Sorry, Portland: the Blazers didn't win last night.
A well-aimed mango has earned a homeless Venezuelan woman the gift of a new apartment from President Nicolás Maduro. The woman, Marleny Olivio, threw a mango with her phone number and a message at Maduro as he drove by in a bus. "I’ve approved an apartment for you, Marleny (Olivio)," Maduro says. "As part of the Grand Venezuelan Housing Mission.” He also promised that he would eat the mango. Which Portland city official should I bean with a tropical fruit to get free housing?
Speaking of fruit, do you want to draw the mascot for Portland's new collegiate summertime baseball team, the Portland Pickles? Because you can! When I was talking to Great West League Vice President Bill Larsen last week, one of the questions I asked is why they didn't have an anthropomorphic pickle. He said they haven't officially selected Pickles' likeness, but that if Mercury readers want to give it a shot he and team CEO Ken Wilson will consider the submissions. So email them to me (shelby@portlandmercury.com) or post them in the comments, artists.
Last night was the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, where the rich and powerful get together to eat fancy food and hear the president tell jokes. You can watch it here.
The nightmare in Nepal, where a 7.8 magnitude struck Saturday, killing at least 2,300 people, continues. Terrified citizens are sleeping outside, afraid of aftershocks leveling even more buildings. The Oregonian reported yesterday that Portland-based Mercy Corps is organizing aid efforts to the devastated country. You can help by visiting their website at www.mercycorps.org.
At least 12 protestors were arrested in Baltimore, Maryland overnight, as clashes between people and police heat up. Protestors are angry about the April 12 death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. Protestors pelted police with eggs, rocks, glass bottles, other items (no mangoes were reported). "Officers wearing helmets and body armour, backed by policemen mounted on horses, repeatedly charged into the line of protesters in front of them, prompting scuffles as demonstrators shoved back against the police shields," the Guardian reports.
Also according to the Guardian, "Cruz and Paul battle same-sex marriage and abortion at Iowa faith gathering."
So apparently presidential hopefuls Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul had a fierce battle with Same-Sex Marriage and Abortion. It's disappointing there were no photos included of the actual fight. I'm imagining jousting.
In another epic battle, the owners of Gresham's Sweet Cakes bakery, Melissa and Aaron Klein, were ordered to pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple they denied service to, two years ago at their shop, based on the lesbian couple's sexual orientation. The Kleins had a GoFundMe page set up to accept donations to help pay their potential bigotry debt, but the fundraising site administrators shut it down. So the Kleins have started a new one at Samaritan's Purse.
Here's a weird video where a man with strangely green tinged skin does something very spoken word-y about a treadmill. I think:
