PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A town hall hosted by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden was called off after pro-Palestine organizers gathered at the event.
The Democratic senator was slated to lead a Josephine County town hall at Rogue Community College in Grants Pass at 4 p.m. on Monday. But Wyden’s spokesperson, Hank Stern, said the meeting was delayed when some protesters took over the event.
“Because keeping the audience safe at any of the senator’s town halls must be paramount, the college president announced that yesterday’s Josephine County town hall was postponed after it became apparent a dozen or so protesters would not allow the other 250 attendees to speak,” Stern wrote in a statement. “As at every one of the senator’s previous 1,131 previous town halls, every opportunity would have been presented to any Oregonian to exercise their First Amendment rights and ask him any question. Unfortunately, a small group of people did not allow that to happen yesterday.”
In several videos shared on TikTok, protesters are seen interrupting the beginning of the town hall while holding Palestinian flags, singing and chanting.
While Wyden wasn’t involved in any physical altercation himself, he was soon escorted out of the event after another attendee pushed two demonstrators away. KOIN 6 is working to confirm whether the attendee worked for officials.
Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack against Israel in October 2023, marking a major development in what Wyden later referred to as “mushrooming” conflict in the Middle East.
The senator, born to Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, previously said Israel “has the right to defend itself.” He has also condemned President Donald Trump’s “declared support for forcibly displacing millions of Palestinians.”
In late July, Wyden was one of several U.S. senators who struck down Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s efforts to block federal officials from selling bombs and firearms to Israel. His fellow Democratic Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley voted in favor of both resolutions proposed by the former presidential nominee.
PORTLAND, Ore. – A 911 call was made last week by a man named Ben, who saw a woman laying down on the sidewalk as he was walking to class at OHSU.
As Ben walked up to the woman, he tells the Lars Larson Show that he noticed what looked like blood on the back of her head, and called 911. Ben told the operator that the woman looks like she is sleeping, and the operator asked him if he could wake her up. Ben did, asked the woman if she was okay, and asked her if she needed an ambulance.
The woman declined, but Ben was still concerned about her head injury, and thought paramedics should still be sent to check on the woman. Ben asked the 911 operator if they were going to send someone to check on her, but the operator said if she is declining medical attention, they won’t be sending anyone out. You can listen to the entire 911 call made by Ben below:
BOEC, the agency responsible for taking and dispatching 911 calls made this statement in regards to Ben’s call. “BOEC calls are evaluated through a stringent quality assurance process. We are on the path toward accreditation level performance. BOEC’s typical protocol is to triage calls by asking the caller a series of questions that would inform whether a first responder is dispatched. This call did not meet our standards for following protocol and did not demonstrate our value of compassion for the community we serve. BOEC will be following up with appropriate next steps.”
(NewsNation) — DNA matching Travis Decker and his three daughters were the only profiles found at the scene of the girls’ deaths, leading officials to believe Decker is the sole suspect.
“The completion of this DNA analysis provides additional evidence that indicates Travis Decker is the only suspect involved in committing these homicides,” the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said.
This undated photo provided by Whitney Decker shows Paityn, Olivia and Evelyn Decker. (Courtesy of Whitney Decker via AP)
Three Washington girls who were reported missing last week were found dead, and a search is ongoing for the girls’ father, police announced. (COURTESY)
Police are searching for Travis Decker after the bodies of his three daughters were found in Washington (Wenatchee Police Department)
Three Washington girls who were reported missing last week were found dead, and a search is ongoing for the girls’ father, police announced. (NEWSNATION)
Manhunt for Travis Decker continues
There is no new evidence Decker is dead or alive, according to officials.
Decker is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 190 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt and dark shorts.
“Due to safety concerns do not attempt to contact or approach Decker,” police warned in June.
Anyone who may have seen Decker or knows his current location is asked to call 911. A $20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Decker’s arrest.
I’m a 31-year-old heterosexual woman who has been married for nine years. The math: my husband and I got married right after university. Like you, I grew up Catholic, and as a girl/woman, all of the purity culture bullshit was foisted on me. Over the years, I’ve come to reject everything I was brought up to believe. I never stepped out of line, and now I grieve for my younger self because I missed out on formative experiences — sexual and otherwise — that I should’ve had in my teens/20s. I feel stunted. It was pounded into me (only figuratively, sadly) that I would deeply regret having sex before marriage. Ironically, what I actually regret is not having sex with the kind, loving guys I dated before my husband.
In the last year or so, I’ve developed a curiosity to experience more and some very ambiguous desires. I wonder what it would be like to have other sexual partners and what it would be like to date now. I’ve talked about this with my husband, and he validates that my feelings are normal given my/our strict upbringing and lack of experience, but ultimately shrugs it off. After all, he says, we can’t go back in time and get married later or have different partners, etc. I cannot imagine him being open to any arrangement other than what we have now: garden-variety monogamy. My ambiguous desire had no outlet until recently, when I developed a huge crush on a coworker. While we’re flirtatious together, he’s also unavailable, so there is nowhere for this attraction to “go.” I have not felt like this for as long as I’ve been married. The alchemy of this crush is staggering.
Dan, what do I do if I want to experience more, but I can’t put my finger on what that means exactly? If I want experiences that aren’t possible within my marriage, are my only options to suppress those desires or leave when leaving could mean I would lose a mostly solid relationship for potentially nothing?
Grass Is Getting Greener Every Day
You have four options, GIGGED, not two.
Option #1: Ask. You may think you already asked your husband for permission to fuck other men, GIGGED, but if your husband was able to shrug your concerns off — come on — you failed to communicate exactly what it was you were asking for. And if you can’t imagine him being open to “any arrangement” other than the one you agreed to when you married, then you failed to ask him a direct question about other possible arrangements. If you had, you wouldn’t have to imagine how he might feel. You would know. Like a lot of married people who want to open their marriages, you kept the ask vague — and plausibly deniable — in case he reacted with shock or anger, and you wanted to walk it back. So, ask him directly: Can we open our marriage? Can I fuck some other guys? If he surprises you and says yes, you’ll have the freedom you want without having to give up the husband you still love. If he says no…
Option #2: Leave. This means losing your marriage — and just asking about openness has cost some people their marriages — but even if you lose him, GIGGED, you won’t be left with nothing. You will have your freedom. Freedom isn’t a guarantee of current or future romantic or sexual happiness, of course, but freedom ain’t nothing either. You don’t mention children — which would change the math here — and divorce is painful and messy with or without kids, but you’re still young. And if you suddenly found yourself single at 32, you’ll be able to make up for lost time and lost dicks.
Option #3: Cheat. This advice pisses everyone off, but it belongs on the table because people do it and because in some instances — not your instance, GIGGED, but in some — cheating is the least worst option for all involved, including the person who got cheated on. But it’s a high-risk gamble: you could get caught and blow your marriage up and be seen as the villain, or you could get away with it but then spend the rest of your life with the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head. Some people manage to have affairs and get away with them, some don’t. Some people learn to live with the stress of a secret, some crack under it.
Option #4: Suppress. Basically, suck it up. Tell yourself your marriage is good enough, your husband is good enough, and you’re willing and able to go to your grave decades from now without having sex with anyone else even once. This is the path of least resistance — it’s the path most monogamously-married-but-sexually-frustrated people choose to walk; it’s also the path lots of cheaters tried to walk and/or pretended to walk. But it’s also the path most likely to slowly rot your marriage from the inside out, GIGGED, as your feelings of resentment grow and that grass on your coworker starts to look greener and greener. Most people who wind up cheating were attempting to suck it up but couldn’t keep it up. (For the record: Not all monogamously married people are sexually frustrated! And not all cheaters are sexually satisfied!)
None of these options are perfect. All of them come with costs. But pretending you only have two options — suppress or leave — simply isn’t true.
