ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida federal judge has tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against The New York Times.
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled Friday that Trump’s lawsuit was overly long and was full of “tedious and burdensome” language that had no bearing on the legal case.
The judge gave Trump has 28 days to file an amended complaint and said it should not exceed 40 pages.
The lawsuit was 85 pages.
It named four Times journalists and cited a book and three articles published within a two-month period before the 2024 election. T
imes had called it meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting.
This piece was first published by our sister publication The Stranger.
Each one of Erika Rier’s ceramic creatures has its own story, and most of them are at least a little unsettling. There’s the vampiric little girl with several sets of eyes, and the crowned and horned woman clenching what appears to be a not-very-alive bunny—something menacing is lurking within all of them. But what Rier didn’t anticipate when she first began sculpting these colorful friends years ago was the new lives they’d take on once they left her studio.
“People can accumulate these, and then they can make stories that I’ve never even thought of by just putting them together,” she says. “That appeals to the storyteller part of me. I feel like I’m always trying to put things in there, little archetypal bits that people can pull to make stories for themselves with.”
Rier’s characters are inspired by a love of mythology and storytelling—“I’m obsessed with Athena,” she says—and that fiction is balanced with the very real experience of being a woman and, often, a commentary on the toxic misogyny people face every day. The result has proven to be off-putting to some. (Jerks, mostly.) “[My sculptures] are people and animals and creatures who have full lives, full experiences, and full personalities,” she says. “There are parts of ourselves, as feminine people, where we are beautiful and joyous and pleasant, and there are parts of us that are ugly and mean and not great. And we’re all like that. Unfortunately, my work is still really sidelined because it is over-the-top feminine in a world that, at best, ignores the feminine, and at worst, is absolutely hostile towards it.”
Here, Rier gives us a closer look at her sculpture And Chain and shows us that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Unless you’re one of the misogynists. In which case, run.
Click on the image to enlarge.
1. Some of Rier’s ceramic friends start out as miniatures and take different shapes over the course of several years. “In And Chain, there’s the bird-beaked woman. I call her the Bird Witch,” says Rier. “She’s an evolving character. A lot of the time, I’ll just have a piece of scrap clay and I’ll be like, ‘I’ll just see where this clay takes me.’ In doing so, I start to get ideas for larger pieces. Usually I’ll make a little monster and I’ll be like ‘Oh, I love that,’ and I’ll sketch a bigger or more complicated version.”
2. Rier laughs when asked about the origin stories of her figurines. “Where do they come from? I always am stuck on certain stories. There are a bunch of Sumerian myths that I’m really obsessed with, but also just the basic story of Eve eating the apple preoccupies me constantly. I’m decidedly agnostic, but it’s such a weird story! And it’s so the basis of Western misogyny, I’m obsessed with it.”
3. Rier’s work table is covered with phrases that she wants to remember for future sculptures. The conversation in And Chain is based on something she overheard in real life. “The married couple that owned the studio that I rented had the most absurd banter—they actually said this to each other.”
4. The original ceramic chain Rier made for And Chain fused up in the kiln. “I actually broke it trying to fix it, and cut my hand horribly,” she says. “It was terrible!” But a friend with a 3D printer came to the rescue. “I was pretty excited to incorporate a different [technique], and it took a few times to get the chain just the right vibe—that was a cool process.”
5. Most of Rier’s characters have stereotypical “pretty” features—long eyelashes, shapely lips, bows or flowers in their hair—but there’s always a darker side: shifty eyes, sharp teeth, and horns and bones and snakes. “I love that tension, right? It’s a little sinister, but then it’s got a cutesy little outfit on,” says Rier. “Evil doesn’t always look evil.”
Erika Rier will table at Gamjam 4 AKA Grass Hut Art Market in the old Ulta space near the Marshall’s entrance in the Lloyd Center Mall, NE 15th and NE Halsey, Sat Oct 4, 11 am-6 pm, $2 admission, all ages. Reir will also be at Portland Zine Symposium in Smith Memorial Ballroom at Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway, Nov 9, 11 am-5 pm, FREE, all ages.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate rejected competing measures on Friday to fund federal agencies for a few weeks when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, increasing prospects for a partial government shutdown on that date.
Leaders of the two parties sought to blame the other side for the standoff. Democrats accused Republicans of not negotiating with them to address some of their priorities on health care as part of the funding measure, even though they knew Democratic votes would be needed to get a bill to the president’s desk.
Republicans said Democrats were making demands that would dramatically increase spending and were not germane to the core issue of keeping agencies fully running for a short period of time while negotiations continued on a full-year spending package.
It’s unclear how the two sides will be able to avoid a shutdown. Republicans are planning on what amounts to a do-over vote on their proposal close to the deadline in the hopes that more Democrats will have second thoughts. Democrats are repeating their demand that Republicans sit down with them and work on a compromise.
“The theater must end,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the vote. “Let’s sit down and negotiate.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., gave no indication of a change in course.
“All it takes is a handful of Democrats to join the Republicans in keeping the government open and funded, and to ensure we have a chance to get the appropriations process completed in the way it was intended,” Thune said.
House Republicans unify behind a short-term bill The Senate action came after the House earlier in the day passed the Republican-led funding bill. The measure would extend government funding generally at current levels for seven weeks. The bill would also add about $88 million in security funding for lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court and executive branch in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The vote was 217-212. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the lone Democratic member to support the bill. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., also said she tried to vote for the bill but was not recognized by the presiding officer. She was listed officially as not voting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said he knew he had few votes to spare as he sought to persuade fellow Republicans to vote for the funding patch, something many in his conference have routinely opposed in past budget fights. But this time, GOP members saw a chance to portray the Democrats as responsible for a shutdown.
“The ball is in Chuck Schumer’s court. I hope he does the right thing. I hope he does not choose to shut the government down and inflict pain on the American people,” Johnson said.
President Donald Trump had urged House Republicans to pass the bill and put the burden on Democrats to oppose it. GOP leaders often need Trump’s help to win over holdouts on legislation.
“Every House Republican should UNIFY, and VOTE YES!” Trump said on his social media site.
Democrats press for action on health care Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that in opposing the continuing resolution, Democrats were working to protect the health care of the American people. He said that with Republicans controlling the White House and both branches of Congress, “Republicans will own a government shutdown. Period. Full stop.”
The Senate moved quickly after the House vote to take up the measure plus the Democratic counter. Both bills fell far short of the 60 votes required for passage.
The Democratic proposal would extend enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, plus reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in Republicans’ big tax breaks and spending cuts bill enacted earlier this year.
The Democratic measure actually received more votes than the Republican one due to absences. The 47-45 vote went strictly along party lines.
“The American people will look at what Republicans are doing, look at what Democrats are doing, and it will be clear that public sentiment will be on our side,” Schumer said.
The Republican measure gained 44 votes, including from Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. But 48 voted against it, including two Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Uncertainty ahead as lawmakers leave Washington Both chambers of Congress are out of session next week because of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Senators will return on Sept. 29. House Republicans don’t plan to be back until October. They were advised by leadership Friday that no votes would take place on Sept. 29-30, as previously scheduled.
The move by House GOP leadership essentially forces the Senate to approve the House-passed measure or risk a shutdown. Johnson said lawmakers have a lot of work to do in their districts.
Most Democrats appear to be backing Schumer’s demand that there be negotiations on the bill — and support his threats of a shutdown, even as it is unclear how they would get out of it.
“Look, the president said really boldly, don’t even talk to Democrats. Unless he’s forgotten that you need a supermajority to pass a budget in the Senate, that’s obviously his signal he wants a shutdown,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
While the Democratic measure to fund the government had no chance of passage, it does give Democrats a way to show voters their focus on cutting health care costs. Unless Congress act, tax credits going to low- and middle-income people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will expire. That will mean a big increase in premiums for millions of Americans.
“There are some things we have to address. The health insurance, ACA, is going to hammer millions of people in the country, including in red states,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. “To me, that can’t be put off.”
Republicans have said the tax credit issue can be dealt with later this year. They’re also using Schumer’s previous arguments against shutdowns to make the case he’s playing politics.
“Democrats voted in favor of clean CRs no fewer than 13 times during the Biden administration,” Thune said. “Yet now that Republicans are offering a clean CR, it’s somehow a no go. It’s funny how that happens.”
Festival coordinators faced a big, silly problem the first night of PDX Pop Now! 2025: They were already running low on silly straws. “The Jurassic Sunset” and “DinoSour”—custom cocktails for this year’s dinosaur theme—were hitting.
By the time tropical dream pop group Caicedo hit the stage at 6:30 pm, nearly every complimentary squiggly straw had found its way into the hands of eager festivalgoers swaying to the band’s irresistible Latin grooves and hazy, late summer hooks. In beautifully all-ages PDX Pop Now! fashion, the crowd consisted of scene kids with purple hair nodding their heads, as well as children with giant earmuffs jumping up and down alongside their bigs.
Since 2004, PDX Pop Now!—the non-profit as well as the festival it produces—has been an institution embedded within Portland’s many music scenes. This year, between the annual song compilation and the festival itself, PDX Pop Now! offers platform to nearly 75 Portland-based artists. The three-day affair, free and open to the public, might be the city’s most accessible and comprehensive celebration of Portland’s music communities. Even the audio engineers came from Friends Of Noise, a local nonprofit fostering and expanding young people’s involvement in Portland’s music scene, set to open an all-ages venue in North Portland as early as November.
The ice cream at the festival was free too, thanks to The Ice Cream Man—AKA Matt Allen—who has given away half a million free ice creams at concerts and festivals, including Pickathon, this summer. As it turns out, Matt also happens to be the Project Manager of Midtown Beer Garden, the venue of this year’s PPN! “I can’t think of another event more than PDX Pop Now! that I would like to see people in the city support,” he said. “It’s all Portland. This is what Portland really is.”
This year’s festival closed down Harvey Milk between SW 4th and 5th, creating space for a slew of local vendors, including a table for PDX Pop Now! volunteers to greet the public. Donning their now coveted trademark blue t-shirts, the volunteers are the backbone of the festival. Many have been involved for years. One pair of volunteers was a father-daughter duo, while another pair are the parents of the first “PDX Pop Baby,” who met volunteering at PDX Pop Now! in its earlier years.
Friday night saw hyperpop rap group Scumbag take the stage. The blue-jeaned, next-generation-boyband comes through with explosive energy that can only be described as “hella hype.” EDM beats paired with shout-able hooks and captivating stage presence brought audiences of all ages to their feet (both literally and metaphorically—we see you PDX Pop Baby). They dropped their high-octane, self-titled debut the day after their PDX Pop Now! performance.
Kerry Clark, one of the co-founders of PDX Pop Now! described Scumbag’s set as somewhere between the Backstreet Boys and Rage Against the Machine. For Clark, a champion of many PDX Pop Now! sets over the years, Scumbag’s presence on the festival’s stage serves as a meaningful reflection of the lineup’s sonic evolution across genres and generations, especially for younger audiences.
Sonia Weber, lead singer and songwriter of Alien Boy, used to attend PDX Pop Now! in high school, coming full circle as Friday night’s headlining band. The set was characterized by power-pop melodies, expansive guitar work (Weber’s Marshall stack spoke for itself), and heaps of headbanging in the crowd.
Saturday brought a festival first: A collaboration with the Portland Songwriters Guild, a nonprofit nurturing community through open mics and writers rounds. The event festival spilled across the street into the J.K. Gill Building’s lobby, with guild members performing originals in the round throughout the day. Nearby, a display showcased PDX Pop Now! CD compilations from years past.
Elsewhere on Saturday afternoon, Tiff2icy brought soulfully laidback vocals and beats. The vibe shifted abruptly during the next set, when Jake Habedank, a guitarist in noise-rock band Rango, shouted into the mic, “I thought this was Portland! Aren’t you motherfuckers supposed to know how to have a good time?!” A slick guitar lick launched the start of their tune, “Would You Still Love Me If I Wasn’t Your Brother,” the audience heeding the call to rise from their picnic tables and hit the pit.
Rousing Saturday afternoon sets from The UpKeeps (if Green Day were Britpop) and Swiss Army Wife (climate-aware PNW emo) brought blaring guitars. Both bands are best experienced in sweaty, packed basements, but they still brought heat in the center of Midtown Beer Garden.
Perhaps the band most due for an appearance on the festival’s stage was The Prids, a group curating alt-rock, interstellar musical voyages in Portland for over 25 years. They delivered their post-punk flare on Saturday night, including a spectacular jam session set-closer, transporting the crowd to outer space and back.
On Sunday, PDX Pop Now! partnered with the Curbside Serenade non-profit for a lineup of street performances on the corner of Harvey Milk and SW 5th. On the main stage, Friends Friends sang lush five-part harmonies, accompanied by a crunchy rock ‘n’ roll edge. DMN followed—a synth-pop quartet firing up a drum-machine—turning the late afternoon into sunrise at the discotheque. Next up was Coo Era, a hip-hop ensemble led by MCs Tyre Pinlight and Elameen, delivering rhymes alongside a horn section frightening away our Sunday scaries.
