I don't trust you if you aren't reading something, listening to music, or the pathetic looking at your phone. If all you're doing is staring into space, or looking and judging others, you call that thinking, but what you're going to eat or watch isn't mind expansion, in my mind. You are a waste. You are a waste of an existence to me. The 4 "L." Lingerers, Lurkers, Loiterers, and Leeches. You folks are everywhere. Please leave me alone. I do not like your kind. You are also a waste of time and life to me. I'm not into fake nails. I'm not into fake anything really. Nor am I into curly hair, or braids unless it is the two school girl braids. That is cute and tolerable. Besides the obvious of lameness, if you sit in your car, lights on and engine running, especially during the day time, you are the lamest of all lame. I don't trust you, nor do I like you in any capacity. The fifth "L." Lazy. All you all are. Too lazy to turn off those car lights especially during the day. Too lazy to turn off highlights. Too lazy to walk a few blocks. I do not like you. If you sit with your feet on seats on public transit or they're dangling in the aisle blocking the way, I will kick them. When I see you on your porch at any and all hours, being a nosy human, or head down on your phone, I also think you are a waste.

GOOD MORNING, SUNDAY! It's the perfect time to catch up on some of the great reporting and stories the Mercury churned out this week! (PRO TIP: If you despise being "the last to know," then be one of the first to know by signing up for Mercury newsletters! All the latest stories shipped directly to your email's in-box... and then... YOUR HEAD.)

• Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell Will Step Down, as Mayor Announces Interim Chief

Portland's current police chief, Chuck Lovell, will step down from the role next month. Retired Deputy Chief Bob Day will serve as interim chief until mid-2025. Day was head of training when PPB used a derogatory, right-wing meme in training materials.

• POP QUIZ PDX!

Strap on those brains—it's time for another POP QUIZ PDX! This week's sassy trivia Qs include: fire department joy rides, buttholes who harass the Chapman swifts, and behold... Portland's WORST billionaires! 🎩💰🤮

• New Oregon Law Requires Transparency From OHSU About Its Primate Research Center

After years of mishaps and notable animal deaths, new legislation aims to give the public more insight into a federally funded primate testing site at OHSU.

• Making Matta Moves

You had me at "more shrimp paste." Iconic food cart Matta planned a business pivot and landed at Lil’ Dame, where the restaurant collective’s supportive model has given Chef Richard Văn Lê freedom to lean even harder into Vietnamese flavors.

• THE TRASH REPORT

Let's go, trash pandas! 🦝 It's time for the latest hot gossip. This week: Old-on-old crime, Lauren Boebert's Beetlejuice handy, and OH! How dudes love pitting successful women against each other.

• Portland Youths Call for Local, State Climate Action at Annual Climate Strike

Hundreds gathered in downtown Portland to march during a youth-led climate strike. The strike saw teens skip school to demand Gov. Tina Kotek declare a climate emergency. Protesters also lambasted Zenith Energy's operations in Portland.

• HEAR IN PORTLAND

No more leaving town for a bit—we're staying HEAR IN PORTLAND to catch up on Dani Danger’s debut music video, and a powerful song about trans erasure from Bijoux Cone. Plus, there’s still time to check out the final shows at Doug Fir Lounge.

• Where to Pick Up Our Fall Arts Guide

It's another love note from Mercury editor Wm. Steven Humphrey about our bangin' new Fall Arts Guide, and how you can help us put out even more bangin' print issues in the future! 😍

• What Does Basketball Fashion Have to Do With Basketball?

Fly, a new book by Portland-born author Mitchell S. Jackson, examines the profession of basketball and its intersection with fashion. And it has some of the coolest photos we’ve ever seen.

• Why Were So Many Libraries Closed This Summer?

You aren't imagining it. Seven out of 19 Multnomah County libraries are currently closed. Here's what's happening, and why it's all happening at once.

• SAVAGE LOVE

In this week's column: A reader's wife might be cucking him... but not the way he claims. Also, the girl he dated in high school grew up to be a pro-Domme. Should he book a session?

WOW, THAT IS A LOT OF GOOD READIN'. I hope you didn't have any other plans this weekend! Dig in, and remember: Producing all this hard work costs moolah—so please consider contributing to the Mercury to keep it all coming! Thanks!

The Evolve Experience is stressful. That was the one-word description a member of the audience voiced, at a preview dress rehearsal for the show—which plays four times at the Winningstad Theatre this weekend. The dozen or so community and media members assembled all nodded in agreement.

Other words that might describe the ongoing work of the Red Door Project, an organization that uses primarily theater arts to explore the relationship between law enforcement and the greater public?

Sobering.

Didactic.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Red Door Project has been turning heads with their boundary pushing plays since at least 2016, when Hands Up, a series of monologues about racial profiling, exploded into art world discourse. To say that the show was successful is an understatement. They followed it up with 2018's Cop Out, monologues about police experience, drawn from conversations with predominantly African American officers. Eventually Red Door combined the two shows into the Evolve Experience, which was less of an exercise in equivalency than it was a multidimensional chart of perspective. 

I saw Evolve Experience in 2019, and it was both illuminating and overwhelming. The form Evolve Experience takes currently is less awe-inspiring, but also easier to understand—which is the whole point of the performance.

Opening with a series of broadcast clips, displayed on a video screen raised high on the stage wall, the preview began with a jumble of footage from recognizable, chaotic moments in recent history. It built to a moment of implied overload. Then the video visage of Red Door's co-founder Kevin Jones appeared to the impart the purpose of the show. Evolve wants to traverse such images / instances and the feelings they create and introduce a recommended three stage flow to their audience: Notice when you feel protective of yourself, work to expand by listening to others, and evolve into a more understanding mindset. In brief, protect, expand, evolve.

The flow is a work in progress itself. It reminded me of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, however you feel about that. I am in favor.