I’m a 40-year-old straight married guy. This past weekend, I got a day pass to a nearby nudist club — you know, the kind with families, a lake, kayaks, tennis courts, that sort of thing. I was basically on a scouting mission to see if it was the kind of place my wife might like to spend some time. (It was fun!) Everyone was super nice and welcoming, but I always made sure to drop a reference to my wife and kids in conversation, especially with women — it just seemed to make things go smoother, given I was a single, unaccompanied male. At one point, though, another unaccompanied male, around age fifty, approached me and started talking. It became clear pretty quickly that he was flirting. Totally fine, all good, people do that! But I then dropped in a reference to my wife, almost without thinking about it, because that’s what I’d been doing all day, and he ended our conversation abruptly and walked away.
I felt bad about it afterward. I think he read it as me trying to communicate my straightness to him, which I wasn’t really trying to do. Or at least, I wasn’t communicating anything I hadn’t been communicating to everyone else all day. Is there a good way to subtly let a guy know I’m straight and not interested without making it sound like I’m trying to get out of the conversation because he’s gay and I’m not? And is that advice any different when we are both standing naked in front of each other?
Needs Understanding Dan’s Evaluation
You’re overthinking this. In a mixed nudist environment — a mix of queers and straights, olds and youngs, naked tennis players and naked kayakers — you will occasionally be approached by men who are interested in your dick. So, unless you get “STRAIGHT” tattooed across your forehead (Pete Hegseth knows a tattoo artist who would be happy to do it), you’re gonna have brief interactions with gay men drawn to your dick.
Now, you only had one conversation that ended abruptly, NUDE, and unless that guy was the kind of pushy jerk who felt entitled to your dick because he could see it — and pushy jerks aren’t welcome at nudist resorts — I doubt he took it personally when you mentioned the wife. He hoped you might be gay, he realized you weren’t, and he moved on. You most likely talked with other men that day you didn’t realize were gay because 1. they were just making conversation and weren’t trying to get into your invisible pants (and so they kept chatting with you even after you dropped the “wife” bomb) or 2. they were trying to get into your invisible pants but stuck around after they realized you were straight because they were enjoying the conversation.
That said, NUDE, you don’t need a secret handshake or subtle wink or an appalling tattoo to let people know who you are. All you need is a willingness to make conversation and the ability to slip relevant details about yourself into the conversational flow. This advice applies whether you’re wearing nothing at the nudist resort, a full gimp suit at the fetish club, or a tux at your best friend’s wedding.
On the Magnum, Dan chats with novelist and television writer Kashana Cauley. (Author of The Payback and The Survivalists.) They talk about the pleasure of dystopian novels in a dystopian present, on being a clotheshorse, the student debt crisis, setting boundaries in kink and more! Listen here.
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Good morning, Portland! Things are heating up this week. Today, we’re in for a high of 80 degrees, but by this weekend, temps are expected to reach the high 90s.
Side note: There are roughly five weeks of summer left. Let’s cool it with all the “end of summer” sales and social media posts. We don’t care if your kids are back in school. DO NOT deprive us of the most glorious season Oregon has to offer.
That was a public service announcement. Now here’s the news.
In Local News:
• Last year, Carpenter Media bought up two major Oregon news companies–Pamplin Media Group and EO Media Group. Pamplin published the Portland Tribune and about a dozen other community-focused newspapers in the surrounding suburbs. EO Media Group published papers in Eastern Oregon, including the Bend Bulletin. Many of those newspapers weren’t doing great financially, but now several are either gone or have seen sizable reductions. The Portland Tribune is down to two news staffers, and is now web-only. Other community papers like the Sandy Post and Estacada News saw their lone reporter laid off and their print editions discontinued. In central Oregon, reporters at the Bend Bulletin are fighting with Carpenter for a living wage. Read the latest from Abe Asher about how a media giant’s expansion into Oregon caused the news landscape to shrink.
In 2024, Carpenter Media acquired two major Oregon newspaper companies, including Pamplin Media Group. So far, Carpenter’s ownership role has been marked by labor fights, layoffs, and the discontinuation of select print products in an aggressive move to cut costs.
• A lot of cool shit is happening across the city, from live music, to sports, comedy, and more. Need help deciding what to do with yourself? Our weekly Do This; Do That installment is here for you! Revel in it. Let it remind you that Portland is buzzing with entertainment and art.
What are you up to this week? If your answer falls somewhere along the lines of “Uhhhh, I dunno…” then do we have the roundup for YOU. This week: Roller derby, environmental art, and dozens of DIY cartoonists dropping by Lloyd Center.
• Organizers of the annual Rose Festival and the Waterfront Blues Festival say they’re struggling to keep up with permit fees levied by Portland Parks & Recreation. KATU reports that both festivals combined pay about $330,000 a year to the city’s parks bureau to put on the annual events, which involve heavy use of Tom McCall Waterfront Park downtown. “Records obtained by KATU News from Portland Parks and Recreation through a records request show the Rose Festival spent nearly $1.4 million between 2015 and 2024 on city fees, even without downtown events for two of those years. The Waterfront Blues Festival spent just over $1 million in that timeframe.” This year, the city waived the fees for both events, but the organizers want that fee waiver to become permanent. Removing fees for heavy-use events could further strain PP&R, which is already facing a lack of adequate funding.
In National/World News:
• President Donald Trump’s ongoing attempts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continued Monday. Trump reportedly called Putin while Zelensky was with other European leaders at the White House. As Axios reports, Trump “hoped to quickly arrange a trilateral summit involving both Putin and Zelensky, but Putin has yet to agree to that idea.” This feels a lot like middle school, when two of your friends were fighting and one–either the most mature of the pubescent pod, or the nosiest bitch among them–decided to call up one of the two fighting friends while the other is staying over during a sleepover. In the end, one teen always has a decent reason for being pissed, while the mediator just wants to smooth things over so they can feel good and go back to having two girls telling them their outfits are cute, instead of just one. Oh, and Trump apparently showed off his collection of tacky MAGA hats.
Showing the endangered leader of an invaded country my hats
• As we mentioned yesterday, Dems in Congress are in an ongoing fight to prevent gerrymandering in Texas that would undoubtedly favor Republicans. Last night, Rep. Nicole Collier of Ft. Worth spent the night in the House chamber of the Capitol, rather than being escorted and monitored by police. According to the Associated Press, “Rep. Nicole Collier’s overnight stay stemmed from Republicans in the Texas House requiring returning Democrats to sign what the Democrats called ‘permission slips,’ agreeing to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor.”
• In a practice dubbed “job hugging,” US workers are more likely to stay at their current jobs amid a lagging employment market, but Fortune says they’re likely to jump ship as soon as better opportunities come along and market conditions improve. A stagnating labor market has led employees to stay put, but Fortune says growing discontent could lead to “another Great Resignation once market conditions improve.”
When Carpenter Media Group purchased Pamplin Media Group, Austin White, then the Portland Tribune’s managing sports editor, said many newsroom employees had never heard of the company.
“We still didn’t really know what to expect,” White said. “We thought we had maybe sold to a better company, one that might not be like a Gannett that’s coming in and trying to slash a bunch of stuff. It felt like maybe a little more friendly to editorial folks.”
Quickly, however, that feeling changed. White said he began researching the reporting staff at other Carpenter-owned newspapers in different parts of the country and noticing a trend: sports sections with just a single editor and very few, if any, reporters.
“I just kept seeing that over and over: Georgia, Texas papers, Nebraska, all kinds,” White said. “To me, that just signals, well, if there isn’t a profit here, they’re going to keep slashing until they cannot anymore.”
Eventually, that’s what happened at the Tribune: White lost his job in June along with a number of his colleagues. The Tribune, which is no longer being printed and is now published exclusively online, was left with just two newsroom employees.