As night fell, PNW punks The Wild Jump stormed the stage with, “I’m Not Stuck In Here With You, You’re Stuck In Here With Me.” Shouting, “It’s about being stuck in an elevator with a billionaire!” In the crowd, a pack of PDX Pop Now! volunteers wielded inflatable instruments from the festival’s kid zone, rocking out and celebrating another epic closing to PDX Pop Now!
Raise your DinoSour, the festival just turned 21—here’s to 21 more years of PDX Pop Now!
Good Morning, Portland! Pacific Northwest weather really shines as we approach hoa hoa time. This weekend starts off with an amuse bouche balmy Friday evening, cooling off from a high today of 83 degrees, segueing into a sunny, warm Saturday with a high of 80, before closing with the classic rainy and cool Sunday. Weather, we don’t deserve you. Let’s hit the news!
IN LOCAL NEWS: • While I have no desire to live in a city luminous with the glow of vaunted back patting, it does seem like Portland set itself up for failure when it adopted the lofty goal of Vision Zero, which was set by Sweden in 1995 for its own roads and adopted by Portland in 2015. Nevertheless, as the City Council recommitted to the goal on Wednesday, OPB pointed out that one of the city’s main traffic tools—speed and red-light cameras—hasn’t been working since July. The city has been switching to a new system, which won’t be fully operational until November.
• Mike Bivins rose to local name recognition during the 2010s, as a freelance journalist covering downtown Portland protests and brawls between right wing groups, like Patriot Prayer, and leftist antifascists. However, in the spring of 2022, years after he’d ceased reporting, Bivins began a hateful spree of arson and vandalism, targeting a Muslim community center, two synagogues, and a Black-owned restaurant. In June, he was convicted on counts that included “second-degree bias crime, the legal term for a hate crime,” the Oregonian‘s Zane Sparling reports. Bivins was sentenced this week to serve five years in prison and five years on probation, but will likely only see eight more months behind bars, due to time served and requests of those he targeted, which sought rehabilitation over punishment.
• Also in the Fall Arts Issue: The season is STACKED with releases from interesting directors, like Paul Thomas Anderson, Kelly Reichardt, Lynne Ramsey, and Chloé Zhao! We asked Dom Sinacola to write something short and sweet about what looks promising—and what you should avoid at all costs.
Get ready, tummy! Starting September 29, you can cram your mouth with the most delicious wings in town, created by 80(!) of your fave restaurants and bars. It’s the Mercury’s WING WEEK!
• It’s Friday morning, and new concert tickets are about to drop, including those for Chelsea Handler at the Schnitz in June next year and John Mulaney with Fred Armisen at Moda Center in December! Check our whole list via EverOut’s round-up of what’s on sale!
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS: • The European Union will enact economic sanctions on Russia, to impact the country’s continued invasion and attempted occupation of Ukraine.
The EU announced new sanctions on Friday meant to hit Russia’s economy and make it more difficult for the country to fund its war in Ukraine, with plans to curb its energy trade and punish financial service companies.
Estonia summoned a Russian diplomat to protest after three Russian fighter aircraft entered its airspace without permission on Friday and stayed there for 12 minutes, the Foreign Ministry said.
• This morning, the House passed a Republican measure to keep the government funded until November 21, CBS reports.
• As the House and the Senate attempt to reconcile their respective budgets for the annual defense policy bill, Republican lawmakers got stuck on… Pride flags last week. While debating an amendment that would outlaw Pride flags “in any workplace or common area at the Department of Defense,” Oregon Rep. Maxine Dexter criticized her colleagues. “There are 20 days until the government shuts down. Eight legislative days,” Dexter said, “and what are Republicans focused on? Flags. Pride flags.” Rep. Cory Mills of Florida interrupted Dexter, raising a point of order to claim that the small Pride flag Dexter displayed on the podium during her comments “violates our house rules by flying any other flag but the American flag.”
• The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel voted to rescind a longstanding recommendation to vaccinate children under age four against measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox—generally known as MMRV. The panel had been hastily assembled by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this week, the New York Times reports, and the meeting was described as chaotic and contentious, as “many of the members needed explanations of the usual protocol for these meetings, the design of scientific studies, and critical flaws in the data they suggested including.” Worth noting that Oregon and several other states plan to follow their own vaccine recommendations.