Following the video intro, we were finally treated to some theater. A smartly-dressed La’Tevin Alexander launched into a monologue that filled the nearly empty stage—on the stifling and existential threat of racial profiling. In the pin drop silent theater, the heavy boots of Joseph Perez Bertòt, wearing a police vest, uniform, and gear, interrupted Alexander's rage, and then became the target of it. The two faced off, with charged phrases piling high the philosophical weight of their discourse.

And then we watched another video. The video wasn't bad—it was based on a monologue from the 2019 performance. The video's format heightened some aspects of the piece, but lost something in the jarring transition between the warmth of stage acting and a recording—even a well done recording.

The rest of the show unfolded in a similar fashion. Alexander and Bertòt raised the blood pounding energy of the room, and then another prerecorded segment cut in. The filmed actors conveyed the monologues well, and the stories chosen were some of the best from what we saw in 2019. But those transitions was where the show began to feel like a school assembly.

"This is not a show, at least not in the traditional sense," Jones had explained in the intro. Evolve Experience's goal is "not to entertain," he said. So while I wanted more actors—and the chaos of those powerful, dramatic monologues that I remembered—I could also admit that the new format streamlined it to fit the Red Door's purpose nicely. 

Red Door Project co-founder Lesli Mones agreed with my guess during a brief audience talkback portion, after the preview. Evolve Experience has been slimmed down for travel—after its Portland dates it will show in Salinas, California. Mones noted that it's much easier to travel with just two actors than eight. 

So while I'm nostalgic for the emotional chaos of the previous Evolve Experience, I respect what Red Door has done here. It is art made to educate and be easily understood, and things that are easy to understand often, necessarily so, lose a little of their complexity.

I wouldn't want to see Evolve winnowed down to an entirely video format—the live stage portions are the heart of the production. There's still something unknowable and alchemical about an actor onstage that simply cannot make it through a video screen. Red Door were smart to keep live actor tension their cornerstone.

The Evolve Experience plays at the Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, Fri Sept 22 & Sat Sept 23 7:30 pm, Sat Sept 23 & Sun Sept 24 2 pm, $24, tickets here, age recommendation of 13+

The Portland Police Association (PPA) and former Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty say they’re happy to be moving on after the PPA and two police officers settled a lawsuit with Hardesty for $680,000 earlier this week.

Hardesty filed suit against the city, the police union that represents rank and file officers, as well as Officers Brian Hunzeker and Kerri Ottoman back in 2021, when police and emergency dispatchers leaked false information about her to the media an in attempt to disparage her.

Hardesty’s settlement with police comes roughly two weeks after a judge sided with Hardesty on several legal claims in a summary judgment ruling, and about a month after the city of Portland issued a public apology to Hardesty and agreed to pay $5,000 to settle its portion of the lawsuit over the leak of false information.

The lawsuit, which initially sought $5 million in damages, stems from an incident in March 2021, when dispatchers with the Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) received a call about a hit-and-run crash with minor damage. The white woman whose car was hit misidentified the other driver as Hardesty, who served on the Portland City Council at the time. The damage was minimal, described in legal documents as “a one-centimeter circle” likely caused by a license plate screw from the other vehicle.

Despite limited police staffing at the time, Portland police officers interviewed the caller on the evening of March 3. Then around 1 a.m. on March 4, police went to Hardesty’s house and banged loudly on the door, waking up a neighbor. Hardesty didn’t answer the door.

Court documents show police found out earlier that day that Hardesty previously owned a gold Volvo. The caller's description of the vehicle that hit her and fled was subsequently changed in the official police report, to match the one Hardesty had in 2019. 

It was later revealed that Hardesty wasn’t the driver and didn’t own the car involved.

Shortly after the reported hit-and-run, the call log information was shared by BOEC employees with members of the PPA, namely, Hunzeker, who served as union PPA president at the time.

Hunzeker and Ottoman colluded to leak the information to The Oregonian and conservative political group Coalition to Save Portland, in hopes of smearing Hardesty’s character, legal documents show.

The fiasco sparked an internal investigation over the misconduct of city employees, who broke city rules against sharing private information from an emergency call publicly.

That investigation revealed the police officers acted outside the scope of their authority and  intentionally sought to discredit Hardesty–who’d called for greater oversight and scrutiny of the Portland Police Bureau–before the 2022 election. Hardesty had also led the call to disband and divert funding for the Gun Violence Reduction Team, citing data suggesting it disproportionately targeted residents of color, and did little to get guns off the street. When the specialized unit was eventually nixed, it sparked a larger misconception that the city was “defunding the police” amid a racial justice uprising following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis law enforcement.

Hunzeker was terminated for his role in the incident, but later reinstated after arbitration.

Earlier this month, attorneys for the PPA, Ottoman, and Hunzeker argued that Hunzeker was exercising his rights to free speech when he conveyed the false information. Circuit Court Judge Lynn Nakamoto ruled otherwise, noting just because an action has elements of speech, doesn’t mean it’s protected speech, as defined by the law. 

“Hunzeker was free to speak with the press or to use social media to contest Hardesty’s comments and views and to advance his or PPA’s messages about the protests happening in Portland during Hardesty’s tenure as a city commissioner, which he in fact did,” Nakamoto wrote in a summary judgment ruling. “But I am not persuaded by PPA’s legal argument conflating Hunzeker’s misconduct with speech protected by Article 1, section 8.” Nakamoto also noted that not all of Hunzeker’s actions could be considered speech.

“Procuring a copy of a CAD report during the middle of a criminal investigation when he was not involved in it was not a speech act,” Nakamoto wrote.

Sgt. Aaron Schmautz, president of the PPA, said the decision to settle was made by PPA’s insurance carrier.

“The PPA carries insurance and when litigation is involved, insurance companies must make business decisions about settlement. In this case, the PPA’s insurance carrier made the business decision to settle this case,” Schmautz stated. “The PPA is pleased to have this matter behind it.” 

