by Wm. Steven Humphrey

If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋

Expect a cloudy, unseasonably warm day with highs topping out at 60 degrees, which means you can stay inside and eat questionable leftovers from the bowels of your fridge... ORRRRRR, you can get out of the house and join all the sexy people enjoying the Mercury's SANDWICH WEEK which kicks off today! That's correct, starting today, Monday, March 2 and running until Sunday March 8, Portlanders will be feasting on delectable, original sandwich creations built by 88 (!?!) of the city’s most fabulous chefs... and if that's not enough, they're only $10 each! So stretch out your tummy, and start chowing down. And now? Stretch out your brain, and chow down on this NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• As you've probably heard, Portlanders are screaming their heads off about the city's morally repugnant local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, and demanding its closure—however, the city’s administrator, Raymond Lee, says our local government is committed to [blinks hard four times] keeping it open. Wait, wait, wait, wait... what? Lee explained his reasoning in a February 24 employee town hall meeting, in which he said that, despite the undeniable ickiness of the agents' actions, there are many Portlanders who seek federal assistance via the office, and if it were not there, they'd have to cross state lines to get the services they need. In addition, many immigration attorneys say its easier to help those kidnapped by ICE if they are first brought to this local facility, rather than taken directly to the detention center in Tacoma. Yes... but still, right? Find out more about this, as well as other tactics being used to actually punish ICE in this report from our Jeremiah Hayden.

Despite constant pushback from activists, calls from Portland’s mayor for federal agents to resign, and city councilors passing legislation to hold the federal government accountable, the city’s administrator says Portland is committed to keeping the local ICE facility open.

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) February 27, 2026 at 3:20 PM

• Speaking of ICE (and when are we not these days), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in a Portland court today to defend their agents' wildly overactive use of tear gas and munitions against peaceful protesters and journalists at the local ICE facility. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are asking Judge Michael Simon for an extended injunction against the use of this weaponry, and will present testimony from a number of protesters (including the famous Portland chicken... probably out of costume, I assume), local police, and even a former US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner as an expert witness. DHS lawyers are expected to argue that it's impossible for ICE to do their jobs (kidnapping and detaining) without firing dangerous munitions and voluminous amounts of gas into the surrounding neighborhood. The trial is expected to last three days.

• A group of Portland-based Iranian Americans took to the streets on Sunday, not to protest against Trump's war on Iran, but to celebrate the action and the killing of country's despot, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Waving Iranian flags and shouting jubilantly, celebrants told KGW that the act of war was "47 years in the making" and that tens of thousands have been killed by the Iranian government in the past few decades. Meanwhile Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden took a different view on Sunday, blasting Trump for launching a surprise attack on Iran without any direct provocation from the country, saying “This is exactly what Donald Trump said he wouldn’t do in the 2024 campaign." Wyden has promised to vote this week in favor of curbing Trump's powers.

Portland's first-ever Azn Zine Fest is this weekend! Azn Zine Fest will feature more than 100 zinesters, and the organizers are also bringing in guest artist Yumi Sakugawa from Los Angeles.

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) February 27, 2026 at 11:25 AM

• Oh, and you don't wanna miss this: In his latest opinion column, The Black Byline, author Donovan Scribes points out the flagrant and insulting action from the Portland police union to hijack money from the city's Clean Energy Fund to pay for additional cops. It also shouldn't escape notice, Scribes writes, that this cynical move is the latest in a line of vengeful attempts to dismantle the work of the city's first Black council member, Jo Ann Hardesty. 👀 Not a bit surprising, and yet? Infuriating. Check it out!

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Back on the topic of Trump's surprise war against Iran, four US service members were killed over the weekend in retaliation for the attack and the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and three US jets were reportedly accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defense—though all six crew members were able to safely eject from the crafts. Following the initial attack against Iran—which again occurred unprompted according to the Pentagon—Trump told the Iranian people to rise up against their government, though they would be mostly unarmed against heavily armed Iranian security forces. US officials are saying we're in the early days of the war, and that more troops are being sent into the conflict, as the global economy wobbles and oil prices skyrocket. Several Iranian neighborhoods and at least one hospital were bombed over the weekend, and an investigation is underway into why an elementary girls’ school in the southern part of the country was hit during an Israeli/US air strike which so far has killed 165 people.

feeling compelled to post this new yorker reject from years ago, for some reason

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— Tommy Siegel (@tommysiegel.bsky.social) March 1, 2026 at 12:02 PM

• Almost certainly related, a gunman wearing a shirt depicting the Iranian flag killed three people and wounded 14 during a shooting at an Austin, Texas bar early Sunday. The FBI is currently investigating the mass shooting as an act of terrorism.

• Texas has a Senate primary election on Tuesday, and according to polling, Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) and state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) have a small lead over each of their opponents going into election day. Paxton, who was...

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