Portland Drizzle

Over the weekend, the Mexican army killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes — better known as "El Mencho" — the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and arguably the most powerful drug lord in Mexico. The cartel's response was immediate and cinematic: burning vehicles blocked roads across nearly a dozen Mexican states, and Guadalajara was turned into a ghost town as civilians hunkered down. For Portland, this wasn't just a foreign headline — it showed up at PDX. More than 25 flights scheduled to depart Monday from Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara to Portland International Airport were canceled or delayed, with nearly all of the 33 flights scheduled out of Puerto Vallarta to Portland scrapped. Air Canada, American, Delta, Southwest, United and others all canceled flights, leaving travelers stranded on both ends. One traveler in Puerto Vallarta for a wedding described not knowing when he was leaving, whether he was safe, or what was going on — "just trying to ride it out." The U.S. State Department issued shelter-in-place advisories for American citizens across several Mexican states. Cancellations are expected to ripple through the week. If you've got a trip booked to Jalisco anytime soon, call your airline before you head to the airport.

If you've been following Portland's homelessness story and thought things might finally be stabilizing — well. Multnomah County's Homeless Services Department has proposed cutting 675 shelter beds to address an $87 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, driven by declining Supportive Housing Services revenue from Metro, an end to one-time funding streams, and the city of Portland declining to contribute to the homeless services budget for the first time since 2016. That's right — for the first time in a decade, Portland and the county are essentially pointing fingers at each other while people sleep outside in February rain. County commissioners are exploring whether unspent city funds might provide a bridge to keep beds open. These cuts wouldn't hit until June, which means there's a narrow window to fix this — or to watch Portland take a significant step backward on one of the issues it's spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to address. The clock, as with everything in Portland right now, is running.

Oregon Republicans have once again discovered that the fastest way to stop legislation you don't like is to simply not show up. All 12 GOP members of the Oregon Senate staged a walkout ahead of a scheduled vote on Senate Bill 1599, a measure that would move a referendum on gas taxes and vehicle fees from the November general election to the May primary. Republicans came back the next day — preventing a full quorum crisis — but the bill still hasn't crossed the finish line. Oregon law requires the measure to clear the legislature and get Governor Tina Kotek's signature by tomorrow, February 25. The political stakes are obvious: Democrats want the unpopular tax measure off the November ballot, where it would share space with Kotek's own re-election bid. Republicans want it exactly there. Political analyst John Horvick put it bluntly: Republicans believe having the referendum alongside Kotek's race weakens Democrats at the polls. Everyone's being completely honest about the cynicism here, which, in its own way, is almost refreshing.

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — a reminder that the world can change overnight, and that the phrase "this is fine" has never aged well. Three years later, the war continues.

That's your Tuesday, Portland. The skies are taking a partial day off, the cartel situation in Mexico is a reminder that the world is very large and very complicated, and there's a legislative deadline tomorrow that could shape your commute costs for the next decade.

If you've got a Mexico trip on the books: call your airline first. If you've got shelter bed funding opinions: call your county commissioner. And if you're heading out today: maybe leave the heavy jacket at home, but keep it within reach. That's just Portland in February.