In a public apology to Hardesty issued in August, Mayor Ted Wheeler, on behalf of the city acknowledged the leaks “negatively impacted Commissioner Hardesty’s public image and undermined her efforts to bring about police transformation and reform.”

In a statement this week, Hardesty said she’s thankful the suit against the PPA and individual officers is now resolved.

“This settlement holds the Portland Police Association and the individuals accountable for their wrongful conduct and the unnecessary harm they caused,” Hardesty wrote. “While this settlement does not make me whole, I’m hopeful that shining a light on this unfortunate situation will prevent others from having this burden brought upon them.”

WHY—OH WHY do we have to change our clocks two times a year? It is BAD for our physical health and BAD for our mental health. Why can't our governments agree on something so simple as to resolve this silly clock changing twice a year. I have the OBVIOUS answer. Change clocks 30 minutes ONE TIME and NEVER touch them again.

I DO believe that gummy worms are a UN plot to get us used to eating worms and larvae.

Fall officially starts tomorrow, and we'll be ushering in the season with cheap and cheerful events from Fresh Hop Pop-Up Beer Fest to KBOO Community Radio's 55th Birthday and from Celebrating 75 Years of Forest Park to Free Entrance Days in the National Parks. For more ideas, check out our guide to the top events of the week.

Club Nowhere x Opal Underground Presents: Jeffrey Sfire, Sappho, and DJ Orso
Named symbolically after the multi-faceted gemstone, Opal is a tribute to Portland's queer underground nightlife. This weekend, they’re teaming up with the newly debuted Club Nowhere for an evening of dance-forward house music and queer clubbing, soundtracked by world-renowned selector Jeffrey Sfire. Perhaps best known for his collaborative Italo-disco project Sfire with longtime friend SOPHIE, he will keep you dancing with a high-energy blend of '80s Italo, Hi-NRG, and Chicago house bangers. Be sure to arrive in time for opening sets from local DJs Sappho and Orso. AUDREY VANN
(Holocene, Buckman, $15)

What, dear reader, was the greatest week of your life?

Think back on that moment. Treasure its beautiful memory. Then THROW IT IN THE TRASH, because the Portland Mercury’s Wing Week is about to make every other week you’ve ever experienced look like GARBAGE.

That’s right: From Monday, October 2 to Sunday, October 8, the Portland Mercury’s Wing Week returns—with creative, one-of-a-kind chicken wings available at 62 Portland locations! Even better? Each order of wings will only cost you a mere $8! Yes, it will be amazing—because the Mercury and our Wing Week partners at Jim Beam (thanks, Jim!) wouldn’t have it any other way!

Read on for a complete list of this year’s wings—and once you stop drooling, keep a few things in mind:

 TIP, AND TIP WELL! Wing Week’s a ton of fun—and making it happen takes a ton of work! Make sure everyone behind Wing Week—everyone working on the floor, in the kitchen, and behind the bar—knows how much you appreciate them. Wing Week couldn’t happen without ’em!

WINGS... AND MORE! As subtly implied by the name “Wing Week,” wings ARE the focus of Wing Week. BUT! Each Wing Week location also has an amazing array of sides and drinks that are a perfect match for their wings! Don’t miss out!

HAVE FUN! This is Portland’s biggest Wing Week ever—and it’s almost guaranteed that despite everyone’s best efforts, there’ll be lines, sell-outs, and more. So if one location is too crowded? Just come back another day, and in the meantime, hit another Wing Week location!

#PORTLANDWINGWEEK  The Mercury’s got you covered with Wing Week updates, reviews, and tips on Facebook, as well as Twitter, Threads, and Instagram (just search the #mercurywingweek hashtag for loads of up-to-the-second info). And on the WING WEEK homepage, you’ll find useful stuff like a handy map of all WING WEEK locations, which also makes for a great tattoo.

WE ADORE YOU!
Thank you so much for partaking and enjoying in the Mercury's food weeks and supporting small local businesses—especially those who may not get the attention they deserve!

YOU'RE THE BEST. And, as always, if you appreciate the Mercury's daily efforts to keep you informed and entertained, please consider dropping a small contribution so we can keep it going!

Again, GO HERE TO SEE ALL 56 (!!) OF THESE DELIGHTFUL WINGS IN THEIR SUCCULENT GLORY, and get ready for the most tummy-pleasing week of your life: the Mercury's WING WEEK! Coming at ya October 2-8 at more than 60 locations... and for only $8 a plate? What?? YES!!

In an unexpected move, PacifiCorp executives recently announced an ambitious plan to expand the company’s carbon footprint. Their plan hinges on a tried and true strategy of putting roughly 1,200 cars back on the road in Oregon three days a week. With the average employee driving a round trip of 20 miles each day, this equates to approximately 72,000 pounds of greenhouse gas every week. Assuming those cars are on the road 48 weeks each year the total emissions should hit 1,570 tons in Oregon in 2024. In all seriousness, this goes against PacifiCorp committing to a net zero future. By reversing their remote work arrangements they are in effect increasing the amount of greenhouse gas emitted every day. Not only that, but other people that do need to report to a physical work location throughout the Portland area will now face increased traffic and commuting times. For all the “we care” press releases the company has put out, this new policy stands in stark contrast to their commitment to reduce pollution. Maybe it’s time for the company executives to adapt to the new normal and fully embrace remote work and the many benefits it provides. Or just acknowledge that they aren’t really doing everything in their power to reduce pollution; they are just doing what is required and nothing more.

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. 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! 

Happy Friday! It's going to be sunny and warm today, but say goodbye to all that— starting tomorrow, it'll OFFICIALLY BE FALL, and we'll get rain all next week to show for it. YAY!

Now, time for the news.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Former Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty accepted a settlement of $680,000 in her lawsuit against the Portland Police Union and two officers who spread misinformation that she committed a hit-and-run in early 2021. The settlement avoids a trial which was supposed to begin next week. She also received a written apology from Mayor Ted Wheeler last month, which came with an additional $5000. Not sure if it's a fair trade for the racist smear campaign against her in the press and on social media, but I'm glad she'll getting something out of this whole boondoggle. 

