PORTLAND DRIZZLE

👽 This is Thursday. Buckle up for the atmospheric river that’s rolling through today and won't let up until Friday night. Expect rain, wind gusts up to 33 mph, and a high near 53°F. A Flood Watch is in effect through Thursday night. On the news front: Portland Public Schools is officially staring down the barrel of a $22 million hole this year alone, and the Superintendent dropped the five-to-ten-school-closure bomb at Tuesday's board meeting. Great day to stay inside and read about it.

Portland Public Schools has a deficit problem that keeps growing, like a pothole on SE Division after a wet winter. The district disclosed this week that its current-year budget gap has ballooned to $22 million — higher than the $10 million originally reported — and Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong is doing administrative furloughs and central office layoffs to make a dent. That's just the appetizer. The main course is a $50 million shortfall looming for 2026–27, and Armstrong told the school board Tuesday she expects to present a list of five to ten school closures by November. No campuses were named yet, but the district has been bleeding enrollment for years and has now cut more than $90 million from its budget over four consecutive fiscal years. The board won't vote on closures until December at the earliest. In the meantime, Portland's largest school district — which serves more than 49,000 students — is telling the public: brace yourself.

Three suspects allegedly lost their minds over a food order mix-up at the Sandy Hut on NE Sandy Boulevard last October and put two bar employees in the hospital. When a security guard escorted the trio outside, all three were reportedly "wailing on him." When a second employee stepped in, Marchelle Quiana Swafford allegedly punched him in the jaw with a can of pepper spray — leaving him with a broken jaw and eight fractured teeth. The three fled before police arrived and weren't identified until nearly four months later via security footage. Charges include first- and second-degree assault for Swafford, and third-degree assault for all three. The lesson: Portland bar staff did not take your order. But they will remember your face.

Here's a sentence that should feel like a tiny gift: Oregon and Washington are having one of the better weeks in America at the gas pump, relatively speaking. Thanks to the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and the resulting chaos in the Strait of Hormuz, the national average for regular gas jumped 43 cents last week alone — to $3.54 a gallon, its highest point since July 2024. Oregon's average climbed 31 cents to $4.26, making it the 42nd-largest week-over-week increase among all 50 states. Washington also rose 31 cents, ranking 44th. For context, California's price shot up 62 cents and now sits at $5.29 — the only state averaging above five bucks. Oregon is fifth-most-expensive in the country, which is not a brag, but it's something. AAA spokeswoman Marie Dodds explained the dynamics simply: Iran is a major oil producer, China and India depend on that oil, and when a major producer is at war, crude prices go up everywhere

Lloyd Center, photograph by Wren Schroeder. Follow Wren on Instagram

On March 12, 1778, Captain James Cook's expedition spotted Cape Arago off the Oregon coast — making it one of the earliest recorded European sightings of what would become Oregon. He named it after a French scientist he'd never meet.

It's a full-on atmospheric river out there. Stay safe out there, avoid the floodplains, and for the love of all things civic, maybe find out which school in your neighborhood is on the shortlist. by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]