• Today in failing up, we’re nearing the one year anniversary of former political correspondent Olivia Nuzzi breaking with New York Magazine, following a revelation and investigation into her affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a person she was supposed to be reporting on. On Thursday, Vanity Fair announced Nuzzi would join its revamped staff as West Coast Editor. That certainly made a bunch of people sit up and think aboiut hate-reading Vanity Fair. That’s literally half the ballgame, guys!
Grant High School will have its student pep band perform for tonight’s football game. This comes as Portland Public Schools and its teachers’ union, which includes the Portland Interscholastic League, came to an agreement to update its bargaining contract.
Earlier this month, band teachers from six area schools sent out a joint letter saying they would forgo their commitments to the 2025-26 sports season, meaning students would not be able to perform. Band leaders have wanted to get paid more for extracurricular activities and had been bargaining since November 2023. The current collective bargaining between PPS and its teachers’ union will expire in November 2026.
When: Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. and Sunday, Sept. 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Where: Prost!, 4237 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR 97217
Prost! is marking Oktoberfest with live music, a “ceremonial keg tapping” and even commemorative mugs. The German bar is open to minors until 9 p.m.
When: Friday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Where: 1510 SE 9th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
Usama Siddiquee is embarking on his first multi-city tour. The comic and actor rose to fame with appearances on “America’s Got Talent” and “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.”
When: Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. Where: Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division St, Portland, OR 97202
The Tomorrow Theater will screen Academy Award-nominated romantic comedy “Amélie” as part of the Office of Collecting and Design’s U.S. tour. The organization and “traveling museum” will also present a short, animated film titled “Memoirs of Vegetation: The Castor Bean.”
When: Friday, Sept. 19 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 21 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Where: Oaks Amusement Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, Portland, OR 97202
Cooking demonstrations, wiener dog races, folk music and more are in store for this Oktoberfest celebration. The three-day event is included with admission into Oaks Amusement Park.
When: Saturday, Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 21 from 7 a.m. – 12 p.m. Where: Portland Community College Cascade Campus, 705 N Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97217
The Soul District Business Association’s yearly fundraiser is back. The festivities start with a kickoff celebration on Saturday, while the main event starts on Sunday. MLK Dream Run participants can choose from a free kids’ race, or a 5K, 10K and 15K.
When: Saturday, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Where: 100 SE Alder St, Portland, OR 97214
Brought to you by the same people behind the Portland Night Market, SnackFest will bring a variety of treats from vendors such as Sweet and Salty PDX, Shroomlandia and Koki Koki Bakehouse. The all-ages event is free to enter, with some ticketed activities.
When: Saturday, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 21 from 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. Where: 3832 N Interstate Avenue, Portland, OR 97227
Portland’s Polish Festival was founded in 1993. More than 30 years later, the event still honors Polish culture with food, polka contests and street dancing.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Summer-like warmth returns to the Pacific Northwest on Friday as sunshine fades to rain late this weekend.
Another round of sunshine and warming temperatures will put Portland and much of the Willamette Valley into the low to mid-80s on Friday afternoon. These warmer-than-average temperatures come with a northwesterly breeze at five to 10 mph. Summer heat is expected to be felt just east of the Cascades.
Friday night football will be mild, dry, and mostly clear. Temperatures will fall into the low 70s by halftime. Upper 60s are possible in some locations by the end of the game.
Those heading to Eugene for the weekend can expect sunshine and mild temperatures for the Ducks vs. Beavers game at Autzen Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Temperatures will warm into the mid and upper 70s along the southern Willamette Valley by the end of the weekend.
Accumulative rain returns to the region on Sunday as a summer-ending front swings through the Pacific Northwest. Rain will likely start before sunrise and last through the middle of the day. A gradual drying trend will take shape after 0.1″ to 0.2″ of rain accumulates across the Portland & Vancouver metro area.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland has seen a 51% drop in homicides during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the Major Cities Chiefs Association’s midyear violent crime report.
Launched in 2023, the city’s ceasefire program targets individuals at high risk of gun violence. It connects them with community services such as housing, education and job opportunities to prevent further violence.
Other violent crimes, including aggravated assaults, rapes and robberies, also declined during the period.
Portland’s Focused Intervention Team Community Oversight Group (FITCOG) met Thursday night to review progress and discuss ways to improve community safety and reduce shootings.
Chair Juma Whatley credited collaboration among local organizations for the success.
“Different organizations everybody utilizing their resources to make sure that the people who are out driving gun violence up are occupied and doing things that don’t allow them to be out and causing harm in the community,” Whatley said.
