FREE TICKETS THURSDAY: Win Tix to Wild Nothing, ZooBrew, St. Lucia, 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! Known for synth-pop tastefulness and sonic maximalism, Wild Nothing visits Portland to perform their debut album, Gemini, in its entirety! Get your tickets now…
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POP QUIZ PDX: Ghost Taxis, Animatronic Horrors, and Where the Hell Is My (Robot) Husband?
HEY THERE, SEXY BRAIN! It’s time to put your 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 driverless taxicabs, animatronic pizza rats, and… waaaait a second… WHERE THE HELL IS MY ROBOT HUSBAND?!? 🤖 And by the way, how did you do on our last quiz? Holy crap, you are so smart! And in our “subjective question,” I LOVED your choice of the tattoo you would be forced to get etched on a prominent part of your body (by order of the federal government). Pssst!…
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Good Morning, News: Oregon’s Mountain-Fed Streams Hunger for Your Life, New Fees for Portland Streets and Sauvie Island
If you appreciate the Mercury‘s interesting and useful news & culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contributionto support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can also subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland! It’s supposed to be 80 degrees today. 1) THAT IS UPSETTING. 2) GO TO THE RIVER. 3) DON’T actually go INTO the river; just stand around it, and talk with your friends. This is your annual reminder that Portland’s gracious mountain-fed streams are cold as heck. Don’t race your friends to the other shore. We especially insist you refrain from this if you’ve been drinking.…
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Portland City Council Officially Adopts Transportation Utility Fee
The Portland City Council voted Wednesday to implement a fee that will offer a significant new source of funding for the city’s beleaguered transportation bureau. The transportation utility fee will be officially implemented starting in January 2027, coming in the form of an additional charge tacked onto Portlanders’ water and sewer bills. The new program is expected to generate roughly $46 million annually, which will help pay for services including pavement and sidewalk maintenance and repair, traffic signal maintenance, and transportation safety programs. The City Council’s 9-3 affirmative vote didn’t come as a surprise, as most councilors have stated their…
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Second Run Portland: Reality Be Damned
May Day carries an ancient connection to Floralia, a Roman festival that honored the blossom goddess Flora in early May. It’s only fitting that local cinemas would screen dreamy, surreal films this month, yeah? Two screening series at Clinton Street Theater and Tomorrow Theater wander toward the uncanny, offering opportunities to drift through the otherworlds of David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and other auteurs. Plus, 3 Women is the dusty, daydreamy Altman entry you might not have seen yet, and did you know Björk starred in a witch fantasy before she was famous-famous? Let’s go to the pictures! 3 Women For…
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Home Forward CEO Resigns Amid Scrutiny Over Travel
The CEO of Multnomah County’s housing authority, Home Forward, is resigning effective May 1. Home Forward announced Ivory Matthews’ departure via a press release Wednesday morning. Matthews’ resignation comes amid questions about travel she made on the public’s dime, first reported by Willamette Week earlier this month. Home Forward offers program vouchers and rent assistance for over 16,000 households each year, in addition to other affordable housing support for Multnomah County residents. It is a public corporation, run by a volunteer board of commissioners. The board’s chair, Matthew Gebhardt, accepted Matthews’ resignation, according to Home Forward. “I want to sincerely…
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SpongeBob Versus the Apocalypse
Portland Playhouse is going somewhere it’s never been: to a pineapple under the sea via The SpongeBob Musical. The Playhouse has put on plenty of musicals before, but according to the director Brian Weaver, “we’ve never done anything as shamelessly ridiculous as this.” Just because it’s ridiculous doesn’t mean that The SpongeBob Musical lacks meaning. The story kicks off as an undersea volcano begins to rumble and threatens to annihilate SpongeBob’s home of Bikini Bottom. The undersea town’s inhabitants are suddenly staring doom in the face. Each takes a different approach to imminent annihilation. “Everyone reacts in a very specific…
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Good Morning, News: Blazers Get Destroyed in Playoffs, Comey Gets Indicted (Again), and Local Foie Gras Ban Back on the Menu
