If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! 👋
Those endless showers will be taking a much needed rest for the next couple of days, and the sun is even expected to show its shiny face for awhile today, as temps reach 50 degrees. And now, let us gaze upon the face of the NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• A day after a woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minnesota, two people were shot by a Border Patrol agent Thursday afternoon in Portland. Against a backdrop of ongoing protests at the ICE building in Portland, and local leaders lambasting the Department of Homeland Security for unlawful immigration tactics and excessive violence, Thursday’s shooting was the latest in a pattern of escalating violence from federal immigration agents.
So far, we know that Portland Police officers say they responded to the Adventist Health Primary Care campus in East Portland on reports of shots fired at the location. The shooting victims were a man and a woman who were allegedly targeted by federal agents for arrest.
Their status and the extent of their injuries is unknown. The shootings have prompted heavy backlash from everyone from the mayor, to the governor, state representatives, city councilors, and of course, the public.
Now, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield is vowing to investigate the shooting. Read more of our coverage here.
• After the second day of a scheduled two-hour vote for a new council president, Portland City Council still has not made a decision. That’s because the election abruptly recessed, then adjourned without a vote Thursday as some councilors learned that federal agents had shot two people in East Portland. During the recess, the current council president and vice president were invited into the briefing room alongside Mayor Keith Wilson, Portland Police Chief Bob Day, and others, so, you know, even a municipal government election isn’t without consequence—particularly as US cities appear to be experiencing another escalation from the Trump administration. The council leadership roles have quick access to information, make decisions on how to share it and who to share it with, and—if Trump’s National Guard milieu last year was any indication—are frequently given roles to speak on behalf of the city. Now, to find out who the council prez will be in 2026, Portlanders will have to wait until January 14 when the recessed meeting is expected to resume. Whether city councilors can end the deadlock is another thing altogether. The nominees are: Incumbent Elana Pirtle-Guiney and Councilors Sameer Kanal, Steve Novick, and Loretta Smith (who was apparently surprised by her colleague’s nomination). Updated details and some backstory are here.
• Portland Police (PPB) say they arrested six people at a demonstration at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday night. PPB said in addition to its usual protest squad, Portland Fire & Rescue and Oregon State Police also assisted them. Earlier that evening, Governor Tina Kotek, Mayor Keith Wilson, PPB Chief Bob Day and several others held a press conference urging Oregonians to stay calm, but unified, while encouraging resistance to federal overreach. That was just before they sent police to smash the heads of Portlanders putting their bodies on the line to oppose federal agents shooting their neighbors, according to video. It seems doubleplusungood that local residents face state violence at every level while being told law enforcement is there to protect them. Cool statements though! At the same time as the press conference, progressive elected officials and organizations held a vigil outside City Hall. Organizers of that rally allowed immigrants and police critics to speak too, as if they might have some valuable thoughts during this historic, state-sponsored attack on their right to exist.
Here’s a video from the protest:
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Tempers continue to flare between Minnesota officials and the Trump administration, following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of an ICE agent on Wednesday. While video footage of the incident clearly showed Good’s vehicle turning away from the officer, the Trump administration is holding tight to their warped version of the facts, and labeling anyone that contradicts them as “agents of propaganda of a radical fringe.” (Clunky phrasing at best.) Yesterday, as officials fired tear gas at an estimated 1,000 protesters gathering at a Minneapolis federal building, Gov. Tim Walz has activated—but not deployed—the state’s National Guard “out of an abundance of caution.” Walz is also firing back at the Trump administration, accusing them of blocking local authorities from investigating the killing, and preventing them from accessing necessary evidence. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance is once-again revealing himself as the virulent toad he is by calling Good’s murder “a tragedy of her own making.”
Number of people shot by Trump’s secret police so far: 43. www.thetrace.org/2025/12/immi…
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 2:30 PM
• Get ready for the shock of your life: A significant numbers of Republicans in the Senate and House voted alongside Democrats against some of Trump’s evil schemes yesterday, including a bipartisan measure designed to torpedo the president’s plan for further military intervention in Venezuela. Meanwhile 17 GOP members voted with Dems to pass a bill that would extend Obamacare subsidies for three years, and while Trump may have avoided having two of his vetoes overturned in the House that same day, roughly two dozen Republicans teamed up with Democrats against him—all of which is BIG and a trend worth watching… particularly as midterm elections approach.
• Today in VOMIT: Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado is apparently so grateful to our utterly corrupt president for invading her country of Venezuela, stealing its oil, and kidnapping its dictatorial president and wife, that she says she is happy to… *rubs eyes in disbelief, wondering if I’m still sleeping*… share her Nobel Prize with Trump. For his part, Trump is happily “honored” to accept this unsanctioned award, and would probably put this imaginary trophy on his imaginary shelf next to his also imaginary peace prize he accepted from FIFA in December. (He’s gonna have to knock down another section of the White House just to fit all those imaginary trophies!) However, and hilariously, his dream of a Nobel Prize was dashed again hours later, when the Nobel Institute sternly announced that their prizes CANNOT be transferred or shared—so as the song goes, “it was just my imagination (once again).”
Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery
— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) January 8, 2026 at 11:51 PM
• There was good news and bad news in today’s release of December’s job report—the good news? America added 50,000 new jobs last month! The bad? Last year was the worst year for hiring since 2020. (You know… that year with the pandemic?) And it kind of gets worse from there. According to NBC News, “save for 2020, last year ranks as the poorest year for job creation since 2009 and the global financial crisis.” Now you may be asking yourself, “what on earth could’ve caused such a downfall?” Well, there was that thing about tens of thousands of federal employees losing their jobs thanks to DOGE, the administration’s insanely cruel and aggressive immigration restrictions (which made employers skittish), and a surfeit of unnecessary tariffs that’s causing our nation’s economy to crumble. Gee… wonder whose fault that could be?
• And finally… WELCOME TO FRIDAY. We hope you’re heading into the weekend like this guy.
@cocoadreamboat
Jeremiah Hayden
Source link