FITCOG is currently seeking public feedback on gun violence prevention efforts.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — At least one Portland public high school band says it will perform at a football game on Friday night.
The board for Portland Public Schools just approved pay for band directors for hours spent outside the classroom, like during Friday night games.
Earlier this month, band directors from Cleveland, Franklin, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln and Ida B. Wells initially said they made the decision not to perform at games after repeated failed attempts at clarifying the language in their employment contracts.
The band director at Grant High School says his crew is ready to perform on Friday.
“My band’s ready to go right now,” said Chris McCurdy.
It’s unclear if other Portland school bands will follow suit for this Friday.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Washington officials say human remains found in a remote area of Leavenworth are suspected to belong to Travis Decker, the man suspected of murdering his three daughters.
As first reported by KIRO, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office says the remains still need to be positively identified, but that the preliminary findings suggest that the remains are Decker’s.
The bodies of Decker’s three daughters were found in early June near his truck outside of the Rock Island Campground after he was supposed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Some things only get better with age. Friendships, memories and time together were at the heart of a milestone celebration for Grant High School’s Class of 1965, as alumni reunited for their 60th high school reunion.
For alumna Fay Shoup, now Ms. Oregon Senior, the night was another chance to reflect on the past and reconnect.
“Oh, it’s always fun. I’ve gone to all the reunions,” she said. “Everyone is just reconnecting, having a great time and glad we’re still here.”
Ms. Oregon Senior Fay Shoup, a part of the Grant High School Class of 1965, celebrated her 60th class reunion in Portland on Sept. 2025. (KOIN)
KOIN 6 has been following this group for decades, including an exclusive look at their 20th reunion back in 1985. Then, classmate Dick Wilkinson confidently told our cameras, “We’ve got it made, it’s going to be a big success.”
Forty years later, Wilkinson is still helping organize the parties. Reflecting on the passing years, he admitted, “If you would have told me in ’65 I’d be standing here, going to a reunion this many years later—and that we’d be dealing with the things we’re dealing with now—I would have said, ‘That’s not gonna happen.’”
Committee chair Brian Newkirk said the class’s size never got in the way of lasting bonds.
The Grant High School Class of 1965 celebrated their 60th reunion in Portland in Sept. 2025. (KOIN)
The Grant High School Class of 1965 celebrated their 60th reunion in Portland in Sept. 2025. (KOIN)
The Grant High School Class of 1965 celebrated their 60th reunion in Portland in Sept. 2025. (KOIN)
The Grant High School Class of 1965 celebrated their 60th reunion in Portland in Sept. 2025. (KOIN)
“We’ve developed such a bond, even though we were such a huge class,” he said. “You never lose sight of your classmates of Grant.”
One classmate who’s especially hard to miss is actress Sally Struthers. The Emmy Award–winner, known for “All in the Family” and “Gilmore Girls,” returned to Portland for the big night.
Award-winning actress Sally Struthers, a part of the Grant High School Class of 1965, celebrated her 60th class reunion in Portland in Sept. 2025. (KOIN)
“I am so happy to be at my 60th—yeah, I said it—60th high school reunion. What’s my other choice? I’d be dead,” Struthers joked.
The night also carried moments of reflection, with alumni honoring those they’ve lost over the years.
As Wilkinson put it, “When I was 18, if you would have said, ‘Oh, that guy is 78,’ I would have thought someone needs to go help him. But that’s not the way it is. It’s been a good ride.”
PORTLAND, Ore. – Police have arrested an 18-year-old Albany man in connection with the December 2023 shooting death of Skyler Stuckey in Portland’s East Columbia neighborhood.
Jimmi Lawing was taken into custody Wednesday during a traffic stop by Albany Police.
He was extradited to Multnomah County the following day and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
Stuckey, 21, also of Albany, was killed in a shooting on the night of Dec. 31, 2023. A second victim, an 18-year-old male, was seriously injured but survived.
No motive has been released, and detectives have not shared further details about the case.
PORTLAND, Ore. – A man has been arrested following a deadly shooting early Thursday morning outside a bar in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood.
Brandon Lewis, 37, was taken into custody at the scene and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. He faces charges of second-degree murder, second-degree assault, and unlawful use of a weapon, according to the Portland Police Bureau.
