Anonymous Police ID Numbers Cause Delay in Reporting on Use of Force
177561, 279472, 234972, 855830, 1017942, 408782, 1021542. These are seven of the 991 Portland police officers who have reported using force against community members at least once since 2017. It takes weeks to find out what their names are. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) tracks the number of use of force incidents, as well as the type of force used and demographic data about the subjects involved, and the nature of the call. That information is kept in a large dataset PPB made available on its public dashboard, which is regularly updated 45 days after the end of each quarter.…
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Spin Cycle: Go With the Flow
They say you should never shout “fire” in a crowded room, but that didn’t stop Imperial Teen drummer Lynn Truell from leaping up and doing just that. It happened mid-song, during the legendary San Francisco punk-pop crew’s first Portland show in ages, which I attended at Swan Dive, October 18. Though quickly determined to be a hasty alert (a scare due to an overachieving fog machine), the band leveraged the levity of the moment as a bit of an icebreaker. All this unfolded on only the second song of their set, promoting their fantastic new album, All Over You. The…
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The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Portland This Weekend: Oct 23–25, 2026
As per ush, we’re delivering the lowdown on cheap and easy things to do this weekend, with options from catrinas competition and parade Catrinas en la Calle to Music Craft NW and from the Oregon Mycological Society’s Fall Mushroom Show to opening weekend of the highly anticipated new Laika film Wildwood. FRIDAY FILM Opening Night QDoc Film Festival: JaripeoQDoc takes over Cinema 21 this weekend, celebrating 20 years of uplifting queer stories and filmmaking. The festival opens with Jaripeo, a visually stunning film uncovering stories of countercultural queerness at Michoacán’s traditional, machismo-fueled Christmas-time rodeo. The evening will also feature a…
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Good Morning News: Brim-Edwards Loses Union Endorsement, White Supremacist Losers’ West Linn Literature, France Pays Cops in Lieu of Addressing High Costs
If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good morning, Portland! It’s a beautiful Friday, sunny and in the 60s. Get ready for some cloudy and rainy weather this weekend and into next week. Here’s hoping you have a great weekend, and if it isn’t your weekend, here’s hoping the nine-to-fivers tip well and act like they’ve been to a coffee shop before. Let’s get to the news. 📰 IN LOCAL NEWS:…
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Multnomah County Employee Union Rescinds Julia Brim-Edwards Endorsement
A local union is distancing itself from Multnomah County chair candidate Julia Brim-Edwards after it previously voted to endorse her. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 88 overwhelmingly voted to rescind its previous endorsement during an hours-long meeting Wednesday, October 21. That union represents over 4,000 county employees. The move comes less than two weeks before the November 3 election, in which Brim-Edwards is facing off against Shannon Singleton and Sharon Meieran in the county’s first ranked choice election. Emilie Azorr, a Local 88 member who spoke to the Mercury in her personal capacity, said the…
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Trail Blazers Crush Phoenix Suns in First Game of the Season
Portland is back in the warm embrace of Damian Lillard, and it feels like everything’s going to be okay. At least, it definitely felt that way during the Trail Blazers’ season opener on Wednesday night, where Lillard helped Portland beat the Phoenix Suns by a ridiculous margin. The Suns didn’t score a point until about six minutes into the game, at which time they were already down by more than 20. The final score was 124-83. Lillard, 36, scored 25 of them, the most of any player on the court. For fans, Lillard’s presence on the court Wednesday was three…
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Ticket Alert: Iron Maiden, Papa Roach, and More Portland Events Going On Sale This Week
Are you ready to rock?! Legendary heavy metal group Iron Maiden comes through on their Run For Your Lives tour next spring. Papa Roach takes their mix of hard rock and nu metal on the road with Ice Nine Kills and Ninth Key. Plus, actor, comedian, and Adult Swim star Eric Andre brings his new Subtle stand-up show to Portland. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events. Tickets go on sale at 10 am unless otherwise noted. ON SALE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 MUSIC Alex SampsonMission Theater (Apr 15, 2027)On sale at 8 am Caroline Rose: Uncle…
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How Did So Much Portland History End Up in The Elk?