The Tribune’s fate is indicative not just of the ongoing challenges facing newspapers across the US, but also of the modus operandi of Carpenter—a relative newcomer in the media space about which little is known.
Carpenter, which was founded in 2023 and is based in Mississippi, says on its website that its media holdings are “the cornerstones of their communities” and that the corporation as a whole aims “to forge a well-informed, interconnected, and prosperous society—one community at a time.”
Carpenter owns newspapers across the country, including dozens of papers in the southeast. But over the last year-plus, its footprint in the northwest has grown rapidly.
Last June, Carpenter bought Pamplin Media, then the largest newspaper group in the Portland area. Then in October, Carpenter expanded its regional footprint by purchasing EO Media Group, which owned a number of publications in Central and Eastern Oregon. Carpenter has also acquired numerous newspapers in Alaska and Washington.
Those purchases have made Carpenter the fourth-largest newspaper owner in the country by circulation. But because Carpenter is a privately held company, very little is known about their business strategy or underlying motivations.
Courtney Scott, the executive officer of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which represents unionized employees at the Bulletin in Bend and Everett Daily Herald, said that has made dealing with the company more difficult.
“Part of the issue with Carpenter is that we don’t really know who is an investor or who they’re attached to,” Scott said. “It’s completely shaded: We don’t know how much money they have, it’s very secretive, and we don’t know what their aim is.”
Even within the world of newspaper acquisitions, Scott said, that lack of insight into Carpenter’s acquisition strategy is relatively uncommon. Carpenter did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Scott said that in a number of other cases, corporations like Alden Global Capital purchase newspapers primarily to take control of the property those newspapers own and potentially flip it.
“That is definitely not the case with Carpenter,” Scott said. “I don’t think they’re coming in for the real estate. It seems strange to us that they went from relatively unknown outside of typical news guild markets to now the fourth-largest by circulation [media publication owner] in the country.”
What does seem clear thus far is that Carpenter is bent on cutting costs, whatever the impact for the markets they serve.
In October of last year, the Carpenter-owned Honolulu Star-Advertiserlaid off 20 percent of its newsroom staff. Earlier this year, Carpenter discontinued print editions of the Sandy Post and Estacada News while laying off the reporter who staffed both newspapers.
For communities without the multitude of news outlets Portland has, the impact of Carpenter’s cuts may be particularly steep. There is a similar worry in Bend, where Carpenter has laid off non-union workers at the flagship Bulletin and has only been prevented from laying off more workers because its union does not currently have a contract in place.
“They know exactly what they’re doing,” Scott said of Carpenter. “They are, in my opinion, being predatory to small markets in a field where it is harder to find jobs, and taking advantage of journalists who want to work in these small markets, want to work in their own community.”
Contract negotiations between Carpenter and the Central Oregon News Guild have become fractious enough that the News Guild has urged subscribers to cancel their subscriptions if Carpenter does not give them an acceptable contract offer.
One of the sticking points in that negotiation, which is ongoing, is the number of stories Bulletin reporters will be required to produce each week. Unionized reporters at the Everett Herald, also recently purchased by Carpenter, are locked in a similarly contentious contract negotiation.
“We do already have a quota—it’s three to five stories per week, which is doable and reasonable,” Noemi Arellano-Summer, the Bulletin’s schools, youth, and families reporter, said. “The quota that Carpenter is proposing is 10 to 12 stories per reporter, per week, which I don’t believe is reasonable or sustainable in the long-run.”
In addition to the effect that kind of publishing pressure might have on journalists, Arellano-Summer said, it would also likely impact the kind of reporting the Bulletin is able to produce.
“That [quota] leads to very short stories, one-source stories, and little time for longer pieces or more investigative journalism,” Arellano-Summer said.
Then there’s the matter of what Carpenter wants to pay its reporters. According to Arellano-Summer, who is a member of the Bulletin’s bargaining team, Carpenter has proposed paying reporters a starting wage of $20.50 per hour—with raises available only to those reporters who meet the publishing quota.
At Carpenter’s non-unionized newspapers, including the former Pamplin papers in the Portland metro area, some employees make less than that, according to current and former staff.
Arellano-Summer, who said she already lives with roommates on her current salary, said Carpenter’s wage proposal could drive her out of Bend entirely.
“I would like to be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment and feel like I could stay in Bend for some time,” she said. “With the salary the company is proposing, I don’t know that I really see that happening.”
Indeed, according to MIT, a living wage for a single adult with no children in Deschutes County is $25.52 per hour—about $4,200 per year above what Carpenter has proposed. Scott, who said she is currently part of seven different contract negotiations on behalf of the News Guild, said Carpenter’s compensation offers are “by far the lowest.”
White, the former sports editor, said overall, there’s very little evidence to suggest that Carpenter is invested in the civic life of the places where its newspapers operate.
“It’s based in [Mississippi] and they just keep buying and buying papers,” White said, “so how much are they really going to care about Oregon?”
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With classes slated to start next week, another strike in the Evergreen School District could be looming.
If classified workers and the district don’t reach a deal this week, workers could walk and school could be cancelled next Tuesday if teachers don’t cross the picket line.
Evergreen’s paraeducators and bus drivers say they are preparing for what would be the first strike in their union chapter’s 57-year history.
“We are not coming together on wages and some language items for a couple of our groups — mostly our paraeducators and our bus drivers,” said Union President Mindy Troffer-Copper.
After negotiating since March, the workers are still fighting for better pay, benefits, and working conditions for its six classifications of employees.
“We have paras and other classifications working two or three jobs, trying to make it all work. And in this economy, we can’t make it on the cost of living they’re offering us,” Troffer-Cooper said.
In its last offer last week, the school district says it presented raises for staff, extra pay, and benefits, and says they’ve already reached some tentative agreements.
In a statement, the district said in part: “These staff members are extremely valuable… We are looking forward to coming to an agreement.”
Meanwhile, the union wants higher pay to keep up with living costs, guaranteed pay for all hours worked, protections to retain staff, better benefits, and a fair contract.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Summer heat is on the rise once again as temperature forecasts put the Rose City back into the mid-90s later this week.
Portland has seen its fair share of 90-degree heat during the 2025 summer season. On average, a total of 15 days climb into the 90s each summer. This year, Portland has already seen 14 days in the 90s and could add several more days to that tally later this week.
This late burst of August heat could possibly be the final round of 90-degree temperatures in Portland. On average, the last 90-degree day is on September 6. Take this date with a grain of salt. The latest round of 90-degree heat was on October 5, 1980.
This comes as the month of September ramps up the cooling trend in the Pacific Northwest, as the average daytime high temperature falls to 77 degrees.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — One of the two people injured in a Hillsboro house fire on Saturday morning died from their injuries on Monday, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue announced.
Officials say the victim was rescued from the house but was in critical condition when they arrived at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
“Our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of the victim during this difficult time,” said David Downey, Fire Chief of Hillsboro Fire & Rescue. “We are grateful for the tireless efforts of our crews and the hospital staff who worked to provide every possible chance of survival.”
The second victim remains in medical care.
Fire crews responded to the flames at 3170 NE 4th St. and located both the victims within five minutes of arrival.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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On Wednesday, deputies responded to the river near the I-205 bridge after a 911 caller reported seeing the body floating around 7:45 p.m.
Officials pulled the body from the river, but “did not observe any obvious signs of trauma, and the man appeared to have been in the river for some time.”
No other details were immediately available.
Anyone with information about Meszaros’ death is encouraged to contact law enforcement.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen,” charged with selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him, agreed to plead guilty Monday.
Jasveen Sangha becomes the fifth and final defendant charged in the overdose death of the “Friends” star to strike a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Having initially pleaded not guilty, her change of plea means she’ll avoid a trial that had been planned for August.