• Jessie Burke, a Portland businessperson who owns The Society Hotel in Old Town, was a member of Gov. Tina Kotek's downtown task force — until she was booted this week because of her ties to Nathan Vasquez’s campaign for Multnomah County district attorney. Whoops! 

• A new vision for the Lloyd Center has been submitted to the City of Portland and is making waves around social media. The latest Lloyd Center revitalization plans do not include a Major League Baseball stadium, but do include housing, retail, and community gathering space—and excitingly, getting rid of a few unnecessary parking garages. 

• Portland's coolest new record shop is three record stores, a bookstore, a radio station, and a music label. Read about the new home of Beacon Sound, Musique Plastique, Super Electric, Lost Avenue, et al. in the 2023 Fall Arts & Culture Preview.

SNL mainstay Colin Jost will drop by Salem to give us his weekend update. Plus, metal’s favorite soprano Chelsea Wolfe has announced a local date for next spring. https://t.co/fXaCOIzFic

— EverOut Portland (@EverOutPortland) September 21, 2023

• Yesterday, the Biden administration agreed to spend more than $200 million and fully fund Native tribes’ plans to reintroduce salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin. Salmon have been extinct in parts of the Columbia River Basin for more than 80 years thanks to the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington. The money will, among other things, be used for making accommodations to dams on the Columbia so salmon are able to get travel past them. Salmon and tribal sovereignty wins are great to see.

• Get thee to Ashland for the 2024 Oregon Shakespeare Festival:

Three stages. Limitless worlds! Watch our 2024 season take flight ✨

LEARN MORE: https://t.co/ltTgnSrdxv#OSF2024 pic.twitter.com/ySLTemJViV

— Oregon Shakespeare Festival (@osfashland) September 20, 2023

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Speaking of Shakespeare: Prepare ye, East Coasters, for lots of rain this week from Tropical Storm Ophelia. 

• The U.S. Government is on the verge of a shutdown as far-right loonies in the House have seized control from Speaker Kevin McCarthy and refuse to come to an agreement on a spending plan. Dark Brandon has emerged with some words on the situation:

Last time there was a government shutdown, 800,000 Americans were furloughed or worked without pay.

But enjoy your weekend. https://t.co/wAz1SpInV5

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 21, 2023

•  The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike is growing to 38 General Motors and Stellantis plants in 20 states. Ford has agreed to some of the union's demands during recent negotiations, so it will be spared additional strikes for now. 

Auto workers at 38 @UAW @GM and @Stellantis plants are being called on to strike due to the lack of progress at the bargaining table.

"We will shut down parts distribution until those 2 companies come to their senses." pic.twitter.com/mDwWNeTxEL

— AFL-CIO ✊ (@AFLCIO) September 22, 2023

• Finally, may all your autumns begin so cozily: 

Hugs and snugs mode activated by a pile of rhino hay pic.twitter.com/40r4g10qya

— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) September 20, 2023

Or, who do I make this out to? Whats the deal? Seriously, what's the deal? Why are chips now close to 6 dollars? I guess inflation is natural but what is zero logic is the fact that you have to make deals of buy 4 or 5 to get the price of $2.99. What makes sense is keeping the price level at the 3 to 4 dollar range and people will continually buy them so you do not contribute to overweight health issues and obesity. I'm sure you are seeing sales declining so you do this buy 4 for a good deal. 4 at the price of 3 dollars is $12. Or people buy 1 for the price of 6 dollars, which is still decent money you make, but I guess you risk people not buying it because it is such a rip off. There aren't more chips in these bags. In fact, you have a deal of 2 for 4 dollars for the small snack size bag which is even more a ripoff because there's like 3 chips in the bag and it cost half the price of a big bag. You really must be trying to get people fat. You must really think we have parties everyday to buy 4 bags of chips just to satisfy our cravings.

SNL mainstay Colin Jost will drop by Salem to give us his weekend update. Metal’s favorite soprano Chelsea Wolfe has also announced a local date next spring. Plus, the fight for Olivia Rodrigo tickets starts this week—hold on to your guts. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

MUSIC

An Evening with Patterson Hood (of Drive-By Truckers)
Show Bar (Dec 19-21)

Briston Maroney: Ultrapure Tour
Crystal Ballroom (Mar 21, 2024)

Chelsea Wolfe
Roseland Theater (Mar 27, 2024)

Whether or not you consider yourself an “art person,” Converge 45 is worth visiting—the biennial brings together local and further-flung artists whose work will likely be new to you, offering a window into the contemporary art world from venues all over town. (Seriously, you’ll find them in each of the city’s quadrants—there’s no reason to miss out.) I popped by PNCA, Stelo Arts, Reed College’s Cooley Gallery, and the Lloyd Center to dive into the biennial’s plentiful offerings. Here's what I recommend checking out for yourself.

Amanda Ross-Ho: ICE TIME
I was lucky enough to catch Los Angeles-based artist and one-time competitive figure skater Amanda Ross-Ho's performance at the Lloyd Center ice rink on Converge 45's opening weekend in August. The performance, which felt inextricably linked to the legacy of a certain infamous Olympian who learned to skate at Lloyd, saw Ross-Ho skate in a meditative figure eight formation. Her solo exhibition ICE TIME expands on this meditation with a further developed sense of repetition and muscle memory.
(ILY2, Pearl District, free, through Oct 28)

CALLING ALL BRAINY PANTS! It's time once again to put your brainy-brain to the test with this week's edition of POP QUIZ PDX—our weekly, local, sassy-ass trivia quiz. And this week, you'll be answering questions about runaway fire department equipment, assholes who bother the Chapman Elementary swifts, and OH! What are we gonna do about all these local conservative billionaires who won't mind their own got-damned business? Trust me... I HAVE IDEAS. 👹

But before we continue... HOW DID YOU DO ON THE PREVIOUS QUIZ? Very, very excellent! And wow... while I figured a lot of you would ask for a roller coaster or something to make downtown Portland a fun place to visit again, I think the majority of you really got to the root of the problem! BRAVO AND BRAVA! 👏

OKAY, TIME FOR A NEW QUIZ! Take this week's quiz below, take our previous pop quizzes here, and come back next week for a brand spankin' new quiz! (Having a tough time answering this quiz? It's probably because you aren't getting Mercury newsletters! HINT! HINT!) Now crank up that cerebellum, because it's time to get BRAINY!

