Sort of an inauspicious beginning for Portland’s latest mayoral contender. Hours after Sarah Iannarone formally announced her candidacy—vowing to rake in big bucks and bring Portlanders together—the Oregonian got ahold of a tax lien against the small business owner. She apparently didn’t fully pay her personal income taxes for four years running. Iannarone says it was an accounting error that she’s fixed.
Yep, the Harney County standoff is STILL a thing, and we’re almost three weeks in. But hey! At least militant ringleader Ammon Bundy is finally on the phone with federal agents—albeit to repeat the same points he’s offered, ad nauseam, since January 2.
News from the flailing fight against climate change: A bill to rid most of Oregon of coal-fired power isn’t the only ambitious legislation that’ll be debated in Salem next month. There’s another bill that would put a price on carbon emissions by power plants, paper mills, and other big emitters. Expect the same outcry about rising utility bills for both proposals, then recall that we’re frying the planet.
Meanwhile, a federal appeals panel has told 27 states appealing President Obama’s signature effort to limit carbon emissions to scram. They will—probably right up to the Supreme Court.
State Treasurer Ted Wheeler is touting a pledge that he won’t take any contributions from independent committees in his bid for mayor, and he’d like his opponents to do the same. Wheeler doesn’t need to take money from independent committees—he’s reaping huge contributions from moneyed individuals. His central opponent, Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey, has capped campaign donations to $250, and says he sees no need to take the pledge.
The real estate analysts drooling over Portland’s red hot housing market have some good news—not for you, for them. Housing prices are only going to get more ridiculous as the weather warms up.
Remember that weird 2012 incident where cops were looking for a short Hispanic man in his 30s, so decided to arrest a middle aged black woman? A federal jury has ruled they didn’t violate that woman’s rights, after a former jury was deadlocked on that question.
Speaking of fun police things, read the creepy details of the former Portland cop who resigned last year, after it was revealed he’d been repeatedly visiting/pestering/paying $40 to a woman he met on the job. She told investigators the whole thing weirded her out.
Did you fly from PDX to LA on June 20, 2014? There’s a chance your pilot had been drinking.
A weird movie theater shooting in Renton, Wash., last night. Only one victim, but she doesn’t appear to have known her shooter. They were watching that Benghazi movie.
You’ve heard, I assume, of the travesty playing out in Flint, Michigan. My home state’s terrible governor continues alternately saying the blame is his for allowing children (and adults) to drink lead, and then shunting responsibility elsewhere. And heads are rolling at the EPA (well, a head).
Blizzard’s on its way to the East Coast. You’ve merely got the rain to contend with this weekend.
Karaoke Friday’s lived out its useful life—we’re all thinking it. Besides, we did what we came for. One for the road.
Nothing like one news organization promoting the story of another’s poorly sourced article. Those real estate people want to spread that message far and wide to help make them even richer.