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Good morning, Portland! This week promises some classically mercurial February weather: Rain, sunshine, fog, and wind bundled up in a pretty bow. Today begins with a high of 48 degrees. Now, for the news:
– Mayor Ted Wheeler made an unusually rushed decision to ban homeless camping along busy roads Friday, calling a press conference to unveil the news. For homeless advocates, the decision sounds like a poorly-disguised attempt to penalize unhouseds Portlanders without addressing the real problem: That people driving cars keep killing people.
– Speaking of vehicular manslaughter, the Mercury’s Isabella Garcia looks back at the skyrocketing number of deaths caused by cars in 2021 and talks to transportation advocates about how the city could prevent a similar trend in 2022.
– Get caught up:
Two great upcoming must-see shows, amazing new music to put in your ears, and a terrific event to look forward to—it’s all in this edition of @JenniferKayMo‘s HEAR IN PORTLAND!https://t.co/lUZ4rpWNT6
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) February 4, 2022
– Portland’s Fire Bureau has decided to shelve a ballot measure that would have funded two deteriorating properties due to the poor results of a voter poll. This is bad news for the city and for firefighters who must keep working in substandard conditions—including no running water at one location (?!). Polls, man.
– Oregon union membership rose by 43,000 to about 318,000 workers statewide last year, marking the highest number of union members in state history, according to the Bureau of Labor and Industry (this also makes Oregon the fourth most unionized state in the country). Here’s the Oregonians’ look back at Oregon’s union wins in the past year.
– A caravan of protesters drove through Minneapolis Sunday night, demanding justice for the killing of Amir Locke, the 22-year old Black man killed by Minneapolis police last week during an unrelated no-knock search warrant. The caravan landed outside the home of Minneapolis’ interim police chief, where they called for her resignation.
– The Winter Olympics are allegedly taking place right now:
China’s opening ceremony, airing tonight on NBC: no celebs! Lotta kids! Big ole screen! Putin! And a Uighur torch lighter for good measure. https://t.co/6SBMd6TGQA
— Meredith Haggerty (@manymanywords) February 4, 2022
– The CEO of Delta Air Lines has asked the US Department of Justice to set up a nationwide no-fly list for people who misbehave on planes. Unsurprisingly, civil rights advocates don’t feel great about this. “Our experience with government watch lists and ban lists has not been a good one,” an ACLU representative tells NPR. (As a reminder: This request comes from the same guy who asked the feds to speed up the required COVID-19 quarantine period to get his employees back to work quicker.)
– The Māori party of New Zealand is pulling a Harry and Meghan and calling for a “divorce” with the British royal family. They certainly have good reason to: In the original treaty that made New Zealand a country, the crown promised to protect the Māori’s land rights. Over one hundred years later, ninety percent of the Māori land has been stolen by the crown and other private land grabs. Drop those divorce papers off at Buckingham Palace, ASAP.
– The latest in the Joe Rogan Discourse:
comedians will be like “it’s our job to say things that make people uncomfortable” and then can’t even tell their racist friend to shut the fuck up
— i can be your long lost pal (@PallaviGunalan) February 6, 2022