Create your own user feedback survey

Your contribution to the Mercury supports our editorial team. We try to ask unobtrusively, but there have been a couple surveys where an overwhelming number of readers said we should remind them more. The Mercury believes in Portland and smart, local journalism—we also like fun, sex, and staying curious about one another. Without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good Morning, Portland! Yesterday, when news editor Courtney Vaughn was working hard to break down any complexities found in the announcement that Chuck Lovell will step down as Portland's police chief, I was working hard trying to Bob Loblaw's Law Blog the incoming interim chief. What do you think about Bob Day's Big Bob Day Job Day? NOW, FOR THE NEWS!

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• October 11 will be a Back on the Job Day for Bob Day, a retired Portland police officer who will serve as Portland interim police chief until June 2025. The city's current police chief, Chuck Lovell, announced he will step down from the position in three weeks. Lovell clarified that he isn’t retiring, and will remain with PPB for the time being, serving in a community engagement role. News Editor Courtney Vaughn has more.

• And now for a Portland police chief listicle. I sound like I'm making fun, but this is pretty useful, and I wish we'd thought of it. Three years isn't at all that bad, duration-wise.

• Seven of nineteen Portland-area libraries are currently closed for renovation—Mercury reporter Taylor Griggs breaks down why that is, and what Portlanders stand to gain:

You aren't imagining it. Seven out of 19 Multnomah County libraries are currently closed. Mercury reporter@taylorjgriggs explains what's happening, and why it's all happening at once.https://t.co/HKpJh4FkHA

— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) September 21, 2023

• In today's Gov. Kotek blast: The governor announced yesterday that she's calling take backs on a portion of the Emergency Homelessness Response funds she sent to Multnomah County, redistributing it to six other counties: Clackamas, Marion, Polk, Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. A spokesperson for Kotek noted that Oregon's most populous county has way more resources to address the homeless crisis, than other Oregon counties, especially since the supportive housing services tax has popped off so hard that Multnomah County is having a hard time spending it. Kotek has expressed concerns with how Multnomah County and Portland officials are spending state dollars on homelessness, basically asking that the plans be less vague.

• Sept 24-30 is Sea Otter Awareness Week, according to Oregon nonprofit Elakha Alliance, and I SUPPORT IT. It turns out that not only are sea otters little dexterity champions and but they "maintain balance within the intricate web of life that epitomizes coastal ecosystems." If these people just want more sea otters on Oregon coasts then I'm pretty sure everyone will be onboard. Check out defenders.org/sea-otter-awareness-week for otter events.

• Portland Fire & Rescue investigators are looking for a person they think may have set at least ten fires between 3-10 am, Wednesday morning.

• Oregon State Hospital says it will implement one simple trick to make sure mental health patients can't easily steal a hospital van as they escape—you may remember an attempted murderer suspect escaped last month, but promptly drove into a mud pit, where he remained for 12 hours until the ongoing manhunt discovered him. The trick? Staff will no longer leave keys in the hospital vans.

• We're heading into the Doug Fir's final shows at its East Burnside location. This week, Hear in Portland's Jenni Moore recommends Bijoux Cone's record release party:

No more leaving town for a bit—we're staying HEAR IN PORTLAND to catch up on Dani Danger’s debut music video, and a powerful song about trans erasure from Bijoux Cone. Plus, there’s still time to check out the final shows at Doug Fir Lounge.https://t.co/XI0Q5uOLRH

— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) September 20, 2023

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• The Biden administration announced yesterday that it will restart its program that mails free COVID tests to US households. Starting September 25, another round of no-cost tests can be ordered from covidtests.gov, and delivered for free by USPS.

• The White House also announced President Biden will create a New Deal-style American Climate Corps. Associated Press reports the plan will employ more than 20,000 young adults "who will build trails, plant trees, help install solar panels and do other work to boost conservation and help prevent catastrophic wildfires."

• Planet Money and NPR's self-described "tiktok boy" Jack Corbett dropped a new finance video yesterday. It's about Student Loans! It's accurate, if metaphorically so.

Student Loans are Sorta just different now , but you have to opt-in! https://t.co/RohWdmq9tb for more pic.twitter.com/rXVENW9cyh

— Jack Corbett (@jackcorrbit) September 20, 2023

• Business media magnate Rupert Murdoch plans to retire from his position as chairman at Fox News and News Corporation. His son Lachlan Murdoch (known for having tattoos and wearing leather boots, but otherwise being the same dude) will assume control of his family's global media empire. Truly this is the final season of Succession.

• Okay, get out there and say something gender neutral today.

Gender neutral forms of YAS Queen/King pic.twitter.com/RTt7mhi1Eb

— Vicky 🔜 @Kupo Con (@vickybunnyangel) March 20, 2021

I love my kids. I do. But I also fucking hate them sometimes. I wake up early to make them breakfast and make them lunch and take them to school. Then I work all day and pick them up from school and make them a snack and then they sit in front of the TV watching cartoons so I can cook them dinner. And then after all of that, they walk up to the table and complain about dinner like they're a goddamn emperor. Shut up, eat your dinner, go to bed. I'm goddamn sick of you.

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell will step down from his position in three weeks, with an interim police chief stepping into the role until June 2025. Bob Day, who retired from Portland Police Bureau in 2019 after serving as deputy chief of police, will step into the role of chief until June 2025.

