🌱 Portland Gun Violence Grows + Proud Boys Charged After Rally

Happy Groundhog Day! Will Punxsutawney Phil see his own shadow, dooming us to a longer winter? U.S. Bookies say no. Well, that's good news. Let's see what else we've got going on today.

First, today's weather:

On and off rain all day with a high of 41. So, a pretty standard day.

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

1. A new Portland State University (PSU) report has underscored a long-simmering request from Portland’s Black community: Pay reparations to the families forcibly displaced from the Albina neighborhood with the expansion of Portland's Emanuel Hospital in the 1970s. The report, authored by a group of PSU urban planning graduate students, documents the history of the inner Northeast Portland neighborhood and the financial and emotional harm done to the Black community that used to call it home. (The Portland Mercury)
2. Since Thursday, Portland police responded to nearly a dozen shootings across the city as the first month of the new year comes to an end. Since January 1, the Portland Police Bureau said its officers have responded to nearly 100 "shots fired" calls. Out of those shootings, nine people have been killed, two of them just this weekend. (KPTV)
3. Two men were indicted on several charges over a Proud Boys rally held in the parking lot of a closed K-Mart store in northeast Portland, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said. Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, 25, was indicted on twelve charges stemming from the rally on August 22, 2021, which resulted in a clash between two opposing groups. He’s currently in custody in Washington state on unrelated charges and will not be extradited to Oregon until those charges are resolved. The district attorney’s office says 41-year-old Miles Furrow is facing eight charges related to the same rally. (KATU)
4. Three Portland-area Starbucks coffee shops filed to unionize Monday morning with the National Labor Relations Board. One is on Garden Home Road in Southwest Portland, and two are in Beaverton on Southwest Walker Road and Cedar Hills Boulevard. More than 50 Starbucks across the county have now filed to unionize. The union now awaits NLRB approval. (Willamette Week)
5. Portland City Council’s plan to transition to a new police oversight board has been so chaotic, City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero informed the council and the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday that she will force the council to assume control of the Independent Police Review starting July 1. “We never should have been put in this position,” Hull Caballero told OPB. “(A change to police oversight) was thrown onto a ballot. Council told voters it was ready for their consideration as voters. It was not and they knew it was not. And so now they’re looking at the auditor’s office to say, ‘you clean this up.’” (OPB)

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Today in Portland:

• Calling all Goddesses! Join Goddess Swap for an evening of swapping treasures, shopping, tarot & networking! The Keepspace in SE Portland is a beautiful and intimate venue with a fire pit and garden lounge in the back. Hosted by Sharon Wood, with Tarot by Coralea Hart and lovely vibes presented by Our Lady Phoenix. Register online. The swap starts at 7:00 PM.
• Come see local legend Storm Large as she helps downtown spot Dante's celebrate its 22nd anniversary. You don't get much more Portland than this. Get your tickets online. Doors open at 8:00 PM.
• In collaboration with the Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland Chinatown Museum presents a special event with Dean Wong. A photographer for over 40 years, Dean specializes in capturing the PNW’s vibrant Chinese community. Join us as he discusses photographing the Lunar New Year and its many traditions! Free registration is required for this online discussion. 2:00 - 3:00 PM.
• Who doesn't love a variety show? Check out Honey Latte Cafe's all-inclusive Open Mic Night. Music, comedy, poetry... whatever you got! 4-7 minutes per act depending on how many sign ups it gets. Come showcase your talent!! 6:00 - 9:00 PM.
• Tonight the 4th Wall in SE Portland is SWITCHing things up on its big screen with some of its favorite VIDEO GAMES! There’ll be racing and melee and mini-games galore, alongside its usual supply of tasty adult beverages, Scotty’s pizza and freshly popped popcorn. Come on down and show off your skills. 6:00 - 9:00 PM.

From my notebook:

• Wordle, the highly addictive game users are only allowed to play once a day and that has gone from 90 users to more than 300,000 in just about one month, has been sold to the New York Times. Creator Josh Wardle, who got his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon in 2011, made the announcement on his Twitter feed. Wardle added that as part of the deal, the Times agreed to keep the game free for everyone. (Portland Patch)
• Starting this weekend, Portlanders can take part in a story-telling campaign in celebration of Black History Month. Portland-based organization Word is Bond presents “In My Shoes,” featuring nine walking tours in neighborhoods across Portland. Word is Bond is a leadership program serving young Black men. The tours are designed to highlight the voices, dreams and experiences of rising Black men. (KOIN)
• As temperatures fall sharply and the number of unhoused people swells throughout the United States, anarchists are forming a decentralized network that builds and distributes tent-safe, alcohol-based heaters to those without shelter. “The project wasn’t something new, it was developed over the years, in many different forms,” wrote members of HeaterBloc, a Portland-based collective that released the open-source guide for building heaters, in a message to Motherboard. (Vice)
• If a dentist hasn't been in your budget lately, you may wish to visit Portland Community College. Its dental hygiene students will clean your teeth for free. The current appointment times are Wednesdays 8:00 - 11:00 AM and 1:00 - 4:00 PM, and Thursdays 1:00 - 4:00 PM. If you’re interested, call 971-722-4909 or email (mailto:dentalclinic@pcc.edu) to get started. (Reddit)
• More than 1.5 billion people celebrate Lunar New Year across the globe. Families in Hanoi sit down to bánh tét, couples in Busan pile plates with mandu, and children in Chongqing peek inside red envelopes full of money. In Portland, the same is true: Asian American families throughout the city bake cookies, fold dumplings, and braise pork belly in the days leading up to the holiday. Eater Portland talked to Portland chefs and restaurant owners about their Lunar New Year traditions, including the dishes they make, snacks they buy, and how they celebrate when family is far from here. (PDX Eater)

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There's your Wednesday. Hopefully, this day won't repeat over and over again. Because then you won't be able to meet here tomorrow for more news of Portland.

— Dominic Anaya

About me: Doctor, educator and now a writer/artist, I'm just chillin' in Portland, OR with my wife, our ferrets, our chickens and our goats.