Much to get to on this busy Friday, Portland.
First, Doug reports that the chair one of Portland's central police accountability groups has had a hard time getting a meeting with Mayor Ted Wheeler. That's surprising, since the mayor's been the police commissioner for months. After the Mercury asked about Citizen Review Committee chair Kristin Malone's gripes yesterday, a meeting was scheduled.
One thing Wheeler's office has been focused on: Creating a new policy it hopes will tamp down on the frequent outbursts at Portland City Council meetings. Under a proposal that could go into effect next week, city officials would be able to exclude people who repeatedly disrupt meetings for up to 60 days.
Don't buy the line that immigration agents under Trump are only targeting undocumented immigrants with a criminal history. They swooped in on a Sandy man without one last month, OPB reports.
Sounds about right: According to a report from the Department of Homeland Security, the property damage inflicted in Portland's most chaotic post-election protest amounted to "domestic terrorist violence."
In Salem, lawmakers held their first public hearing on a proposal to allow rent control and penalize no-cause evictions yesterday. It was, like Portland's own hearings on these issues, long and filled with vigorous disagreement.
"It's a death corridor for too many of our residents." That's Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman yesterday, at a hearing in which City Council slapped a 30 mph "emergency" speed limit on SE Division, east of 82nd. Since two men were run down in the same night last year—just the latest tragedies in the road's ugly history—the city has made a series of stepped up pledges to making things safer. Saltzman told me he wouldn't rule out reducing traffic lanes on the road. That would undoubtedly curb speeds, but I bet whoever answers phones at Saltzman's office wouldn't care for it much.
The Sweet Cakes by Melissa folks are back, this time arguing before the Oregon Court of Appeals that they should be able to refuse service to same-sex couples. The outcome of the case—be it at this level or, presumably, before the Oregon Supreme Court—could have important repercussions for the state's anti-discrimination law.
No surprise, but for what it's worth: A new Portland State University study finds the city's homeless residents don't have enough access to laundry and shower facilities.
Interesting from the Tribune: Last year, the city issued nearly as many building permits for tiny accessory dwelling units as it did for single-family homes.
Not a great look: A door just straight-up fell off of a MAX train yesterday.
You already know this, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he'd recuse himself from ongoing investigations over Russia's role in the 2016 election, after it turned out that, when he said under oath he'd had no contacts with the Russian government, he'd actually had contacts with the Russian government.
Lots of profiles out there about the Russian ambassador who seems to be getting everyone into trouble. Here's one.
It won't shock you to learn that Stephen Bannon desperately wants the US to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate accord, but it might surprise you that former Exxon CEO and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson disagrees, according to the NYT.
Shut up, forecast.