The announcement was made Wednesday, September 20 at a press briefing with Mayor Ted Wheeler, Lovell, and Day. Wheeler said the move is part of a broader effort to set the city up for transition, come January 2025. 

“As I noted last week, we stand on the precipice of a complete overhaul of our city’s government, and I take very seriously my responsibility to deliver a functional city to the new mayor and the new City Council,” Wheeler said. He said the best path forward is to appoint an interim chief now, while giving the next mayor the option to recruit and appoint a long-term police chief, come 2025.

Lovell, who joined PPB in 2002, confirmed he isn’t retiring, and will remain with PPB for the time being, serving in a community engagement role, starting October 11.

“I was appointed at a very turbulent time for our city and our bureau,” Lovell said. “I’m proud of the accomplishments of the police bureau.”

Lovell said he is eligible to retire in 2027. Whether he’ll spend the rest of those years in Portland remains to be seen, but Lovell said he never aspired to serve as police chief before being tapped for the role in June 2020. 

“I took this job because the city tapped me and needed me to fill that role, and I did that to the best of my ability,” Lovell told the Mercury.

"We’ve had an ongoing discussion about transition,” Lovell said of his conversations with the mayor. “I always knew I wasn’t gonna do it for seven years, or the rest of my career, and then the question was always, ‘well, when is the right time?’”

Wheeler thanked Lovell, saying the longtime police lieutenant and chief for the last three years has his respect and gratitude, noting Lovell stepped forward to lead PPB “during one of the most difficult times in our city’s history.”

Lovell stepped into the leadership role three months into the pandemic, amid the social unrest and protests of 2020. Lovell will transition his role at the bureau as Portland gears up to transition its form of government. Phasing in the charter reform elements before 2025 is a priority for Wheeler before he leaves office.

Wheeler said Day, who first became a police officer in Portland in 1990, will be able to step into the interim chief role with ease, and can see the bureau through the city’s pivot to a new government structure.

Incoming Interim Chief Day said he won’t stick around past 2025, but heeded the call to come out of retirement.

Day gave a polished speech, peppering in quotes from novelist and civil rights activist James Baldwin, and touching on the death of his young son in 2016 to cancer. Day said he’s not naive, rather, “hopeful” about what PPB and the city can accomplish. He said his son's diagnosis taught his family the necessity of hope. 

Day said he hopes to establish trust with the community and continue PPB’s recent hiring efforts, to bolster staffing and carryout more of the gun violence reduction efforts already underway.

During his previous tenure at PPB, Day served as second-in-command to former Police Chief, Danielle Outlaw, and oversaw training for the bureau. He was head of training in 2018, when police circulated training materials with a derogatory meme that joked about pepper spraying and beating protesters. The internal training presentation later became the subject of an internal investigation and was included as evidence in lawsuits against the city and its police bureau.

Day also led the city's Central Precinct operations when police and then-mayor Charlie Hales started reversing course on approaches to homelessness, using sweeps and embracing a program to charge people who frequently camped on sidewalks with misdemeanors.

The incoming interim chief said he’s looking forward to working with Lovell again, noting Lovell was “instrumental in a real pivotal change in my understanding around community engagement and African American police relations.”

Day held up a book Lovell gave him two decades ago, Courageous Conversations Around Race.

The gift from Lovell came years before Day was on scene in 2010 during a welfare check of Aaron Campbell, an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot in the back by police. Later reporting alleged that Day called the incident commander away for an on-scene briefing, when Campbell came out of an apartment and officers opened fire on him. Day never faced discipline for his actions, but the incident commander and other officers did. 

While many see Portland recovering from the effects of the pandemic, economic downturn and omnipresent livability issues, Day says he sees Portland as a city with the potential to be what it once was.

“At my heart, I’m passionate about the city. I’m passionate about the Police Bureau, and I absolutely hopeful that Portland can once again become a city and a place, a destination for families, business, tourism, community service, grassroots initiatives—the things that we are all so familiar with, and remember and long for,” Day said.

This week, as we recover from traveling to Seattle for an experiential Beyoncé concert, we're listening to the new version of SZA’s “Snooze” (featuring Justin Bieber) on repeat, and diving into local artist happening here in Portland. No more leaving town for a bit—just staying home to catch up on Dani Danger’s debut music video release for her sultry and vocally impressive single “Addicted to Love,” and the upcoming album from Bijoux Cone. Plus! There’s still time to check out the final shows at the Doug Fir as we know it.   

Upcoming local event(s) featuring local artist(s).        

As we approach September's close, we’d like to take this moment to reiterate the fact that the Doug Fir will be leaving from its beloved location at the Jupiter Hotel. Earlier this year, the venue announced that it would be moving into the space formerly occupied by late night Cajun restaurant Le Bistro Montage—AKA the place every Portlander went on prom night. While we’re still grieving Montage, and we’re definitely still processing the fact that Doug Fir will never be the same after the impending move, somehow the merging of these two Portland institutions feels a bit like destiny? There are a few chances left to see a show inside the endearingly cramped confines of the log-cabin themed venue, where a cute woodsy aesthetic abounds, but personal space is a fool’s errand. Doug Fir representatives say they hope to open the new location in early 2024. “The new Doug Fir will feature 300+ capacity, best-in-class sound and lights, enhanced customer and band parking and load in, expanded dressing rooms, an intimate private bar, and patio,” a message on the venue's social media reads, encouragingly. Maybe change isn’t so bad after all. For those who require one last rendezvous inside, there appear to still be tickets for Japanese pop four-piece Chai on September 25, an album release show for art-pop / goth / synth act Bijoux Cone on September 27—which we're writing about in this column—and a pair of Ural Thomas and the Pain headliner events on the location’s final night of September 30.

New release(s) from a Portland-relevant artist. 

