IN IOWA CAUCUS NEWS: At least Trump didn't win, is the main takeaway for many from a Republican race that turned out well different than the polls predicted. Ted Cruz wins the first electoral contest of the election season, helped along by a Bible-thumping message. And even though he came in third, there's some buzz around Marco Rubio, who'll likely be on the business end of a fire hose spewing cash from establishment Republicans.

MEANWHILE...


It looks like a "virtual tie" on the Democratic side of things—a result that's a shock to Hillary Clinton, even has her camp enthusiastically claims victory. The razor thin outcome could spell doom for Clinton as attention shifts to New Hampshire, where Bernie Sanders likely has some advantage because he's from Vermont. The next states up aren't nearly as favorable to Sanders, though.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley did the sensible thing and bailed from the race after Iowans confirmed what everyone knew: It wasn't happening. So did former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

IN HARNEY COUNTY OCCUPATION NEWS: Still lots of drama to the southeast. While a group defendants fend off felony charges in Portland, protestors took to the streets in Burns yesterday, arguing for hours about whether or not the federal government is made up of unconstitutional human monsters.

One of the people arrested in the standoff, Utahan and sole female defendant Shawna Cox, is now offering her own rendition of the chain of events that led state police to kill militant LaVoy Finicum. It's...certainly interesting—replete with details of a federal mole and rampant gunfire.

IN LOCAL ANIMAL NEWS: Dead marine mammals have been washing up on the Oregon and Washington coast a lot lately. We're talking one humpback whale, one porpoise, and two dolphins last weekend alone. Whatever's going on out there in all the unknowable brine, it ain't good. Or maybe it's totally fine. I'm no biologist.

Better animal news, though, is that Oregon's got a new spider—a daddy long-legs—with the best imaginable spider name. Take a guess at the name. Wrong. One more try. Wrong. It's Cryptomaster behemoth.

IN LOCAL CRIMINAL NEWS, two cases of note: The first involves 45-year-old Kevin Scott McQueen, who allegedly decided to break a bunch of windows at Portland City Hall on Sunday. That's good for a felony charge.

And how about Matthew Joseph Medlin, who allegedly jumped into a train car in a hail storm, kept police at bay with "pieces of metal and rocks" and injected meth. Apparently he'd been up for more than 26 hours, not that that sort of behavior requires an excuse.

IN OTHER NEWS: Portland's done a decent job of ramping up its homeless shelter beds since formally declaring a housing emergency last year. The latest example: A former vegan strip club in East Portland is now a sanctuary for up to 130 homeless men, women, and children.

A big mess in Seattle, where three teens—aged 13, 16, and 17—have been arrested for shooting five people at a homeless camp last week, killing two.

That Zika virus suspected to be causing birth defects in a worrying number of South American infants is spreading fast. Fast enough that the World Health Organization deemed it a global health emergency on Monday. That's not great news for a lot of reasons, but for Brazil—which is the epicenter of the outbreak, and also planning to host the Olympics this year—it's particularly bad.

No rain today. Shout out to Shannon Hoon.

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