PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🐦‍⬛Friday Friday My Day! Rain moves in Friday (75% chance), clears through the weekend. Low 60s Saturday, slightly warmer Sunday. The elk is home, a bridge is back, and a former Gresham cop is on the run. Get your bike tuned up and ready for the Ladds 500 🛎️ *ding ding!

Portland's Thompson Elk is back. Crews lowered the 3,000-pound bronze statue onto its restored granite pedestal Thursday morning, ending a six-year absence that began when fire damaged the fountain base during 2020 protests. The elk was never damaged itself — it was removed because inspectors found it wasn't properly secured. The $2.2 million restoration sourced new granite from the same Vermont quarry used in 1900 and shipped it to Ohio for fabrication before it arrived in Portland. A free public rededication ceremony is set for Sunday, April 12 at Chapman and Lownsdale Squares, 1–4pm, with music, food trucks, and civic speeches starting at 1:30. OPB

Hector Carranza, 37, cut off his ankle monitor on or about March 21. A warrant was issued two days later. The Multnomah County DA's office went public Thursday asking for help finding him. Carranza was a Gresham Police Department officer from 2014 until he resigned last fall after being placed on leave following an anonymous FBI tip. A grand jury indicted him on four counts of rape, 12 counts of sodomy, 24 counts of sexual abuse, and multiple counts involving child exploitation. He's described as Hispanic, 6 feet tall, 220 pounds. Tips to the Multnomah County Sheriff at 503-988-0560. Portland Tribune

The bridge reopens to all traffic Sunday, April 12, after closing October 13 to replace the deck on the moveable lift spans — concrete-filled steel, same as the Morrison. Drivers, the Portland Streetcar, cyclists, and pedestrians all get their crossing back at once. Fair warning: there's one more short closure scheduled for April 18–19 so crews can install final steel components. Multnomah County covered design costs and 10% of construction; the federal government handled the rest. Oregonian

Reddit user u/RandulsLove posted this video with the caption “Spotted 4/8/26 in the Willamette from the Tilikum on my bike ride home!”

On April 10, 1865, Oregon Volunteers left Fort Hoskins, a Coast Range post built to guard the Siletz Reservation — five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox ended the war.

If you commute on the Broadway Bridge, I bet you’re relieved! Does everyone remember the mnemonic for the bridges that I gave you? This will be on the quiz, people!

by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]