A memorial to Elifritz outside the Cityteam shelter where he was killed. Credit: Alex Zielinski

Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today.

A memorial to Elifritz outside the Cityteam shelter where he was killed.
A memorial to Elifritz outside the Cityteam shelter where he was killed. Alex Zielinski

Good morning, Portland.

I spend most of my Wednesday mornings in Portland’s charming city council chambers. Some days are far more entertaining than others. Here’s an example of what that looks like:

And now, for news that doesn’t come with a theme song:

Good Guys With a Gun? A grand jury has cleared all of the police officers involved in the fatal April 7 shooting of John Elifritz. Apparently, acting as a firing squad when you see a man holding a knife (and allegedly stabbing himself with it) is accepted police protocol.

PAC It Up: We’re now less than a week away from Oregon’s primary election (vote!). Unsurprisingly, that means more and more dollars are being dumped into campaign coffers as candidates try to drown the US Postal Service in flashy mailers. In the race for State Senate District 24—east Portland—a lot of that money is coming from special interest groups.

Take Back the Net: What if Portlanders LIKE YOU owned the internet, instead of greedy, dumb corporations? Our own Erik Henriksen answers this question in this week’s deep-dive feature on the future of municipal broadband.

Semi-Related! More than a dozen Democrat senators made a call to reinstate net neutrality yesterday. But with a GOP majority in Congress and Trump in the White House, it’s unclear if it’ll get anywhere.

Quakin’: Portland’s Franklin High School has voted to ditch its Quaker mascot, because religion, and people have feelings about it.

Budget Bonanza! Tonight, Portland city commissioners will hold their final public hearing on a pending city budget before it goes to a council vote next week. Big issues people have raised complaints with: Too many cops, too little mental health care, unfair taxes, etc. This will get you up to speed.

Cop Watch: If you don’t have strong feelings about the city budget, maybe you have strong feelings about police transparency? Tonight, the city will host a information session on joining the Portland Committee on Community-engaged Policing (PCCEP), the group of volunteers responsible for assessing if Portland cops are sticking to a federally-mandated promise—that they’ll stop using unnecessary violence against people with mental illnesses.

Delusion of the Day: After embarrassing the entire world by backing out of the Iran nuclear deal, President Trump says “everyone thinks” he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Okay.

That Pesky Torturing Problem: Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, faced the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday in her confirmation hearing. Known for overseeing post-September 11 torture sites within the CIA, Haspel claimed that her days of torture are behind her. Sen. John McCain didn’t buy it.

Here’s a terrifying video to end this post on: The future is going to be awful, guys.

Alex Zielinski is a former News Editor for the Portland Mercury. She's here to tell stories about economic inequities, cops, civil rights, and weird city politics that you should probably be paying attention...