The number of protests in Harney County is ticking up by the day. Monday’s tally: The armed militants holding the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge hostage, the environmental types who showed up to protest that hostage-taking, and a separate group of citizens who are now protesting the county.
And that might not be all! The Bundy clan that’s been overseeing the armed occupation is trying to convince local ranchers to stop paying federal grazing fees in protest—the same crime for which their sainted father, Cliven Bundy, found himself in an armed standoff with the feds a couple years back.
And in case you missed it, the NYT offered up a look at the economic troubles in the rural West that have helped occasion this bizarre ordeal.
Bad news for you litigious lead-foots: Multnomah County officials are hoping to raise the price of filing a civil suit, and the penalties for various traffic and parking infractions. They need money to build a shiny new courthouse, after all.
The O had an interesting piece this weekend on the Oregon Public Utility Commission’s take on a proposal to axe most of Oregon’s coal-fired power use by 2030. The commissioners, like at least a few Republican lawmakers, don’t much care for it. They worry the proposal will raise rates, though ratepayer watchdogs and utilities have said it shouldn’t. And they point out that it might not actually reduce coal burning in other states. No love for bolstering Oregon’s use of renewables, which proponents of the deal say is a key aim. (Protip: The comments on that O story are a climate change denier’s paradise. Avoid.)
RIP, Eagles founder Glenn Frey. Sorry for all the times I disliked your songs. (Frey died of “complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.”)
Airport workers at PDX, like bunches of other people, want higher wages. They held a small demonstration Monday to say as much.
April is “Whiteness History Month” at Portland Community College. It’s probably not what you’re thinking.
I don’t know what to say about the Oregonian claiming it’s created a brand new strain of cannabis, but there you go.
Did you guys see that OSU basketball player trip a ref this weekend? He’s suspended for four or more games and being panned in the media, but there’s moxie there, too.
In more tragic sporting news, a Portland State University freshman, standout on the school’s football team, just died after complications with having his tonsils removed.
If you ever thought being released from political imprisonment in Iran after a series of highly secretive backroom talks was a simple process, allow this tick-tock of the clusterfuck behind Jason Rezaian’s release to dispel that notion.
Uh-oh: “Airbus and Uber team up to test helicopter service.” At the Sundance Film Festival, of course.
The Democratic presidential primary is looking like a longer slog than most people would have imagined a couple months ago. That’s Hillary Clinton’s people’s assessment, not mine.
The weather is exactly as you’ve surmised.
