In case you missed it, Mayor Charlie Hales has unveiled plans to spend about $1 million throwing social services at the city's thorniest homeless camps. Well, 50 of them at least. The city is also planning two daytime storage areas for homeless people, something that's been long discussed at City Hall.
The furor over Uber isn't dead—not even close. Taxi drivers, ride-hailing service contractors, and lobbyists packed out Portland City Council chambers yesterday to debate final recommendations from a task force looking at Portland's rules for taxis and transportation network companies. We've known for a while that the 120-day pilot project that ushered in the Uber/Lyft era would be extended. What remains to be seen is how council will tweak regulations going forward.
The O got the scoop that Mayor Charlie Hales had asked State Treasurer Ted Wheeler to coffee yesterday. Wheeler's currently the most likely and formidable challenger Hales might face in his bid for re-election. The mayor confirmed to the Mercury he wanted to meet with Wheeler about next year's race, and said he didn't learn whether the treasurer plans on throwing his hat in. "We talked about all kinds of things including politics," said Hales. "It was a very friendly conversation."
There will be no Trader Joe's at the corner of Alberta and MLK. But a Natural Grocer's looking very likely, after the Portland Development Commission gave the okay to give funding to the project on Wednesday. It's the second major announcement of city-funded development on MLK this week. Check out Hall Monitor to learn about the other: a mixed-use affordable housing complex that will target people who've been displaced from the neighborhood.
Here's an informative piece about the push for pot-sensitive breathalyzers. They're years off, the O reports, but the debate over, and science of, pot-affected driving are interesting.
Huh. Child porn investigators raided creepy Gene Simmons' crib, but they INSIST no one there's a suspect in a child porn-related crime. I repeat: Huh.
Some pig. A pig in Colorado flew out of a trailer on the highway, traveling approximately 65 mph, and was pretty much fine.
It's going down at the border between North and South Korea, y'all. Last night North Korea told South Korea to stop blaring propaganda, South Korea said "no can do," and shooting started. The Telegraph has a sort of confusing, live blog running.
The world now has its first openly gay Major League Baseball-affiliated player (he's actually in the minors). Read about him.
Will Joe Biden's role in ushering in this country's mass incarceration era prove problematic if he tries to run for president? The NYT thinks so.
It'll be in the 90s all weekend, y'all. I'll be on Mount Hood, which you'd think would be cooler, but is probably just on fire by now.
Karaoke Friday! It just so happens the Mercury crew swung by Chopsticks last night to bless the mic at that old dame one last time. We dusted off some cuts, too! Today, you'll be singing the very chestnut that sales rep Campy Draper crushed mere hours ago.