A couple weeks ago, R&B and soul artist Dani Danger landed on our Must Listen list for her irresistible single "Addicted To Love," which tackles the experience of being in a toxic relationship. Although the Jamaican-American artist was raised in Florida, she currently makes her gorgeous blend of Caribbean-influenced jazz, soul, and R&B in Portland. It's a comforting example of new talent influx, even as artists in neighboring genres (like Moorea Masa and Blossom) have recently relocated to Los Angeles. At the beginning of September, Dani released a music video for the song, which was shot by Portland-based visual mastermind Riley Brown and co-directed by Brown and the artist herself. Just like the song, the video is sultry and emotional. Pool views, sensual bedroom scenes, and heated arguments abound.

Some upcoming music buzz to put on your radar.

We see the energy amping up around Portland-based goth, art-pop / synth-pop artist Bijoux Cone, as she prepares for the October 20 release of a new project called Love Is Trash. Bijoux described one of the albums already released singles "Mind's Eye" as a reflection on erasure. “[Mind’s Eye is] about feeling invisible, or being made invisible by others… or even feeling like you have to be invisible in order to survive. Specifically, I wrote it from the perspective of negotiating my transness with my family,” she wrote in a social media post. “Sometimes queer people see a refusal to acknowledge someone’s identity, or a ‘don’t ask, don't tell’ philosophy being confused with ‘acceptance.’ A lot of queer stories are like this, and this song is part of mine." The artist also explains that around the time that she was finishing the lyrics, a transwoman she looked up to, whom she had met early in her process of coming out, died unexpectedly. “Her family put her dead name on the gravestone,” Cone wrote. “It broke my heart and still scares the hell out of me. This song is for her and for anyone else who has had to hide or has been pressured to hide who they are.” Love Is Trash holds the promise of many more insightful tracks, and even some influence of jazz and soul in the artist's work. Fans have a chance to hear her live at a vinyl prerelease show, which also happens to be one of the final Doug Fir dates. (Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside, Wed Sept 27, 9 pm, $15, tickets here, 21+)

<a href="https://bijouxcone.bandcamp.com/album/love-is-trash">Love Is Trash by Bijoux Cone</a>

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. 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! Here's your gentle reminder to pick up your hot-shit copy of the Mercury's FALL ARTS GUIDE, which is jam-packed with super interesting and fun things to do this fall, and can be found in 500+ locations all around this grand city that Republicans and their rich local supporters love to shit upon. Yes, it's early in the morning, and I'm already going hard. Wait 'til you see me at noon! In the the meantime, here's some NEWS.

them: PORTLAND, A CITY OF FIRE AND RUBBLE

me: the French bakery's vending machine ran out of crème brûlée again

— 🏳️‍🌈 Andrew D. Jankowski 🏳️‍🌈 (@AndrewJank) September 20, 2023

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• New legislation will require OHSU's Primate Research Center to be a LOT more transparent about what they're doing with all that federal funding, after years of mishaps and animal deaths due to staff negligence. The center has also earned the title of "one of the worst, if not the worst, primate center in the U.S. in terms of violations of the Animal Welfare Act." Our Abe Asher has the details, but here's the quote from this story that made my jaw drop:

...advocates have raised concerns about the day-to-day research being conducted at the center—including a reported study in which researchers gave voles an excessive amount of alcohol to see if they would cheat on their mates. 

• Today in HA-HA-HA: Portland City Council members are reportedly losing their got-damned minds over Mayor Wheeler's plan to take away all of the members' bureau assignments in roughly six weeks in order to "test run" a city administrator running the bureaus, in advance of what will happen following the next city council election. I personally think this is a great idea, since every last one of them is absolutely terrible at their jobs—especially Mapps and Gonzalez. On the other hand, without the bureaus to keep them busy, maybe they'll just sit around thinking of new, creative ways to harass homeless folk and make their rich friends more money? ACK! I'm torn!! 

• After months of back-and-forth debate, Portland Public School board has voted to fire Bryan Chu, who they accuse of insubordination and neglect of duty, though his supporters see him as a "spirited" educator who wasn't afraid to call the district out on alleged racist policies. But the fight isn't over yet: Chu is expected to ask for arbitration—an appeal of the decision to be decided by a member of the Employee Relations Board—which could take up to a year to complete.

• Read this OPB story instead of the Oregonian's version which, as usual for that publication, platforms the opinions of local billionaires over experts, for no other discernible reason other than they have a lot of money:

"Along with banning the use of hard drugs in public places & making fentanyl, meth and heroin illegal, the proposals would also require addiction treatment, rather than having it be voluntary, and would increase penalties against drug dealing."https://t.co/WzU7TR6L4l

— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) September 18, 2023

• Cool laser show alert!

Electronic music pioneer Mort Garson is probably best-known for his compositions for growing plants. But he also made tons of albums about space and the occult. You have one chance to see a unique survey of his work at OMSI—WITH LASERS.https://t.co/CmbZP9IErl

— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) September 19, 2023

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Attorney General Merrick Garland is testifying today in front of a panel of conspiracy-spouting, lying Republicans who continue to do their damndest to a) help create a new totalitarian government, while simultaneously b) wasting everyone's time? Meanwhile a government shutdown is just around the corner, but by all means let's continue to focus on that nobody, Hunter Biden.

Sen. John Fetterman: "If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week."

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 20, 2023

• That missing F-35 stealth fighter jet that was just "gone" for 24 hours has been found at a crash site in rural South Carolina. It's still a mystery why the pilot ejected, and why the jet was able to fly undetected by radar for so long. (This looks like a job for Private First Class Encyclopedia Brown! And I suspect the culprit may be Gunnery Sergeant Bugs Meany! [I'm afraid no one gets Encyclopedia Brown jokes anymore, which makes me sad.]) 

• In any case, get ready to fall in love with this guy:

Interview of the year https://t.co/ZhGfoaRMfo

— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) September 20, 2023

• Somebody hacked Donald Trump Jr.'s Twitter account, and put out the false claims that Daddy Trump was dead and Don Jr. was going to run for president. (Even the reliably gullible Republican conspiracy theorists didn't buy this one.)

