PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🐴 It’s Monday again and we lost an hour yesterday. Mostly cloudy, high of 46°F, 35% chance of showers — classic March in Portland. PCC's two unions could walk off the job as soon as tomorrow. Layer up and maybe pack a picket sign, just in case..

Saturday night outside Portland's ICE facility, a protester attempting to burn an American flag briefly became the flag. Video circulating on social media shows the man catching fire, doing something that witnesses described as "not stop, drop, and roll," and ultimately being helped by bystanders who managed to put him out. He appeared to escape without serious injury. Footage began spreading around midnight Sunday, and by morning it had gone national — with varying degrees of sympathy from the viewing public. It is the latest entry in a long and colorful protest season at the South Waterfront ICE facility, which has featured, among other things, frog costumes, a naked bike ride choir, and now an accidental human torch. The nightly protests against ICE have been ongoing since June 2025, and show no signs of stopping — though the fire safety protocols may need some work.

City Council President Jamie Dunphy floated a proposal last week that would add a small monthly fee — somewhere in the 25-to-50-cent range — to your streaming subscriptions to fund Portland's arts scene. The pitch: redirect a sliver of the couch economy back into concert halls, bars, and street fairs. Dunphy modeled it after Chicago's streaming tax, which reportedly pulls in tens of millions annually, and said the money would go toward local arts organizations facing a brutal combination of post-pandemic economics and shrinking federal funding. Legal challenges are expected. Dunphy is unbothered, noting that Portland's legal department fights lawsuits "hundreds of times every year." The beautiful irony of taxing the thing keeping Portlanders inside to fund the things that get them outside remains fully intact.

Portland Community College's two unions — representing roughly 2,300 faculty, academic professionals, and classified workers — are on the verge of what would be the first strike in the college's 60-year history, and the first community college strike in Oregon history. The unions authorized the walkout in February, with 94% of voting members in each union saying yes. The earliest possible strike date is tomorrow, March 10. The sticking point: PCC is offering a cost-of-living adjustment of 0.35% to 0.5%, while the faculty union wants 4.25% and 4.5% in the final two years of their contract. PCC says it's staring down $18 million in current-cycle cuts and another $21 million gap ahead. The unions say the college found money to grow its management ranks by 29% since 2018 and bump the president's office budget by $17 million, so the claims of poverty ring a little hollow. More than 50,000 students are enrolled across PCC's four campuses. Watch this space — and maybe your Tuesday morning commute.

Monty's Red Sauce : Sellwood's newest Italian-American joint. Chef Adam Berger brings his pasta-making chops to a menu built for sharing. We tried the chicken marsala, spinach ricotta ravioli, and chocolate cake. We friggin loved it. 6716 SE Milwaukie Ave. Reservations recommended.

March 9, 1847: The first post office west of the Rocky Mountains opened in Astoria, Oregon — because even on the frontier, people needed somewhere to lose their packages.

It's 46 degrees, there's a one-in-three chance of rain, your streaming bill may be funding the symphony soon, and Portland Community College faculty might be on a picket line by sunrise tomorrow. Wear layers. Carry an umbrella. And maybe leave the American flags at home until you've practiced. by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]