🌱 Stolen Vehicles Found+Bias Crimes In Portland

Happy Thursday, Portland! What a time to be in the city! Warmer weather is coming, the Winter Lights Festival is going on, a good Samaritan found stolen property -- what a place! Let me tell you what's going on today.

First, today's weather:

Today brings a mix of clouds and sun and a high of 56. Lovely!

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

1. Police say the frequency of stolen vehicles in the Portland metro area is a constant crime. Now, a Portland man is doing what he can to help cops and the community recover their stolen cars and motorcycles. In the last few months, Nick Haas has helped find and recover 50 stolen vehicles. What started out as a one-off, has really taken off. Haas works on cars and bikes for a living and searches for stolen ones in his spare time. He scans social media pages and goes on a hunt. (KOIN.com)
2. The city of Portland and the Portland Police Association (PPA), the union that represents rank-and-file Portland officers, have reached a new tentative four-year contract through a mediation process. Major points of the contract include a new discipline guide as well as "targeted premium pays" focused on education and training, plus incentives to recruit and retain police. (KGW)
3. It’s been eight months since City Commissioner Dan Ryan pledged to open six “safe rest villages” across the city as an alternative to street camping. In that time, his office has selected only three locations. One of these is the Menlo Park Park & Ride, a parking lot owned by TriMet. Residents and businesses of the Hazelwood neighborhood, where Menlo Park is located, are not happy with this plan. (Willamette Week)
4. A new dashboard from the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office paints a disturbing picture. From July 2019 through December 2021, there have been 202 victims of bias crimes in Multnomah County. The Bias Crimes Dashboard shows who is affected and where these crimes happened. "For a lot of communities, it proves what we already know. I also know for every crime that is reported, there are many crimes that go unreported," Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon, Nancy Haque, said. "We know this could potentially be the tip of the iceberg." (KPTV)
5. In a time when hospitals are full and care is stretched, Providence St. Vincent is pulling ahead in a big way ranking in the top 50 hospitals in the nation. This ranking comes from HealthGrades, an organization that takes publicly reported data and looks over 32 common procedures or conditions, considers mortality rate and complications afterward and highlights the top of the top. Those treated by a hospital on the list have a higher survival rate. (KOIN)

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Today in Portland:

• The Oregon Chapter Sierra Club Forest Team is excited to present Why Old-Growth Forests Are Essential for Slowing Climate Change with Joan Maloof. In this one-hour presentation plus Q&A, Joan will offer insight and detail about the science of old-growth forests, their uniquely valuable biodiversity and superb capacity for carbon uptake and storage. This is an online event and registration is required. 6:00 - 7:30 PM.
• For some folk-tinged Americana music, come to the Laurelthirst Public House in NE Portland to see Matt Mitchell. In 2011 he formed his own band; a six-piece Americana/rock n’ roll group called ‘Folkinception.’ The band was bestowed the honor of “Best Original Band” in 2018 and 2019 in the Pacific NW Inlander’s ‘Best Of’ reader poll. The music starts at 9:00 PM.
• It's a dance night at Rainbow City in SE Portland with its Throwback Thursday. Come vibe along with Portland's own "Last Scooter" Brand and Rolling loud DJ "D The Prodigy" for a night of partying, drinks and your favorite throwbacks from the early 80s all the way to the early 2000s! Get your tickets online. Doors open at 7:00 PM.
• Multnomah County Library's Black Cultural Library Advocates presents: Black History Month - Stones, Bones and Blacked-Eyed Peas. Join chef and owner of Finer Things Events and Catering, Michelle Guinn, along with her daughter, Sable Askew and take a trip back into history. Enjoy a cooking demonstration using traditional foods and recipes cooked by African Americans from the time of slavery, and explore their many modern interpretations. This is a virtual event, so online registration is required. 6:30 - 7:30 PM.
• If you're concerned about climate change, but are unsure of what you can do, Families for Climate are here to help. To help de-mystify different ways to engage with the process, it has lined up some incredible advocates to share tips and best practices for effectively communicating with legislators and the media. Register online for this virtual event. 8:00 - 9:00 PM.

From my notebook:

• Portland Trail Blazers: "9 years. Countless clutch buckets. A fixture in our community. Forever a part of the Blazers family. Thank you for everything, 3J ❤️" (Instagram)
• Portland Art Museum: "New profile pic! ✨ Looking for inspiration? These visitors captured some of the most popular artworks in our galleries. Plan your next visit with a friend: We're open Wednesday–Sunday, 10 am–5 pm. 🔗Link in bio. 📷: @sriram.nathan + ..." (Instagram)
• Portland Audubon: "We have two great local birding trips coming up in March, Klamath Basin and the Central Coast! Join us at Klamath Basin to see the spectacular spring migration of Snow, Ross's, and White-fronted geese, along with a great diversity of wat..." (Facebook)
• Friends of Family Farmers: "Whoopsies! The previous post said SB 1542 and it was supposed to be SB 1534. Sorry for any confusion. The time is now to get those written testimonies in!" (Facebook)
• Come see an interactive experience illuminating the hidden, more-than-human world of the PNW underground using video, lighting, and soundscape. The secret underground: A glow world experience is an interactive installation that invites children and their companions to reconsider the often unseen world of the more-than-human. For the 2022 Portland Winter Light festival, creative partners Angela Molloy Murphy, Katie Shook of Mudland, Michelle Loberg, Reeses Bowles, and Friends of the Secret Underground created a multimodal exhibit using video, light, and sound to simulate an underground world. (Event Brite)
• Portland's reputation has taken a beating in the last few years. If you still need a reason to love the City of Roses, check out this week's Willamette Week and its annual Valentine to the City issue. It gives you 25 reasons to love Portland. (Willamette Week)

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There's your Thursday in Portland. I hope it's a beautiful day for you all. Remember to be kind to each other and to meet me back here tomorrow so I can share 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.