Prosecutors had cast Sangha as a prolific drug dealer who was known to her customers as the “Ketamine Queen,” using the term often in press releases and court documents and even including it in the official name of the case.
A federal indictment charged Sangha with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
Sangha will officially change her plea to guilty at an upcoming hearing, where sentencing will be scheduled, prosecutors said. She could get up to 45 years in prison. An email sent to Sangha’s lawyers seeking comment was not immediately answered.
She and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who signed his own plea deal June 16, had been the primary targets of the investigation. Three other defendants — Dr. Mark Chavez, Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming — agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
Perry was found dead in his Los Angeles home by Iwamasa, his assistant, on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, which has become increasingly common. Perry, 54, sought more ketamine than his doctor would give him. He began getting it from Plasencia about a month before his death, then started getting still more from Sangha about two weeks before his death, prosecutors said.
Perry and Iwamasa found Sangha through Perry’s friend Fleming. In their plea agreements, both men described the subsequent deals in detail.
Fleming messaged Iwamasa saying Sangha’s ketamine was “unmarked but it’s amazing,” according to court documents. Fleming texted Iwamasa that she only deals “with high end and celebs. If it were not great stuff she’d lose her business.”
With the two men acting as middlemen, Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 in cash four days before his death. That purchase included the doses that killed Perry, prosecutors said.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to her indictment.
Her home in North Hollywood, California, was raided in March 2024 by Drug Enforcement Administration agents who found large amounts of methamphetamines and ketamine, according to an affidavit from an agent. She was indicted that June, arrested that August and has been held in jail since.
None of the defendants has yet been sentenced.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit series.
“What it means to be [an] amorphous teenager and not know what you’re becoming, and that kind of moment of potential magic that I think everybody has.” So says Emil Amos, the prolific artist behind Holy Sons, opening the first episode of his podcast, “Drifter’s Sympathy.”
“I wanted to delve into [the] atmosphere and romance of those times, if that’s nostalgic or not I don’t care. I just like to go through the past. I do it every day, it’s kind of a thing I’ve always done.” Fitting words from a musician whose discography is expanding with new music, and–through his Lost Decade series–compilations of home recordings made throughout the ’90s, before adopting the Holy Sons moniker, before forming Grails and Lilacs & Champagne, before joining Om.
Lost Decade—the first in the series—was released in 2000, marking the inaugural output under the Holy Sons banner, and now, in 2025, Amos has released Lost Decade IV. A pervasive sense of that nostalgia he spoke of—of looking back on the past as if it’s a physical item one can hold in hand, turn over, inspect for flaws and beauties—abounds on the new release. The wonders of its construction coming through the music itself.
Recorded in the laundry rooms, attics, and basements of the ’90s, Lost Decade IV sounds like alternate reality radio broadcasts. Conjuring images of dusty roads, lost highway motels, and a life lived out of a bag—allowing drifters to move from town to town, sleeping on couches or in your car. It’s a snapshot of time when you scrape by life working odd jobs, focusing on making art.
The songs of Lost Decade IV fade in and out of clarity, presenting an Americana melded with ’90s lo-fi touchstones, the rock and roll greats, patron saints of the lonely. The album opens with an electrified version of “If It’s Lawless.” The original, released on 2014’s Lost Decade II, has a druggy haze, on which Amos’ vocals tumble out impossibly slow, on the verge of breaking. While the electric version swaggers with the bravado of ’90s slacker rock, almost hitting sing-a-long levels before track two, “James Dean,” bleeds into the picture.
“Knowing You” features a woozy, stoned instrumental intro. When Amos’ vocals do come in, they are deeper, more deadpan than elsewhere on the album, calling to mind Calvin Johnson’s iconic vocals in lo-fi band Beat Happening. Later in the album, “C’mon Christ” opens with distorted samples before what sounds like a channeling of Lou Reed—a snotty Reed, sneering, all smiles. “First It Was The Others” is the perfect hot summer soundtrack: Sitting on a front porch, barefoot with a friend or two, a joint, a pack of cigarettes, and a half-rack of Hamm’s.
Mid-album highlight “Aloneness” starts hypnotic, the vocals devolving into a mumble before snapping again to clarity, coming back with a slight quaver to them—as if a new wave of an ongoing LSD trip has hit. Reality shifting slightly, the light seeming a little different than it did just seconds ago. Maybe a little brighter? Maybe a little more solid? The song ends with repeated mantra, “Understand you’re not wounded under there,” the vocals multitracked, piling up one on top of the other.
A press release for Lost Decade IV describes each installment of the series as, “snapshots of someone undergoing a unique mania.” In an LA Weekly interview from 2011, Amos speaks about his drug use, saying, “When you’re 16 and start using drugs every single day and don’t let up for years, [you begin struggling] with severe depersonalization, where nothing seems real. You basically melt down the DNA of your personality and become a puddle of broken-down potentialities. The day you disassemble your psyche on LSD is the first day of the rest of your life. To this day I’m still trying to piece together my mind.”
One might wonder if the title Lost Decade refers to a decade lost to drug use, or a decade of art-making without the end result being an audience. One might expect this album—or any of Amos’ albums—to be a psychic ramshackle mess, which it is, and presented as stylistic experiment.
As is true throughout his catalog, variations on a theme, such as sudden endings, oblique samples, and psychedelic perception, are all present on Lost Decade IV. It’s the coherency of a drifter that, even though they drift—from town to town, thought to thought, genre to genre—art acts as a guiding light.
Vote-by-mail ballots are shown in sorting trays (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump is moving to eliminate mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Mail-in ballots are corrupt,” said the President at the White House today. “You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots.”
The president shared a post on Truth Social which outlined his plan “to lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots,” and it targets what he called “highly inaccurate, very expensive, and seriously controversial voting machines.” Mr. Trump has previously claimed there has been widespread voter fraud involving mail-in ballots and pledged to fight for election integrity.
Mr. Trump insisted there needs to be change when it comes to the matter.
“All of the money they’ve spent, it’s approximately ten time more expensive than paper ballots, and paper ballots are very sophisticated with the watermark paper and everything else.”
While the president’s post is calling for an end to the mail-in ballots, an effort to dramatically overhaul the way federal elections are run has faced legal roadblocks in recent months.
DENVER (AP) — The conservative network Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defaming a voting equipment company by spreading lies about President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, according to documents filed Monday.
The settlement comes after Fox News Channel paid $787.5 million to settle a similar lawsuit in 2023 and Newsmax paid what court papers describe as $40 million to settle a libel lawsuit from a different voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which also was a target of pro-Trump conspiracy theories on the network.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had ruled earlier that Newsmax did indeed defame Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems by airing false information about the company and its equipment. But Davis left it to a jury to eventually decide whether that was done with malice, and, if so, how much Dominion deserved from Newsmax in damages. Newsmax and Dominion reached the settlement before the trial could take place.
The settlement was disclosed by Newsmax in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It said the deal was reached Friday.
“Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020,” the company said in a statement. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”
A spokesperson for Dominion said the company was pleased to have settled the lawsuit.
The disclosure of the settlement came as Trump, who lost his 2020 reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, vowed in a social media post Monday to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines such as those supplied by Dominion and other companies. It was unclear how the Republican president could achieve that.
The same judge also handled the Dominion-Fox News case and made a similar ruling that the network repeated numerous lies by Trump’s allies about his 2020 loss despite internal communications showing Fox officials knew the claims were bogus. At the time, Davis found it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations was true.
Internal correspondence from Newsmax officials likewise shows they knew the claims were baseless.
“How long are we going to play along with election fraud?” Newsmax host Bob Sellers said two days after the 2020 election was called for Biden, according to internal documents revealed as part of the case.
