) at the Nike Cafe for lunch before ending your day with a basketball game at the Matthew Knight Arena. Go home and watch a Laika (owned by Phil Knight) movie before waking up and doing it all again. (Okay, I made some of that up, but not much.)
Anyway, I know I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth. It’s good our public universities are getting some much-needed cash. I just wish the money from rich people came in the form of taxes instead, which would make the whole system more equitable and sustainable. At any rate, go ducks.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• After banning reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House late last week, President Trump has launched his own TV station. It’s called “Trump TV,” because of course it is. The administration gave its new state-run media operation the tagline “The Essentials Station” and promised it would be a hub for all the president’s “biggest moments.” However, the first broadcast was a xenophobic and racist speech from more than two months ago. I mean, I guess we can all agree these speeches are blurring together at this point. On Monday, the three media outlets filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing the president’s decision to bar certain journalists from the White House violated their First Amendment rights. Multiple large (and, unlike Trump TV, legit) media outlets have also promised to abstain from taking audio and video from White House events, in a show of unity with the banned outlets. Considering how much Trump is obsessed with media attention (IMO, his whole political career was essentially a ploy to be on TV more than anyone else in the history of the world), taking the cameras and mics away is going to be a major blow to the president’s ego. Good move, journalists.
• Trump spoke at the UN General Assembly yesterday, and—surprise!—it was bad. In addition to making many false and misleading claims about a variety of topics, helpfully debunked for you at this link, the president made an extremely alarming threat to “annihilate” Iran. The quote is as follows:
“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild, and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”
Per The Guardian‘s analysis, this statement was “stunning, even for [Trump].” It shows how desperate the president is to solve the problem he started by waging war on Iran earlier this year. Despite the extremely intense and frightening comments, Trump later said US and Iranian officials “had a very good meeting” at the UN General Assembly meeting. I’m sure that’s a great comfort to the people of Iran.
• Meanwhile, what Americans are dealing with while our taxpayer dollars are being used to bomb the Middle East:
• More than 150 Catholic priests, friars, and nuns marched to the Vatican yesterday to call for an end to the genocide in Gaza. The demonstrating clergy belong to the global “Priests Against Genocide” network, which formed in August 2025 to oppose Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. The Israeli military has killed well over 70,000 people in Gaza since the October 7 attacks in Israel three years ago. The Catholic protesters drew particular attention to the children killed in Gaza over the last three years. The group marching in Tuesday’s demonstration included the bishop of Manfredonia, Italy. (A bishop is a fairly high-ranking member of the Catholic church, so his presence is notable.)
• A hurricane off Mexico’s Pacific Coast has grown into “one of the strongest storms ever” in the Pacific basin, per an expert on the topic. While Hurricane Polo is (luckily) not expected to touch down on land, it’s still wreaking havoc on Mexico’s West Coast, where residents are dealing with extreme winds, strong waves, and heavy rain. The storm’s rapid growth can likely be attributed to an intensifying El Niño weather pattern, which has already resulted in very warm water in the Pacific Ocean.
• New York City has secured a $131.5 million settlement from DoorDash for hundreds of thousands of local food delivery workers who were underpaid, not paid, or otherwise screwed over by the company. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the settlement yesterday, adding that it was the largest worker settlement in the city’s history. The settlement will return money to the pockets of workers and establish a new monitoring system the company is required to comply with. Thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for sending a message to city governments nationwide that you can and should hold big companies accountable for messing with your people. (Yes, that includes you, Portland City Council and mayor.)
• Some zoo content for you this morning, in honor of Sea Otter Awareness Week! Everyone, be aware of sea otters and how cute they are. Happy Wednesday, all.
