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Good Morning, Portland! How did you like yesterday’s high of 87 degrees? Well, that bullshit is over. Portland might tip up into the mid 70s today, but come Saturday and Sunday, we’re talking 60s and rain, as Christopher Nolan intended! Actually—Midwesterners take note—Saturday’s forecast suggests a few thunderstorms on the horizon! Kaboom! How did we get so lucky? It’s climate change! Let’s get some news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Some of this news blast was written behind a folding table at the Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival at Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), which kicked off Wednesday night. The Mercury is a sponsor of the fest, and we were handing out papers… before the articles were even online! The Mercury‘s Fall Arts Issue hits the web this morning. If you want to see a play this fall, it’s in there! If you want to know why Anthony Hudson retired his drag clown persona, it’s in there! If you want to read about the ding dang miniatures conveying Portland in Laika’s soon-to-be-released Wildwood, that’s in there!
• As the paper’s arts & culture editor, I’ve spent years arguing that art is necessary in our lives, so when an example that occurred for me during a particularly tragic and horrible time, I decided to pony up and write about it. The intro is a little personal and sad, so we separated it out—engage with it at your peril. For pure ‘what the heck is in here, anyway’ enjoyment, check the full list of stories!
• Ding-a-ling-a-ling! Election day is Tuesday, November 3, in less than two months! This is a midterm election year, but if you’re reading this in Portland then some of the most important voting you’ll do this fall will be in local races. And holy hikes are there a lot of candidates running. City Council District 3 alone has 20! So the Mercury‘s Election Strike Force is getting going on the getting-to-know-you portion of coverage with this Meet the Candidates of District 3 rundown. Other district candidate rundowns to follow shortly! Not your district? Don’t miss your shot at forming opinions about candidates in your friends’ district as well. It’s 9 am do you know what district your situationship lives in?
•On Wednesday, Portland City Council voted to begin a more formal planning process, aimed at securing state funding to assist the city and Portland State University in building a 3,000-seat venue near the college. The Oregonian‘s Lizzy Acker points out that the in-favor vote suggests that the city could pony up substantial sums for the Performing Arts + Culture Center project. However, there’s no plan yet ventured on where that money could come from! And if the venue is eventually built, it may end up being the third new venue in Portland of that size. Similarly-sized projects that have already broken ground are Live Nation’s Steelhead venue and the Monqui and AEG team-up show space in the Lloyd Center. There’s also some folks who want to revamp the Keller Auditorium. Wednesday’s vote to say “yes, and” passed 8-4.
• Readers may recall the great escape of former Clackamas County Commissioner Melissa Fireside. In early 2025, just two months into office, Fireside faced indictments for multiple instances of fraud, which seemed to spiral out and reveal a even greater web of financial abuse schemes. In October 2025, the Oregon Department of Justice announced Fireside’s flight to Mexico and then to Amsterdam with her son. Now federal charges have finally arrived, though Fireside is still nowhere to be found.
•There’s nothing Portlanders like more than homemade tortillas, and on September 15, a new tortilleria in Sellwood opens its doors to the masses with warm, pillowy needs. Hecho de Mano Tortilleria makes vegan, preservative-free tortillas, and right now that’s all they make! Down the line, Olivas and Orona plan on adding hot, ready to eat food, but for now the tortillas are the main draw and prospects are heating up!
• This weekend, the long prophesied Portland metro I-5 construction project begins to ruin lives and take names. Remember that it’s expected to last for five weeks! It turns out that there’s also going to be a crap ton of construction happening in Washington State around Seattle, so don’t think you can just escape to the north! I am envious of this Washington State Department of Transportation social media short about the Seattle-area project (and the fact that theirs only lasts for two days).
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Bright and early Thursday morning, the US Supreme Court ordered Missouri to use its current congressional district maps, instead of the new ones drawn up by the state’s Republican lawmakers—currently in power and trying to keep it that way! As we approach the midterms singularity expect more foolishness to fool.
• Speaking of the singularity:
• This week Britain, France, and Canada all announced that they will stop trading with Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Britain’s announcement even accused some West Bank settlers of were engaging in the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, according to the New York Times.
• The United States keeps attacking boats, and according to NYT they’re now going after large fishing vessels off the coast of Ecuador. The Trump administration claims that these fishing ships provide fuel to smaller vessels carrying drugs. On Tuesday, the US military posted a video of military troops boarding such a boat, followed by the boat exploding. Total, lethal US boat strikes have killed 220 people this year. (We are the baddies.)
• Today in throw another Amazon workplace rights lawsuit on the pile:
• Now get out into Thursday and just be you, dammit.