Newsmax took pride that it was not calling the election for Biden and, the internal documents show, saw a business opportunity in catering to viewers who believed Trump won. Private communications that surfaced as part of Dominion’s earlier defamation case against Fox News also revealed how the network’s business interests intersected with decisions it made related to coverage of Trump’s 2020 election claims.
At Newsmax, employees repeatedly warned against false allegations from pro-Trump guests such as attorney Sidney Powell, according to documents in the lawsuit. In one text, even Newsmax owner Chris Ruddy, a Trump ally, said he found it “scary” that Trump was meeting with Powell.
Dominion was at the heart of many of the wild claims aired by guests on Newsmax and elsewhere, who promoted a conspiracy theory involving deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to rig the machines for Biden. The network retracted some of the more bombastic allegations in December 2020.
Though Trump has insisted his fraud claims are real, there’s no evidence they were, and the lawsuits in the Fox and Newsmax cases show how some of the president’s biggest supporters knew they were false at the time. Trump’s then-attorney general, William Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread fraud.
Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud, some before Trump-appointed judges. Numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results, including some run by Republicans, turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error and affirmed Biden’s win.
After returning to office, Trump pardoned those who tried to halt the transfer of power during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and directed his Department of Justice to investigate Chris Krebs, a former Trump cybersecurity appointee who had vouched for the security and accuracy of the 2020 election.
As an initial trial date approached in the Dominion case earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order attacking the law firm that litigated it and the Fox case, Susman Godfrey. The order, part of a series targeting law firms Trump has tussled with, cited Susman Godfrey’s work on elections and said the government would not do business with any of its clients or permit any of its staff in federal buildings.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Lauren Johnson, a longtime assistant chief with Dallas Fire-Rescue, has been sworn-in as the new chief of Portland Fire & Rescue.
Johnson brings 26 years of experience to the role, having served in various leadership capacities in Dallas. She will oversee 744 employees and a nearly $200 million annual budget.
“It is truly an honor to be named the next Chief of Portland Fire & Rescue,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’m eager to collaborate with the dedicated team of City staff and elected officials who are passionate about shaping the future of public safety in Portland.”
Mayor Keith Wilson praised the selection, calling Johnson’s leadership “thoughtful” and her experience “deep.”
“I look forward to working alongside her as we continue building a safer, more connected city for all Portlanders,” Wilson said.
Interim Fire Chief AJ Jackson will remain in her position through mid-September to help facilitate a smooth transition.
Johnson will report directly to Interim Deputy City Administrator for Public Safety Bob Cozzie. She said her initial focus will be on learning the department’s operations and building relationships within the bureau and the community.
“My family and I are incredibly excited to become a part of such a vibrant and unique community,” she said.
Johnson holds several professional certifications and is expected to complete her Master’s in Public Service Administration in December.
To love anything is to be challenged by it. Love shouldn’t hurt you, and at its best, it has the power to push you to your limits in pursuit of growing, changing, and learning something new about yourself. After all, as the late Andrea Gibson once said, “It hurts to become.”
Depending on what it is you love, that love can also lead you to do goofy and weird bullshit that makes you and everyone around you question your sanity. Think about those who have conquered the 72 oz. Steak Challenge at Sayler’s Steakhouse or Fire on the Mountain’s El Jefe Challenge—those people love steak and wings so much, they have to destroy their bodies, at least temporarily, in service of their love of that thing. Not all of us can house four and a half pounds of steak, some of us have to settle for other forms of oblivion, like seeing nearly 60 bands at a single music festival.
I know first-hand what it’s like to crave that sort of oblivion. Back in 2018, I approached my first solo excursion to Happy Valley’s Pickathon Music Festival with a truly silly goal: To see part and/or all of the 50 different music sets across the weekend. All told, I danced my way to the end of a Shakey Graves performance at Galaxy Barn with a whopping 60 sets under my belt—a feat that made festival founder Zale Schoenborn jokingly ask, “What are you gonna do next year? See every single band?”
I did exactly that. I set a modest goal of seeing (that is, actually paying attention to) at least 15 minutes of every single band that performed at the 2019 festival. This is possible thanks to one of Pickathon’s best features: Most every band plays two different sets, usually on different days, on different stages.
Was it worth it? Absolutely! Would I suggest doing it? Never—it’s a bonkers thing to attempt, no matter how much you love Pickathon. And yet the urge to do it again can overpower you in ways you never expected. Love dares you to do goofy and weird bullshit sometimes….
So in 2025, after three laid-back years at Pendarvis Farm, I put my six-years-older body through the wringer again out of an unabashed love for the beautiful thing that legions of volunteers, curators, vendors, and bands create in Happy Valley every year. All told, I sampled 74 sets by almost 60 acts—more if you include the guerilla performance by Portland troubadour Johnny Franco at Grove Stage at 3 am on Sunday night.
Do you have what it takes to do this to yourself? Read on for advice and lessons gained by conquering Pickathon yet again—or scare yourself away from ever even considering it!
Ask Yourself, “Why Am I Doing This?”
Yes, it is bonkers seeing every single band at Pickathon—if you’re masochistic enough to treat Pickathon like an eating contest, it’s important to be honest about what’s fueling your goal. Is it because you want to conquer the concept of FOMO? Do you want to up your tastemaker game, introducing your friends to cool new bands? Are you a bit of a try-hard who takes dares from festival curators too seriously? There are no wrong answers to these questions. This year, my fuel was that three years of “taking it easy” at Pickathon meant missing great bands, spending the weekend saying, “Shoot, I missed them!”
This year was Pickathon’s 25th anniversary, and the world has changed since the inception of the festival. In fact, it’s changed a lot since the pandemic, with the land around Pendarvis Farm now surrounded by cheap housing developments and well-paved streets, an unfortunate juxtaposition to the beautiful bubble we get to exist in once a year.
Every Pickathon feels like it could be the last one—for such a landmark year, why not pretend it really is the last one and wring every last drop out of it? Why not spend four days trying to be everywhere at once, befriending your fellow campers and falling in love with a dozen bands you’d never heard of?
Be Prepared to Camp!
Of course if you’re going to try and absorb as much Pickathon as possible, you need to give yourself wholly over to the experience. As such, I arrived at the “Welcome Lot” just a few minutes past 9 am on the opening Thursday of the festival, getting my weekend wristband and wandering into the woods to find a campsite. After several years overlooking Woods Stage, I found a place to pitch a tent and hang my wife’s hammock just off the path near Windmill Stage, granting me an easy place to stop by on a shortcut between Windmill and the path leading to Woods.
Accept, In Advance, That You Will Be Going Into “Rest Debt”
Here’s an easy way to put this into perspective: Over four days at Pickathon, I walked 30 miles across Pendarvis Farm, usually between 10 am and 2 am, though debriefing with excited friends meant never going to sleep that early. This is the aspect of a “Knight’s Tour” that will be non-negotiable for some—if you can’t commit to doing absurd nonsense like getting four hours of sleep before repeatedly hiking from one end of the festival to the other, just so you can catch a few minutes of the three bands performing in the same hour, then this kind of challenge will be nearly impossible for you. And that’s okay, this is NOT normal!
Pickathon is a Marathon AND a Sprint!
Thursday at the festival is usually a great warmup day, allowing you to get your bearings and lock in with your crew. This year however, there were still 14 bands performing—15 if you count the hour Jake Blount and band put in with Bex Bee for square dancing at Paddock Stage (an outstanding opportunity for people watching). You can knock out a lot of bands just by 100%-ing the first day, and trying as hard as possible to do the same Friday.
Front-loading Pickathon accomplishes an easier second half of the festival, creating pockets of free time as the weekend goes on. Relax, hang with friends, see bands you’ve already seen but loved enough to give undivided attention to.