• Twitter-ruiner Elon Musk is reportedly considering charging all Twitter users "a small monthly fee" because it's "the only way to stamp out bots." (AKA a last ditch effort to save the company he ruined.) Sounds like a plan, and maybe he should fuck around and find out?

• Today in "Adidas just fuuuuuuucked up BAD": "Kanye ‘didn’t mean what he said’ about Jews, Adidas CEO says." Counterpoint: Yes, he absolutely did.

• And finally... CHAIR SCIENCE!

How plastic chairs are moulded pic.twitter.com/Z0v8CXLYvu

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 19, 2023

When State Rep. David Gomberg was in his second term in the Oregon House of Representatives, a bill came to the floor to exempt workers at Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) National Primate Research Center in Hillsboro from any kind of public disclosure.

Under the terms of the legislation, Oregonians couldn’t disclose the names of the people who worked at the center or the names of businesses who worked with the center. The bill passed overwhelmingly, and Gomberg’s interest in the center was piqued. 

“The company that delivers monkey chow to this research center has more protections in place than caseworkers or Oregon judges do,” Gomberg said.

Gomberg, a Democrat who represents a district that covers the Central Coast range, wanted to learn more about why the research center needed to operate in such relative secrecy. He arranged to visit, twice, and was alarmed by what he saw. 

“We found animals that were being housed in small cages there for up to three years,” Gomberg said. “At the same time, we continued to read reports about mistakes that were being made—using the wrong anesthetic, inattention during childbirth, animals that died of thirst in their cages.”

The National Primate Research Center is one of seven federally-funded primate research centers across the country. It has been affiliated with OHSU since 1998, and has, in recent years, been a constant target of scorn from animal rights advocates.

That is, in part, due to a steady stream of headlines about safety mishaps at the center. In August of 2020, for instance, a primate center employee accidentally placed them inside a scalding cage-washing machine. One died, while the other had to be euthanized. 

Two years before, another monkey became entangled in pipes in its cage and also had to be euthanized. In another incident, a group of five voles died of dehydration after staff failed to give them water. Another animal died in 2021 after it was improperly anesthetized. 

Even when it doesn’t concern clear violations of the Animal Welfare Act, advocates have raised concerns about the day-to-day research being conducted at the center—including a reported study in which researchers gave voles an excessive amount of alcohol to see if they would cheat on their mates. 

All seven of the primate research centers in the U.S. have had safety issues over their years of existence. But according to Alka Chandna, Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Cases at PETA, OHSU’s facility stands out. 

“We just see violations and violations and violations,” Chandna said. “It’s probably one of the worst, if not the worst, primate center in the U.S. in terms of violations of the Animal Welfare Act. They’ve been cited and they’ve been fined by the USDA, and I don't see that abating at all.”

Chandna’s assertion is backed by plenty of data. OHSU violated the Animal Welfare Act 31 times between 2014 and 2022, according to inspection records reported by OPB. The issue, Chandna said, is that the fines levied by the federal government aren’t nearly enough to significantly impact the university or the center. 

PETA has had a longstanding battle with OHSU over its animal research facility. The animal rights organization successfully sued OHSU for records last year. 

In the buildup to this year’s legislative session, Gomberg decided to take a different tack. Alongside Republican Rep. Anna Scharf, he introduced a bill to require transparency from OHSU about what is happening at the center. 

Gomberg said OHSU fought the bill—arguing that it would be an unnecessary burden on the center’s employees and work output. But after his own experience attempting to obtain information about the center, Gomberg felt it was a necessary tool. 

In the end, however, OHSU didn’t convince many legislators: only one member of the House and two members of the Senate voted against the bill, which Gov. Tina Kotek signed into law in mid-July. 

HB 2904 requires OHSU to publish annually, on a publicly accessible university website, information on the number of nonhuman primates that were used in research in the previous year, as well as those used in breeding, purchased or sold, and, importantly, were “injured, or died, in a manner that resulted in an animal welfare citation by the USDA.”

In a statement provided to the Mercury, an OHSU spokesperson said the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) is “consolidating on its website information responsive to Section 1 of the bill; that information is also contained in reports to the regulatory bodies that oversee ONPRC.”

The public transparency requirements are a sea change from the transparency requirements of the last several decades, and it puts Oregon on the forefront of animal testing transparency: no other state as of yet has a similar transparency law for a primate research center. 

Gomberg and his allies hope the passage of the bill might be a turning point—if not for changing the conditions for animals confined to the research center, then at least for raising awareness about the center’s existence and research practices in the state. 

“Does OHSU have influence at the legislature? Of course they do,” Gomberg said. “I think OHSU for the most part does remarkable work. I think this one department, this one facility under their umbrella, is a stain on their reputation.”

Chandna said her organization applauded the bill and said that the more the public is aware of the kind of research being done at the center, the less willing they will be to turn a blind eye to it. 

“Any movement towards transparency is laudable,” Chandna said. “We support it and think this is something all states should emulate.”

There are signs that public opinion may be on the side of animal rights advocates. A 2018 Pew Research poll found that a narrow majority of 52 percent of Americans oppose the practice outright, with 62 percent of women opposing the practice. 

OHSU, in its statement, argued that animal testing is still a necessity. 

“We look forward to a time when nonanimal research methods are capable of faithfully modeling the complexity of a living system; however, we are many years away from realizing that goal,” the statement read.

But regardless of how people feel about animal testing generally, Gomberg said, people should be willing to demand better from OHSU—an organization worth nearly $4 billion that is facing broad leadership questions as it pursues a controversial takeover of Legacy Health. 

“Reasonable people can disagree about whether or not using animals for this kind of research is scientifically ethical or valid, but I think we can all agree that it’s not being done very well in Oregon,” he said. 

Gomberg said that, at this stage, he’s not considering introducing further legislation targeting the center. He wants to see what kind of effect the transparency law has. 

“We’re dragging the issue of animal research into the public arena,” he said.