The Thompson Elk is one of the more iconic avatars for our fair city. Commissioned by former mayor David S. Thompson and designed by sculptor Roland Hinton Perry, the majestic statue sits somewhat awkwardly in the middle of Southeast Main Street and has been the source of pride and controversy for over a century. When it was unveiled in 1900, the local Elks Club did not participate in the dedication, apparently deeming it “a monstrosity of art” and people have constantly griped about its placement directly in the path of downtown traffic. In 2020, the fountain became a flashpoint. During…
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Trans Femme Finds Joy in Mess
Early on in Trans Femme, a character says something that a staggering number of trans women—and trans people in general—will likely relate to far too well: “Society can’t stand to be around trans women, so we can’t either.” To be trans is to be constantly at war with yourself. Even though many find solace in knowing that our trans sisters are part of that same battle, some can’t help but see things we hate about ourselves reflected in others. The newest production from prolific Portland playwright Mikki Gillette and her longtime collaborator director Asae Dean, Trans Femme invites its audience…
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FREE TICKETS THURSDAY: Win Tix to Greg Freeman, The Tallest Man on Earth, Buena Vista Orchestra, and MORE!
Who’s ready to have some fun? Well, the Mercury is here to help with FREE TICKETS to see some of Portland’s best concerts and events; our way of saying thanks to our great readers and spread the word about some fantastic upcoming performances! (Psst… if you want to say thanks to the Mercury, please consider making a small monthly contribution to keep us alive and kickin’!) And oh boy, do we have some fun events coming at ya this week! CHECK IT OUT! (Note: This contest is active from October 22 through October 26). You can find our contest rules here. Featuring key players from the world-renowned Buena…
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POP QUIZ PDX: Return to RIP CITY! 🏀
OH HELLO, BRAINY BUTT! It’s time to put that brainy-brain to the test with this edition of POP QUIZ PDX—our local, sassy-ass trivia quiz. And this week we’ll see how much YOU know about all things Blazers related—particularly about the latest Moda Center drama and owner Tom Dundon’s penchant for cargo shorts and athleisure wear. (Seriously dude, you’re a billionaire. Buy a decent pair of trousers. 🙄) But first, let’s check in on your top choices for last week’s always fascinating SUBJECTIVE QUESTION! And… well, that’s odd… it seems a vast majority of you believe that Donald Trump is a serial…
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Good Morning, News: Silver Rail Elementary Teacher Corrects Record, MAX Yellow Line Scuttles Shuttles, and Spielman Bagels on Division to Become Ricky’s
If you appreciate the Mercury’s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland! The days are getting shorter… imagine if you looked at your window right now and saw a face peering through! Ah! That would be so scary. Today’s weather is going to be the same as it was yesterday, but the sun will set two minutes earlier! 🪦 Ah! Now for some other seasonally depressed news! IN LOCAL NEWS:• Ongoing investigations into…
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Of War, Whimsy, and Wildwood
I did it too. Flipping through a crisp hardcover copy of Colin Meloy’s Wildwood in 2011, I fell for Carson Ellis’ wondrous illustrations, and I bought that book for a five-year-old. The boy’s mother gracefully took it from me and put it on a shelf for a few years. With Laika’s adaptation of the novel about to hit movie theaters on October 23, it seems inevitable that others will also misunderstand Wildwood as a kids’ story, even if it does carry a PG-13 rating. Buzz building around the beloved Portland-placed fantasy—made by a Portland-suburb stop-motion animation studio—has been unabashedly whimsical and…
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Mercury Music Picks: Dinosaur Jr., Riot Grrrl Rockers Team Dresch and Heavens to Betsy, and the Wistful Whirr of Weatherday
Dear Mercury music lovers, I’m always pleasantly surprised by the lineup of artists rolling through our fine city, but this week’s picks are pretty peak, I won’t lie. We’ve got Dinosaur Jr. and Stef Chura on the same Rev Hall bill, the dreamy sounds of Black Belt Eagle Scout, Soft Cult, Julia Jacklin, Frankie Cosmos, and She’s Green all in one week, and the proverbial cherry on this sonic sundae—to me, at least—is that of Sweden’s lo-fi electronic-emo outfit Weatherday, soon to be gracing Portland with their presence at Polaris Hall. And sure, that seasonal sleepy time is just around…
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All the Confessions and Cowboys at QDoc 2026
There are a million billion ways to be queer, and every year QDoc reminds us of this with a weekend of excellently curated documentary films about queer icons, histories, and drama! From October 23-25, the festival’s 18th year brings Megan Rapinoe (!), Carole Pope, and plenty of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Cinema 21. The only US fest devoted exclusively to queer documentaries, Portland’s QDoc Film Festival was originally founded by David Weissman and his partner, Russ Gage—who were both alumni of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ film festival Frameline. After running QDoc for a decade, the couple handed it over to…
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