Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today.
Good morning, Portland! Today is a special day, because today is the first of two days that LIZZO will grace Portland (or, um, Troutdale) with her presence. And it looks like you can still score resale tickets, if you’re willing to shell out some cash.
Here are the headlines!
Beyond the Border: Amid all the racism and pointless squabbling over semantics (they’re concentration camps, okay?), it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that immigration is about real, individual people. In our new print issue out today, Alex Zielinski tells the remarkable, yet unremarkable, story of one man who was granted asylum earlier this year.
Send Him Back: “Send her back,” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar, is Trumps’ new rallying cry, and his base is loving it.
what yall gonna say when this piece of shit gets her killed? https://t.co/k8iKAqpLH5
— muna mire (@Muna_Mire) July 18, 2019
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.-Maya Angelou https://t.co/46jcXSXF0B
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 18, 2019
Cops and the Homeless Crisis: More than half of all Portland Police Bureau (PPB) arrests were of homeless people in 2017—so why hasn’t PPB developed a strategy to track those numbers and break the cycle? According to a recent Independent Police Review report, “Portland Police Bureau should identify its role in responding to the City’s homeless crisis,” but so far it hasn’t.
Wheeler in Washington:
Fact check: Mayor Ted Wheeler’s testimony to Congress on Portland climate policies https://t.co/BS4uXCOue4
— Gordon Friedman (@gordonrfriedman) July 18, 2019
The DA Race Begins: Multnomah County’s district attorney is retiring, which means it should be a pretty open race in 2020. Here’s a rundown on the three candidates already in the ring.
“I am absolutely outraged. We can do better”: For context on what Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty is calling out the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for in the video below, read up on problematic boulders here.
ODOT is spending limited resources to drop boulders that push the most vulnerable into impossible conditions. Is this how you want your transportation $ spent? You can tell @OregonDOT what you think: 1-888-275-6368 Online Comments: https://t.co/CtDtc1Q7JWhttps://t.co/YiGvKb2joU
— Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty (@JoAnnPDX) July 17, 2019
Spacey Sneaks Away: Kevin Spacey won’t be going to prison, as prosectors on his sex assault charges have reportedly decided they don’t have a strong enough case against him.
Face the Facts: FaceApp, the app that shows us what we’ll all look like in a few years if Trump gets a second term, has some nefarious motives. A tech company mining your data under the guise of a fun, cool activity—could you imagine?
