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Good Morning, Portland! The weather coming for us is poised to impart a sense of stability that many of us have not experienced since childhood—or for those of us who didn’t have stable childhoods… perhaps since Friends was on the air. We’re looking at seven days of projected mild 70-degree highs and sweet-tempered evenings. Now let’s hit the news!
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Like many school districts throughout Oregon, Portland Public Schools is staring down a major budget deficit. The district has already shortened this year’s school calendar to save money, and now it’s considering school closures to make ends meet against a projected $50 million budget shortfall. So what are state legislators going to do about it? NOTHING. State legislators declined to tap into emergency education funding. Governor Tina Kotek said any increased funding needs to come with accountability measures. Read the whole story by Abe Asher.
• This week several city councilors lambasted those who sought to constrain them through a nondisclosure agreement—just for the honor of joining discussions on how public funds might help pay for a Moda Center renovation. A recent poll from progressive political action group Portland For All may provide a reflection of voter interest; titled “We demand a better Moda Center deal for Portland,” it gathered 1,300 signatures in it’s first two hours, and now sits at over 2,600.
• Is your inbox full of Partiful invites about Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation from her Trump-appointed position as US labor secretary, but you’re still turned around on the whistleblower allegations? The Oregonian’s Aimee Green briefly breaks down the politician’s contentious “climb” and “slide” from volunteer mayor of Happy Valley to US Representative, losing reelection to Trump appointee to how that all fell apart.
• I am contractually obligated to remind you it’s Pizza Week, which means you can find $4 slices and $25 pies all over Portland. This ain’t a scavenger hunt, tho; they’re available at participating locations and we’ve got maps, lists, apps, and more to get you in the door and out with a slice in hand.
• In a weird ouroboros, a federal agency was trying to find out who had been illegally killing protected wolves and it turned out to be a different federal agency:
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• On Tuesday, President Trump announced he was indefinitely extending a ceasefire between the US and Iran. But Iran was like “nah” and fired on three ships Wednesday (seizing two of them) in the Strait of Hormuz. So now President has threatened to put mines in the pivotal trade waterway.
• Today in is our government run by serious people (?) Senate Republicans pushed through a budget plan to add $70 billion to DHS’ immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) in an overnight session of what the New York Times describes as a “marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama.” Democrats didn’t have the numbers to stop the vote, but “tried and failed to add… changes aimed at addressing cost-of-living issues, seizing the opportunity to hammer Republicans as out of touch with and unwilling to act on the concerns of everyday Americans.” The budget heads over to the House, where Republicans are working to circumvent the filibuster to pass it.
• The Trump administration cut loose Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on Wednesday, and believe me, I hear you. Who? It’s the gold ships guy. What gold ships guy? While there are many businessmen who stand beside President Trump to promise things that won’t come to fruition, there’s only one who promised the president a “Golden Fleet” of a whole new class of battleships bearing the Trump name. Sources tell the New York Times that Phelan often fought with senior Pentagon leaders. And his ships were hideously expensive to PLAN to maybe even THINK about building.
• Sending you into the week with this rose:
