🌱 Real Estate Love Letters + Hall Of Fame Guitars Stolen

Welcome back, Portland! It's a whole new week and I couldn't be happier. We've got lots to cover today, so I'll not waste any time. Let's talk about Portland.

First, today's weather:

It's a grey, drizzly day with a high of 47. Don't worry, though, the sun comes back tomorrow.

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

1. Vadim Mozyrsky, who is challenging incumbent City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in the May primary, filed a complaint March 4 with the City Attorney’s Office, claiming two women who serve with him on the Police Citizen Review Committee used the committee to politically smear him. Specifically, he is taking aim at fellow committee member Shaina Pomerantz, a Black woman, who accused Mozyrsky, who is Jewish, of using “a tone of anti-Blackness” in emails to her and the committee’s chair, Candace Avalos. (Willamette Week)
2. A federal judge this month put an initial stop to Oregon’s first-of-its-kind ban on “love letters” in real estate transactions, a state law that took effect Jan. 1 and will likely see action at the federal appeals court or even the Supreme Court. State lawmakers “could have addressed the problem of housing discrimination without infringing on protected speech to such a degree,” wrote U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez in granting a preliminary injunction. (KOIN)
3. Our rainy season has been about average in Portland, but much of Central and Eastern Oregon remains in extreme drought. "We have seven counties in Oregon that have experienced their lowest precipitation amount on record," said Oregon State Climatologist Larry O’Neil on a media briefing this week discussing the severity of drought across the region. (KGW.com)
4. Firefighters put out a fire Sunday that started at a homeless camp and damaged some nearby power lines, a Clackamas Fire spokesperson said. The fire was reported Sunday morning near the intersection of Southeast 17th Avenue and Ochoco Street. PGE said an act of vandalism caused a power outage in that area, though they could not say if it was connected to this fire. (KATU)
5. Terry Currier wears many hats. He’s the owner of Music Millennium and the president of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, to name a few. Since it started inducting musicians and industry professionals in the late 2000s, he’s been collecting signed guitars. Each year the Hall of Fame auctions off these guitars to give four college-bound students a scholarship for music education and bring music to schools that don’t offer those programs. But over a week ago, all 70 guitars he had collected were taken from a storage unit in northeast Portland. (KPTV)

Today in Portland:

• Portland Audubon presents Nature Night: The State of Western Organizations Working on Indigenous Landscapes, a virtual event. Friends of Tryon Creek Executive Director, Gabe Sheoships, will share a presentation that draws cultural differences and parallels between Indigenous stewardship practices and western models of environmental engagement, sharing examples and lessons from his work. Tickets available online. 7:00 - 8:30 PM.
• Today is XRAY's 5th Annual Amplify Women Teach-In. Have you noticed that we don’t hear enough women on the radio in Portland (or nearly anywhere)? For the last 5 years, XRAY has sought to shine a spotlight on these disparities and inequities in the voices we listen to and the perspectives whose media we consume. Since radio is an industry that continues to exclude women and those with intersecting experiences of marginalization, we hold an all-day radio teach-in each year on International Women’s Day. If you're interested, just tune in to XRAY Radio. 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
• Powell's Books Presents Thom Hartmann, a virtual discussion with the author of The Hidden History of Big Brother in America. Thom Hartmann, America’s most popular progressive radio host, reveals how the government and corporate America misuse our personal data and shows how we can reclaim our privacy. Register online for this presentation. It all starts at 5:00 PM.
• Wow, I guess it's a day for virtual events! The Oregon Historical Society presents Good Work, Sister! A New Chapter in WWII Women’s History, a panel discussion with Amy Kesselman, Shawna Gandy, Madeline Moore, and Laura Lo Forti. During the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the Northwest Women’s History Project was formed to conduct oral histories with women whose labor in the Portland, Oregon, shipyards was crucial to the Allies’ success in defeating nations ruled by fascist governments in World War II. The group contacted 200 women, interviewed 35 of them, and used those first-person accounts to create the multimedia presentation Good Work, Sister! Register online for this free discussion. 6:00 - 7:30 PM.
• The 4th Wall in SE Portland loves trivia and tonight the subject is the hit show Schitt's Creek. Who knows what will befall us tomorrow? You could be hit by a Mack truck or bopped on the head by a tiny piece of space debris. So join the 4th Wall for trivia, because if that’s not a cause for alcohol, I don’t know what is! It's FREE to play! Winning team will receive a 4th Wall PDX Gift Card. Proof of Vax required to play. 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

From my notebook:

• Portland Trail Blazers: "We see you, @thebwill2! Career-high 21 points off the bench 🎯" (Instagram)
• Portland Art Museum: "Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña spent many summers exploring the forest of Fontainebleau, about 30 miles southeast of Paris. You can imagine him walking this path many times, each time perhaps noticing something new or different along t..." (Instagram)
• Lunafest 2022 happens today, a Virtual Community Screening: Cascadia's Women's Day Celebration. LUNAFEST 2022 is a program of short films that empower and inspire. This year’s stories are told from a variety of perspectives that champion women and gender nonconforming individuals, highlighting their aspirations, accomplishments, resilience, strength, and connection. Starts at 6:00 PM and can be accessed until March 10, 6:00 PM. (Lunafest)
• For some Oregonians, hiking in the rain is practically a rite of passage in the Pacific Northwest. Portland Monthly has compiled a list of itsfavorite rainy day hikes around Portland. (Portland Monthly)
• While it's not an event many would associate with Portland, the Monster Truck Freestyle came to the Moda Center this weekend. YouTuber Marty Hansen took some video of the event, to share with all the people who couldn't make it. Enjoy! (YouTube)
• And, lastly, I'll leave you with a few goats from the Insta account portland_pdx_goats, a local with a small farm, who uses goats to keep the place neat and tidy. (Instagram)

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I wish you the best of days, my friends. Into all our lives, a little rain must fall and it looks like today is the day for that to happen. So stay dry and meet me back here tomorrow for more thrilling tales 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.