Officers from the East Precinct responded to the 8200 block of Southeast Harrison Street around 2:10 a.m. after receiving reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found an adult male deceased in the parking lot. Another man was injured and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The main flag pole in front of the U.S. Army I Corps headquarters on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Tacoma, Wash., hangs at half-staff, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Four service members were aboard a U.S. Army MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that crashed near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, the Army said in a release Thursday. The Army did not release their conditions.
The helicopter was on a routine training mission when it crashed at about 9 p.m. Wednesday, an Army official said in a statement. The soldiers were part of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Airborne, officials said. The cause of the crash was under investigation, the Army said.
“This remains an active, ongoing situation,” the release said.
The crash sparked a small wildfire that had grown to 1 acre (0.4 hectares) by Thursday morning, the Washington Department of Natural Resources said.
This is “currently a search mission” involving the “most professional and skilled addressing the situation,” Army spokesperson Ruth Castro told The Associated Press in an email. They were fully cooperating with law enforcement, she said. No details were released about the helicopter.
The base is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Tacoma under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Joint Base Headquarters.
The Thurston County sheriff’s office, based in Olympia, posted online late Wednesday that deputies were dispatched to reports of a possible helicopter crash in the Summit Lake area, west of Olympia.
“We have been advised that the military lost contact with a helicopter in the area,” the department said. It said it was working with the base and that no further details were available.
Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders said on Facebook that deputies located the crash site, “but have been unable to continue rescue efforts as the scene is on fire.”
The King County Guardian 1 helicopter and special operation rescue units responded to the crash site, the sheriff said.
Staff with the state natural resources were working with multiple agencies, including the military and the local fire protection district, to battle the fire started by the crash, said Thomas Kyle-Milward, DNR wildfire communications manager.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw pitches to a San Francisco Giants batter during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, will retire at the end of this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced Thursday.
The 37-year-old left-hander will make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants.
Kershaw, an 11-time All-Star and 2014 NL MVP, is in his 18th major league season, all with the Dodgers.
He won World Series championships in 2020 and 2024.
Kershaw has a career record of 222-96 and 15 shutouts, leading active Major League players.
His 2.54 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher in the live ball era since 1920.
(AP) – Nvidia, the world’s leading chipmaker, announced on Thursday that it’s investing $5 billion in Intel and will collaborate with the struggling semiconductor company.
Nvidia said it will spend $5 billion to buy Intel common stock at $23.28 a share. The investment, which is subject to regulatory approvals, comes a month after the U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called it “a fusion of two world-class platforms” that combines Intel’s strength in making conventional computer chips, known as CPUs, that power most laptops, with Nvidia’s focus on the specialized graphics chips that are critical for artificial intelligence.
“This partnership is a recognition that computing has fundamentally changed,” Huang told reporters Thursday. “The era of accelerated and AI computing has arrived.”
Intel shares jumped nearly 23%, its biggest one-day percentage gain since 1987. Nvidia shares added more than 3%.
For data centers, Intel will make custom chips that Nvidia will use in its AI infrastructure platforms. For personal computer products, Intel will build chips that integrate Nvidia technology.
The agreement provides a lifeline for Intel, which was a Silicon Valley pioneer that enjoyed decades of growth as its processors powered the personal computer boom, but fell into a slump after missing the shift to the mobile computing era unleashed by the iPhone’s 2007 debut.
Intel fell even farther behind in recent years amid the AI boom that’s propelled Nvidia into the world’s most valuable company. Intel lost nearly $19 billion last year and another $3.7 billion in the first six months of this year, and expects to slash its workforce by a quarter by the end of 2025.
The U.S. government stepped in last month to secure a 10% stake — 433.3 million shares of non-voting stock priced at $20.47 apiece — making it one of Intel’s biggest shareholders. Federal officials said they invested in Intel in order to bolster U.S. technology and domestic manufacturing. The total value of the U.S. government’s stake in Intel now stands at $13.2 billion, a $2.5 billion increase from what it stood before the Nvidia investment was announced.
Huang said Nvidia has been in talks with Intel for about a year. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who joined the press call with Huang on Thursday, said he’s been talking to Nvidia since he was named Intel’s new leader in March.
“This is a very big, important milestone,” Tan said. “I call it a game-changing opportunity that we can work together.”
The deal is “bullish for U.S. tech,” Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said in a client note.
Ives said it brings Intel “front and center into the AI game” and, combined with the U.S. government stake, adds to “a golden few weeks for Intel after years of pain and frustration for investors.”
