City Hall is so mad about news that Uber built a tool to stymie city regulators trying to crack down on the company's then-illegal activity in 2014. So Mayor Ted Wheeler and Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman yesterday vowed to launch an investigation into whether the company continued to use the so-called "Greyball" tool even after Uber began operating legally here.
(FYI: The Merc's Erik Henriksen wrote this in January.)
So: Health care. House Republicans unveiled their best shot at replacing the Affordable Care Act yesterday, and no one seems to agree on what it is: a meek Obamacare 2.0? Or a tax break for wealthier folks that leaves poorer, sicker people in a lurch? Here's the NYT's official rundown.
And here's Vox's Ezra Klein with some insights, including one scary point: Republicans intend to secure committee votes on this new proposal tomorrow, before anyone has a clue what it might even cost.
Oh, and then immigration. As expected Donald Trump unveiled his latest crack at discriminating against people from a set of majority Muslim countries. The new version takes Iraq out of the equation, eases up a bit on Syrian refugees, and scuttles language that seemed to favor non-Muslims' chances of making it into the US. Obviously that leaves plenty of concerns, and people are still vowing to dismantle it in court.
Taunting from Washington State. Gov. Jay Inslee, who says Trump's new order is a "retreat" and says other things the commander in chief probably won't like.
Potentially more concerning than all of that: the North Korea situation. The US today is unrolling a missile defense system in South Korea, after that nation's batshit crazy northern neighbor launched a series of four missiles Monday.
Completely worth your time: Read this story from Sunday's NYTon recent US efforts to scuttle North Korea's nuclear ambitions. That is, if you want to come away thoroughly and properly freaked out by all of this.
Not surprising, but... for what it's worth, the ACLU of Oregon will be one voice railing against a new policy that would allow disruptive people to be excluded from City Council meetings for months. After repeated outbursts in recent months, council will consider an ordinance on Wednesday that would pass that policy into law immediately.
Oh man. The O's Jeff Manning reports that a former Columbia Sportswear employee was allegedly hacking the company's email system with a fake account. The name on that fake account? Jeff Manning.
This is it for Portland's Art Tax. After being upheld in lower courts, the Oregon Supreme Court is about to be the final arbiter of the yearly $35 fee you always forget about until the last minute.
Hey, this is fun! The White House is just stealing marketing language from ExxonMobil in its press releases now. No, seriously:
White House press release (left) contains full paragraph copied verbatim from Exxon press release (right). pic.twitter.com/NlhoUvdqvd
— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) March 6, 2017
A dead sperm whale once again washes up on an Oregon beach. Everyone always wants to talk about the disastrous exploding whale of 1970. I'm more concerned about the seagulls that can't keep themselves away from this putrid mass. These seagulls are flying among us even today, tainted, with strange predilections for deeply rotten blubber. Seagulls are the real monsters, when you think about it.
Official GMN prediction: Wettest March on record.
