PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🦜Wednesday morning with rain tapering off by afternoon, mid-50s and breezy. We may finally clean up the Willamette Superfund site. Portland cops crack a copper wire theft ring that killed a motorcyclist; and the Rose Festival Court is very much a thing that exists and is lovely- like you.

The Portland Harbor Superfund site — a 10-mile stretch of the Willamette River contaminated by decades of industrial use — has spent 25 years accumulating responsible parties and not much else. Cleanup could top $4 billion, shared among more than 150 parties including the city, the state, and your utility company. Your water bill is already implicated. Now a creative proposal is gaining traction: use the contaminated sediment to fill the 130-foot-deep hole left by 75 years of gravel mining at Ross Island — a few miles upriver — cap it, restore the island, and hand it to the public as a nature preserve. It saves polluters money. It exits a disgraced tycoon from a costly obligation. It might actually work. Portland: where even the cleanup is complicated.

Since May 2025, Portland police had been tracking a sharp spike in copper wire thefts targeting communication lines — cables essential to 911 and emergency services. Working with Lumen Technologies, which deployed tracking technology on targeted cables, investigators followed the copper from street to scrap yard and identified a central broker: 55-year-old Dedri White, accused of processing more than $487,000 worth of stolen metal in a single year. Theft of copper from a traffic light contributed to a crash in December that killed a motorcyclist. Four others were also arrested. The investigation continues — and two recycling businesses have been subpoenaed.

Portland's newest Rose Festival Court has been selected: 15 high school students from across the metro area, chosen for leadership, scholarship, civic involvement, and volunteer service. Court members will spend the next month in orientation before a busy May schedule of hospital visits, community events, and civic appearances, leading up to the Rose Festival's run from May 22 through June 7. Each princess receives a $5,000 scholarship, plus media training, public speaking coaching, and professional development. The Queen's Coronation is June 5 at Oregon Square. In a week of copper thieves and picket lines, these kids are genuinely the good news. See them HERE

This incredible photograph was taken by Marlee Boxer at Westmoreland Park, and shared on Facebook. Thank you Marlee!

On March 25, 1993, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck near Scotts Mills and rattled the region from Seattle to Roseburg. Portlanders called it the Spring Break Quake. Oregon remembered it has fault lines.

Quick editor’s note about the Upcoming Events section. I love making this list and I know it’s a big part of what keeps y’all coming. However there is an issue: errors. It’s a lot of data to manage and keep fresh which is why I keep making mistakes- getting dates wrong, etc. Double-checking every item every day is just too much. I’m one man working 40 hours as an X-ray tech and still on the ass end of my battle with rectal cancer. Here’s my solution until I come up with something better, and I’m open to suggestions. Just 3-5 events happening tonight (double-checked for accuracy) with a few extra weekend ones added on Friday and Saturday’s editions.

PDX TONIGHT

Avenue Q @ Brunish Theatre (Portland'5)

The Wonder Years @ Revolution Hall

Drug Church / White Reaper @ Aladdin Theater

The Barr Brothers @ Mississippi Studios

Thank you all for reading, especially our many new readers from Sellwood Neighborhood Facebook Group. by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]