Nvidia, meanwhile, has soared because its specialized chips are underpinning the AI boom. The chips, known as graphics processing units, or GPUs, are highly effective at developing powerful AI systems.
The deal between the two chipmakers comes as China moves to be less dependent on U.S. semiconductor technology. This week, Chinese officials reportedly forbade several large domestic technology companies from purchasing Nvidia chips, and China-based Huawei announced that it was expanding its development of AI chips and manufacturing.
While Nvidia and Intel, both headquartered in Santa Clara, California, will work together to develop new chips, a manufacturing deal has yet to be struck between the two. The potential access to Intel’s chip foundries by Nvidia poses a risk to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which currently manufactures the tech giant’s flagship processors. Huang emphasized Thursday that both his company and Intel remain “very successful customers” of TSMC.
Of Nvidia’s own Intel stake, Huang said “the Trump administration had no involvement in this partnership at all,” though “would have been very supportive, of course.”
Huang has been in Britain on a visit that coincides with Trump’s trip to the country, and he has been attending events with the president along with other Silicon Valley bigwigs.
At a signing ceremony for a trans-Atlantic tech partnership on Thursday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump mused that AI was “taking over the world.”
“I’m looking at you guys. You’re taking over the world, Jensen,” Trump said.
Huang and Trump also both attended a royal banquet, prompting the tech mogul to dish about the Windsor Castle event to Intel’s CEO in the seconds before their press event.
“The cognac was excellent, but just not enough of it,” Huang told Tan. “I guess the cognac was from 1912.”
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, September 29 to Sunday, October 5, the Mercury’s Wing Week returns with one-of-a-kind chicken wings available at more than 80 (!!) of Portland’s favorite bars and restaurants. And even better? Each order of wings will only cost you a lousy $10. (Oh, and a big, saucy thanks to our buddies at Jim Beam and Travel Portland for their help in bringing you Wing Week!)
But these aren’t just your average wings! Oh no. This is the week when Portland’s most creative chefs roll up their sleeves, dust off their secret spice racks, and unleash a torrent of saucy, crispy, crunchy, sticky-fingered innovation. We’re talking wings inspired by global cuisines, wings slathered in sauces you didn’t know could exist, wings that are hot, sweet, smoky, sour—and sometimes all at once!
Where to begin? Well, start by going to our handy Wing Week map to see all those locations. Then download your Wing Week pass so you can keep track and start your wing crawl! And make sure and tag yourself at #mercurywingweek while you’re at it!
Now pull on your eatin’ pants, round up your wing crew, and prepare for a week that will go down in the history books (or at least in your sauce-stained diary).
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, September 29 to Sunday, October 5, the Mercury’s Wing Week returns with one-of-a-kind chicken wings available at more than 80 (!!) of Portland’s favorite bars and restaurants. And even better? Each order of wings will only cost you a lousy $10. (Oh, and a big, saucy thanks to our buddies at Jim Beam and Travel Portland for their help in bringing you Wing Week!)
But these aren’t just your average wings! Oh no. This is the week when Portland’s most creative chefs roll up their sleeves, dust off their secret spice racks, and unleash a torrent of saucy, crispy, crunchy, sticky-fingered innovation. We’re talking wings inspired by global cuisines, wings slathered in sauces you didn’t know could exist, wings that are hot, sweet, smoky, sour—and sometimes all at once!
Where to begin? Well, start by going to our handy Wing Week map to see all those locations. Then download your Wing Week pass so you can keep track and start your wing crawl! And make sure and tag yourself at #mercurywingweek while you’re at it!
Now pull on your eatin’ pants, round up your wing crew, and prepare for a week that will go down in the history books (or at least in your sauce-stained diary).
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Salem man is dead following a road rage incident in Idaho on Monday morning, according to the Payette County Sheriff’s Office.
Charles Vincent Avery, 32, was headed westbound on I-84 around 9:10 p.m. when he and another driver both exited the freeway onto Black Canyon Road and then headed south on Sand Hollow Road.
Investigators said Avery, driving a white Kia Optima, eventually parked and blocked the road as both drivers came to a stop. The other driver, identified as a 71-year-old man from Boise, had stopped at the same time.
“The Kia driver damaged the vehicle’s mirror, attempted to break out the driver’s side window, and eventually opened the driver’s side door,” deputies said. “The driver of the Nissan said that he feared for his life and shot the driver of the Kia.”
Avery died at the scene. Authorities detained the shooter but have not filed charges.
Officials did not share more details, and an investigation remains ongoing.