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 going to be balmy and sunny out today, with a forecasted high of about 70 degrees. This weekend is set to be positively HOT, which I dislike, but you may enjoy. Stay out of the rivers, they’re still cold. Anyway, let’s get to the news. IN LOCAL NEWS: • It’s another tough budget year at the city of Portland, and leaders have to…
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Mayor Wilson’s Economic Development Budget Is a Balancing Act of Cuts and Cash Infusion
“Tough choices” is public officials’ shorthand for this year’s budget cycle. In Portland’s Community and Economic Development service area, the mayor and his administrators have turned to cutting social programs and staff to balance a proposed $1.24 billion budget for the service area’s bureaus. This service area—which could see a 7 percent budget cut this year—focuses on economic and urban development via housing through Prosper Portland, Portland Permitting and Development (PP&D), and the Portland Housing Bureau (PHB); climate through the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) and Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF); arts and culture, the Spectator Venues program, and…
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Food News: Portland Food Cart Owner Detained by ICE
This week, we have devastating food news to report: a local food cart owner was detained by ICE last week and is being held in Tacoma’s ICE facility. The cart will close permanently, and the owner is expected to be deported to Laos. It feels silly to talk about restaurant openings and closings in the midst of a mass deportation crisis that’s tearing apart families and communities. Remember to continue to do what you can to keep our community members safe, and resist in whatever way you can. Khao Niew Lao food cart owner detained Thavatsay Phimmoungkhoun AKA “Nong,” the…
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Frederick Wiseman’s Close-Up
“There are not many filmmakers for whom you could create a six-day, round-the-clock marathon,” said Brendan Nagle, who’s one-half of the avant-garde screening duo Spectrum Between. “The sheer volume of Frederick Wiseman’s body of work really sets him apart.” An upcoming marathon from April 29 to May 4 at Belmont’s Sunnyside Community Center will screen 44 films from the late documentarian’s expansive filmography, demonstrating just how prolific Wiseman was. It’s not only indicative of his dedication to the medium, but his impact. Collaboratively organized by Nagle and Shannon Neale’s Spectrum Between, the nonprofit NW Documentary, and the Nyback Archive, the…
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Untold: Jail Blazers Dunks on Portland
The late ’90s and early 2000s were a hard time to be a Trail Blazers fan. While the team was borderline incredible and might even have won a championship—had it not been for those pesky LA Lakers—it was also an era when the team and Portland didn’t seem to like each other very much. At best, fans in the Rose City tolerated the players—led by Damon Stoudamire, Bonzi Wells, and Rasheed Wallace—as they carried on a combative relationship with one another, spectators, and referees. A few had run-ins with police. Netflix’s Untold: Jail Blazers tells the story of this era,…
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Where to Play Pickleball in Portland
The popularity of pickleball has skyrocketed over the last few years, proving the sport’s staying power for all ages and skill levels. It doesn’t require a crushing serve like tennis or Marty Supreme-level focus like ping-pong—with an easy point of entry, the world is cottoning on to this fun pastime. Tons of leagues have popped up around Portland, there are pickleball social clubs and LGBTQ nights, and the World Pickleball Tour even made a stop here last August. The Portland metro area is home to a growing number of climate-controlled indoor venues, and outdoor courts are scattered in parks across the…
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SAVAGE LOVE: Hurdles
Am I wrong to think a relationship isn’t realistic for me? I think I’ve been sold an idea of love that doesn’t apply to my life, and I want to know if I’m wrong. I am straight and 34-year-old male. I have a rare progressive disability. I’m blind, I have severe hearing loss (I can’t follow speech with background noise), I use a wheelchair, and I have almost no motor control. I need full-time care, so I’m always with a caregiver. My voice is weak and hard for strangers to understand. Dating in the real world basically doesn’t exist for me.…
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Good Morning, News: No More Tear Gas Restrictions, Blazers Need a Miracle, and Remembering The Ronettes’ Nedra Talley Ross
If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support! Good morning, Portland! We can expect the clouds to stick around today with morning showers and a high of 61 degrees. Be prepared for…
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