Make a Plan—Keep It Loose
This is going to sound counterintuitive, but while it’s important to keep an eye on the schedule and familiarize yourself with which bands play where, you can actually win Pickathon by simply showing up, seeing everyone you can, and making schedule notes as you go along.
Don’t be afraid to switch things up, either—at one point, I rescheduled my date with Rose City Band out at Woods Stage because Jimetta Rose & the Voices of Creation were just too impressive to walk away from. On Sunday night, I abandoned Portugal. The Man to see the last half-hour of New York’s Ben Seretan, who I’d inadvertently befriended over the weekend.
What’s most important is being aware of where your conflicts are taking place. Yes, it’s harder to get out to Woods Stage than it is to get to Galaxy Barn, but the latter fills up quickly—if you can help it, start in the Barn and then head to the forest. Similarly, if one set is taking place in Lucky Barn, ensure at least half-hour to wait in line to get into the intimate, sit-down venue.
Accept That You’re Still Missing Something
It’s possible to see every band at Pickathon, but it’s actually not possible to see everything. I missed out on Cory Hanson scaling the support beams of Galaxy Barn, and Forty Feet Tall singer Guy Moore performing a similar Spider-Man routine at Cherry Hill. On Saturday at 3 am, I missed a mind-blowing party with Reyna Tropical and Motrik at the fabled Pumphouse because it was just too packed. Those moments will always feel like the ones that got away, but if you can pack your weekend with other remarkable moments, the sting of missing out will hopefully pass quickly—even becoming part of the experience.
Ask Yourself Again: “Why Am I Doing This?”
If you’re anything like me, you do it because of acts like Jimetta Rose, Ben Seretan, SML, and experimental rap duo Revival Season, along with countless other acts I might not have given a second thought to at any other festival, but walked away totally obsessed with because it’s Pickathon. You do the festival for the moments you are present for, moments that etch themselves into your memory, sustaining you amid dark and terrible times (AKA the rest of the year).
Completing Pickathon is a slog, but it gives anyone willing to try a chance to shake themselves loose of genre expectations, devouring as much of the festival as possible, all to better understand the incredible thing happening at Pendarvia every summer.
In the words of contemplative poet Mary Oliver, “August of another summer, and once again/I am drinking the sun.” Are you drinking the sun yet? There are a number of methods with which to achieve this, but all of them require going outside. Luckily for you, there are many reasons to leave home this week, from the opening of a Japanese film festival to a Black Belt Eagle Scout set and Portland’s own Rose City Rollers whipping ass. Here we go again!
Monday, August 18
Hanabi Film Festival
For a third year, Hanabi Film Festival celebrates summer and venerates Japanese cinema with a tight schedule of award-winning classics, weird-yet-perfect cult favorites, and mind-bending anime on the screen of Clinton Street’s community-focused indie-plex. New this year, Clinton Street will host the US premiere of rock drama Bold as You, and the Portland premiere of Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bushido, a 2024 samurai film that Japan Times called a “meticulously executed throwback that revitalizes the genre.” (Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, various times, $10 per film, more info, all ages) SUZETTE SMITH
Highest 2 Lowest
In 1963, the already globally-recognized Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa released High and Low. It starred his long-time collaborator, the actor Toshiro Mifune, and is arguably one of the greatest movies made by anybody. Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest is the acclaimed contemporary director’s fanboy homage to this film, starring Lee’s long-time collaborator Denzel Washington. It is not one of the greatest movies ever made by anybody, but it is a perfectly good summer film. And if you have the foresight to watch High and Low before checking out Highest 2 Lowest, there’s real delight to be found watching the characters and plot lines in each film converge and diverge. Read the Mercury’s full review here. (various theaters, 133 minutes, rated R) HR SMITH
Tuesday, August 19
Josh Johnson: The Flowers Tour
Sometimes I think comedian Josh Johnson is not real. One of The Daily Show’s best correspondents, Johnson is unbelievably capable of changing up his standup set on a dime, instantly improvising gut-busting takes on stuff that happened… earlier that afternoon. And even more shocking, he does it with the sharpest of timing and a brilliant comedic structure that verges on calculus in its complexity. Every time I swipe up on TikTok, there he is again with a brand new video, saying something about an event that happened that day, which I probably knew nothing about. That’s all to say, even if you’ve seen Johnson a billion times, get ready for a brand-new set full of surprises. (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 7 pm, $50–$74, more info, all ages)WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Wednesday, August 20
PDX Hip-Hop Week
Let’s celebrate—it’s the 10th anniversary of Portland Hip-Hop Week, designed to “celebrate the culture the way it was intended,” and what a week it will be! Kicking off Wednesday at Director’s Park, the opening ceremonies will feature DJs, dancers, emcees, art, and more, though the fun continues into the night with a “Skate & Shake” roller skating jam at Oaks Park, as well as a panel discussion around Portland’s deep hip-hop history at Holocene. The later half of the week brings a hip-hop/bingo mixer, a “Late Night Lyrics” open mic, and a back-to-school supplies drive for kids from Laced Up. It all culminates in Saturday’s “Slammin’ Steps Dance Fest,” featuring live hip-hop dance performances, lessons, and (as you might expect) fun galore! (Various locations/times/prices, more info) WSH
Reel Eats: School of Rock
I love a number of things about the 2003 comedy School of Rock. Principally, it was my introduction to the genius that is Mike White’s comedy writing. There’s also the fact that the child actors who played Frankie and Marta GOT MARRIED IRL. And who could forget the band’s catchy as hell song with the lyrics, “you’re not hardcore unless you live hardcore“? Two-plus decades on, the feel-good film holds up; no doubt one of the reasons OMSI is screening it on the biggest screen in town as part of its Reel Eats series. Moviegoers get a tray of themed bites that pair with moments in the film. Who else is hoping for some shredded ingredients while Jack Black shreds on the guitar? (Empirical Theater at OMSI, 1945 SE Water, August 20–21, 7 pm, $35, more info, PG-13) JANEY WONG
Thursday, August 21
Holly Osborne: Garden Party and Benny Fountain: Consolation: Paintings from the Hill
As a steadfast devotee of the fluid compositions on Holly Osborne’s Instagram page, I’m stoked to see the Oregon-born artist continue to draw from the natural world as inspiration. In Osborne’s ethereal third solo exhibition with Froelick, she shares lush, candy-colored vistas drawn from a diversity of landscapes—France, Sicily, and North Portland among them. Benny Fountain’s exhibition is a smart pairing. His paintings always feel blissful and meditative, tracing the rolling dunes of his hilly Palouse hometown with a muted, subtle color palette. Both artists emphasize light and form just enough to transport the viewer, but still leave a little room for ambiguity. (Froelick Gallery, 714 NW Davis, Tues-Sat through Sep 13, free, more info, all ages)LINDSAY COSTELLO
“Winter Day on Sun-Warmed Hill” by Benny Fountain. COURTESY FROELICK GALLERY.
Also worth it:
CITY POP!! Japanese Boogie, J-jazz, & New Wave Night, Holocene, more info
Friday, August 22
Black Belt Eagle Scout
Katherine Paul’s haunting melodies and soft howl can fill up a large room, so it’s a bit of a treat to be able to catch her at an intimate venue like the Aladdin Theater. Paul (who performs as Black Belt Eagle Scout) grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Her Swinomish tribal ancestry inspires and permeates her music, which delivers a mix of ethereal vocals layered over indie rock. The guitarist and singer also manages to churn out lush soundscapes on heavier tracks. Her 2023 album The Land, The Water, The Sky sounds like wandering through the forests and rivers of the Northwest at dusk, while searching for truth and love. (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 7 pm, $32, more info, all ages)COURTNEY VAUGHN
Taylor Tomlinson
Zooming up the ranks of comedy royalty is Taylor Tomlinson, who not only can brag about being the only female network late-night talk show host (After Midnight) but has racked up an impressive three Netflix specials (Quarter-Life Crisis, Look At You, and Have It All). Plus, she’s got all you need for a sparkling night of comedy: a brash, relatable style; sharp, incisive takes on everything from religion to her queer siblings; and the kind of crowd work any standup would sell their soul for. On her “Save Me” tour, Tomlinson goes the extra mile with a set-ending segment called “Crowd Confessions,” in which she and her openers take on questions and confessions from the audience. Prepare for an evening of devastatingly funny comedy. (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, Fri 7 pm, Sat 4 and 7 pm, Sun 7 pm, $55–$173, more info, all ages)WSH
Terrain: A Land Art Experience
With a stated goal of “fostering environmental awareness” and a stacked roster of exhibiting artists (Intisar Abioto, Daniela Naomi Molnar, Amanda Triplett, and many others), Terrain: A Land Art Experience pays homage to the ground on which it stands in the Industrial Northwest district, the former home of Guild’s Lake and Willamette River wetlands. New artworks ponder Building 5’s environmental history through a variety of materials and mediums, from photography to willow stems. Proceeds from your sliding scale ticket go directly to artists, or you can pay $75 for the “golden hour experience” on August 14 to rub elbows with the show’s creators and curators. (Building 5, 2516 NW 29th, Fri-Sun through Aug 24, $0–$75, more info, all ages) LC
Saturday, August 23
Comix Thing
By now, it should come as no surprise that something cool is happening at Lloyd Center this weekend. This time it’s a comics event assembling over 80 underground and small press cartoonists like Liz Yerby, Mara Ramirez, and Sean Christensen in the mall’s hallowed halls. Comix Thing bills itself as a “public display of comix and cartoonists for the expansion of human consciousness and creativity,” which is the sort of grandiose mission statement we should all get behind. Go feast your eyes, then grab a pretzel. (Lloyd Center, 2201 Lloyd Center, 12–6 pm, free, more info, all ages)LC
Wheels of Justice vs. Arch Rival
Portlanders rarely get to root for a local sports team that actually wins championships—but here’s our chance! This is one of the can’t-miss games in this year’s Hometown Throwdown tournament, hosted by our own Rose City Rollers. It presents a rare opportunity to see Portland’s own Rose City Rollers Wheels of Justice (ranked number one in North America’s western division, as well as global rankings) face one of their top opponents, St. Louis, Missouri’s Arch Rival Roller Derby All Stars (number one ranked in the North American eastern division and second globally). Put that all together, and you’ve got two of the world’s top-ranked roller derby teams going head-to-head for a thrilling faceoff. (The Hangar at Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park, 6 pm, $0–$25, more info, all ages) CV
Director Paul Schrader’s legendary 2016 Facebook status update, “I enter unwashed into a world that disrespects me and despises my values,” could double as a tagline for many of his films. First Reformed (2017) is a prescient example of his spiritual weight. It’s about G-O-D, climate change, capitalism, and mortality, among other fundamental crises of modern human experience. (Schrader argues that it’s actually about none of these things, but rather an “evolution of the soul,” which… fine.) Ethan Hawke stars as Ernst, an upstate New York pastor in an existential spiral triggered by a pregnant churchgoer (Amanda Seyfried) and a radical environmentalist. The answer? Violence, maybe—or maybe not! You’ll see why. (Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7 pm, $5–$12, more info, R)LC
One Table, Many Roots: African & Vietnamese Culinary Traditions Shared Across the Table
Does a seven-course, al fresco meal prepared by two of Portland’s most exciting chefs sound like a phenomenal summer dinner to you? Of course it does. One Table, Many Roots, the first farm-to-table experience hosted by Happiness Family Farm, brings together Fatou Ouattara of Akadi and Thuy Pham of Mama Đút for a taste of the “intersection between African and Vietnamese culinary traditions.” Although the menu won’t be shared in advance, the family-style dinner promises to be rich in flavor and identity, taking place right where the ingredients are grown. The evening will also feature live music and a self-guided farm tour, with a portion of proceeds going toward food equity nonprofit Growing Gardens. (13901 NW Howell Park, 4–7 pm, $150, more info, 18+)JW
Also worth it:
Hawthorne Street Fair, SE Hawthorne Blvd, more info Hyun Jung Jung: The Way Home (집으로 가는 길), Well Well Projects, more info
Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!
[EDITOR’S NOTE: America’s favorite gossip columnist, Elinor Jones, is taking a well-deserved vacation and will return soon with the latest in shit-talking celebrity shenanigans. Until then, please enjoy this classic edition of The Trash Report from December 4, 2023.]
Hello, Trash Pandas! I’m Elinor Jones, and this is…THE TRASH REPORT. Did anything cool happen to you last week? Please do not hesitate to let me know! Until I can report on your newsworthy events or victories, I’ll have to write about the broader dumpster fire that is contemporary American life. I promise, I won’t make it sad. In fact, I’ll try to make it funny! (Please note that I said try. There are no guarantees. This is a free website! Be realistic!)
Baby, It’s Cool In Your Spotify
The beginning of December marks the annual sharing of everyone’s Spotify Wrapped. Mine revealed that I am somewhat a basic bitch (no surprise there), but also that my musical soulmate might reside in Burlington, Vermont?! This was also true for a lot of people, apparently. Is Burlington, Vermont a settled middle-aged woman with the emotional inner story of a teenaged nightmare? I have a hard time believing that. The few times I tried dating someone from the East Coast I found it hard to tell when they were being polite or politely devastating; my vibe is far more obvious. Also their syntax was always kinda off. Just because someone surrounded by flawless foliage listens to a lot of Taylor Swift and Boygenius and Sza does not mean we’d vibe otherwise.
In other musical (and December) news, did you know that Brenda Lee, the singer of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” recorded the banger when she was only 13 years old? I didn’t! The New York Times recently profiled her as she attempts to usurp Mariah Carey for the biggest bop of the season. The Times can be a mess but I’ll give them credit for handling at least this uprising diplomatically, referring to Lee as ~a~ Queen of Christmas rather than ~the~ Queen of Christmas, which is a title presumably reserved for Mariah. Somebody’s publicist is good at their job!
Worldwide Trash
The ongoing crisis in Palestine is nearly impossible to wrap my head around; it’s so gruesome and sad and I can’t believe it’s just over there, happening, while I’m sitting here in Oregon, pointlessly refreshing my feeds, unable to do anything else. Feeling helpless is normal, and I’ve found that one of the best ways to deal with it is directing your rage at a celebrity. This is where former ER nurse Julianna Margulies comes in: she recently went on a totally unhinged and cruel Islamophobic rant as a podcast guest that was so deranged that I am bringing it up here despite her being otherwise basically culturally irrelevant, because at least it will give you a good place to direct some ire, and getting mad at her is as good a use of energy as anything else you might get up to this week. Sometimes celebrity obsession is an unfortunate distraction; other times it’s just about the only thing keep the fucking wheels on. You’re welcome.
This headline really threw me: “Paris Knife Attack Leaves One Dead and Others Injured.” I’m too used to reading garbage-y gossip sites for it even to occur to me that Paris is a major world city and not simply early-aughts celebutante Paris Hilton. I was like, shit, Stop Being Poor killed someone? Or did someone attack her? Who died?? Alas, this was about Paris the city, in which a random act of violence occurred that made international headlines because the perpetrator aligned with the plight of Muslims, and villainizing Muslims is once again in vogue. This also feels very early-aughts. I’m so sick of this throwback culture. Really derivative and unoriginal.
Merry Christmas, Little Fella
Macaulay Culkin recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s pretty much only when these ceremonies are publicized that I think about the Hollywood Walk of Fame and wonder who does and does not have a star and begin to care. Culkin has been a star for decades! This thing I just learned about is an outrage! But I’m glad it’s happened at last, and I’m glad that his Home Alone mom Catherine O’Hara was there to celebrate with him. If you haven’t watched Home Alone in a while, I highly recommend that you do so. Culkin and O’Hara are marvels. Also, it’s super wild to watch someone navigate ’90s-era air travel. Like, the mom straight up wandered up to a gate and then tried to fleece some randos out of their seats with jewelry! Can you imagine?! Watching this with my own kid, she was like “why don’t the parents just text him?” and the mere thought of having to explain how different life was before cell phones was so unsurmountable that I had to pretend to fall asleep for a minute to avoid answering her. But hey, at least I’ve never forgotten her at home when I’ve gone on vacation.
Politics, Schmolitics
Founding member of *NSYNC and New York Representative George Santos was expelled from Congress last week for his copious lies and stealing from his campaign to pay for fancy clothes and OnlyFans. It’s good that he has gotten the boot, but I will truly miss him. I can’t wait to see what he does next. This may include an interview with Ziwe and an HBO movie about his life, and hang on, the hero worship of entertaining lunatics is how we got Trump and I just realized that this fucking lunatic is going to be president in nine years, isn’t he? Am I part of the problem?!
She’s So Moving On (Yeah-ah-ahhhhh)
Kelly Clarkson‘s ex-husband has been ordered to pay back $2.6 million in “manager fees” for being a shitty manager. How can someone fuck up managing one of the most charismatic and beloved pop stars of the past 20 years? It’s barely even a job. The international goodwill Kelly carries for having given us “Since You’ve Been Gone” is so undeniable that a manager of that caliber of star purely exists to receive emails and have business cards. Nobody manages Kelly Clarkson! Some people are graced with proximity to her, and that’s it. So yeah, get your money back, Kelly. Remember: you can breathe for the first time; you owe him nothing.
That’s all for today, lovers. I hope that somebody gives you a juicy kiss or deserved compliment at a time when you’re ready to receive it. Thanks for spending time with me. It’s almost embarrassing how much I love you.
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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋
If you were bemoaning this past weekend’s cloudy skies, you’re in for a treat, because this week is all about the sunny-sun-SUN with highs hitting the low 80s and popping up to 90 by this weekend. And in other good news, the Mercury is currently hiring for an additional news reporter to join our crackerjack team of journalists! Are you a reporter? Do you hate your current job because your boss is a dick? Are you constantly disappointed by your career because you don’t get to pursue the stories you’re passionate about, and again, your boss is a dick? Then the Mercury could be the answer to your career dreams. And best of all? NO BOSS DICKS. Find out more here, and let your reporter friends know! And now, let’s passionately pursue the NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• As expected by everyone and their sister, the Trump administration is attempting to flex their laughably saggy muscles by insisting that Oregon—and other like-minded states—reverse its sanctuary status policy on treating immigrants/human being with the respect they deserve, or they “will take legal action.” (Like what? LEGALLY BORING US TO DEATH? They’re doing a pretty good job of that already.) After the eternally boring US Attorney General Pam Bondi issued the warning, Governor Tina Kotek immediately responded by saying “We will not be bullied into doing the federal government’s job of immigration enforcement.” Note to Mayor Wilson: This is how one should respond to threats from a flailing, impotent government, rather than immediately rolling over when faced with the loss of federal funding. (Reminder: “Federal funds” are actually OUR tax dollars that are being stolen by Trump’s corrupt cronies… so maybe don’t help them do it?)
“I must emphasize that for anyone who has lived in any big American city, these Republican men are almost indescribably pathetic.” prospect.org/justice/2025…
• The mass-scale kidnapping of immigrants continue, and the perpetrators, ICE, is leaving all sorts of trauma and tragedy in their wake. The Oregonian tells the story of Sotelo García, who was forced to quit her job, take over her father’s vineyard service business, and care for her 17-year-old brother and two nieces, after her dad—who has no known criminal record—was deported back to Mexico by immigration agents. Her mother is also out of the picture after she chose to leave the state out of fear of also being deported. Now García, at 26-years-old, finds herself running an unfamiliar business, and being the matriarch of the family, while also dealing with the grief associated with her parents forced removal from the country where they’ve built their lives. And lest we forget, this story is being repeated with hundreds of thousands of families across the nation.
Highest 2 Lowest is Spike Lee’s fanboy homage to Akira Kurosawa—and yet another chance to make fun of Boston sports fans.
• In yet another jarring example of Trump screwing over his base in Oregon, rural counties that have relied on timber sales are discovering they have been tricked by the president’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” and, due to the fact that congress has not provided the funding they need, will soon run out of money for basic necessities, including transportation repairs and law enforcement. According to this report from OPB, “In Curry County, the sheriff’s department already only responds to calls for life-threatening emergencies or crimes that are actively happening,” and the worst is yet to come. This timber money, which at one time was barely funding these counties, will now be funneled out of the state and directly into the greedy pockets of Trump’s federal government. In the words of Foghorn Leghorn, “I say, I say… you’ve been had, son.”
• The driver of a tractor trailer truck struck and killed one pedestrian and seriously injured another Sunday morning in the Lloyd District before fleeing the scene. While police caught the truck driver miles away from the area, officers are saying “It is not clear if the driver was aware of the crash.” 🙄
Let’s go, brainiacs! It’s time for another brain-teasing POP QUIZ PDX. In this week’s trivia quiz: Ugly (cute) dogs, athletic hogs, and what food should be declared Portland’s official “signature dish”? See how well YOU score! 🤓
• After being dog-walked and utterly humiliated by Vladimir Putin during their brief Alaska “peace talks” last week, King Fool is expected to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy today to try and convince the Ukrainian president to surrender Crimea—which Putin blatantly stole from the Ukrainian people—and drop his dream of joining NATO. As you undoubtedly recall, Trump recently pretended to get “tough” with Putin, demanding a ceasefire from the war criminal, but then folded like a house of cards the second he came in contact with his former puppet master—because if nothing else, Trump is and always will be TACO.
European leaders joining Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the White House are looking to safeguard Ukraine and Europe more broadly from any further aggression from Moscow — but also are providing a show of support for Zelenskyy after his last visit to the White House led to an angry confrontation.
• Calling all Rachel Maddow fans: The progressive news network MSNBC is splitting off from its sister organization NBC News, and will be renamed MS NOW (which clumsily stands for “My Source for News, Opinion, and the World”). While the network has previously relied on reporting from NBC News for the majority of their content, they’ve been slowly building their own roster of journalists and news gathering infrastructure in order to stand on their own—and yes, it appears that for now, fan favorite Rachel Maddow will be remaining with the company.
• Following their two-week walkout/protest, Texas Democrats say they are returning to their home state and their jobs—which means corrupt state Republicans can go forward with their plan to gerrymander Texas and award themselves five more congressional seats in their already overwhelmingly red state. The Dems say they were inspired to return after seeing other states—primarily California—draw up plans to redraw their own US House maps in order to counteract the GOP’s nefarious scheme.
The White House press secretary’s signature necklace has been noticeably absent after being brutally trolled.
• Protests are exploding in Israel, as more and more people are joining the demonstrations to end their government’s continuing genocide of the Palestinian people. “Hundreds of thousands” of protesters have reportedly blocked highways, and are even showing up at the homes of politicians to demand that the Israeli government stop bombing Gaza which has created a humanitarian crisis and is putting Israeli hostages in danger. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the protests on Sunday with more airstrikes against Gaza, killing at least 17 people whose only crime was waiting on food from aid trucks, and trying to avoid starvation.
• And finally… if you’re disappointed by your current dating pool, THIS IS THE ANTHEM FOR YOU.
