PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🏮Thursday- Let’s get to it. Skies clear today, high of 65. A great afternoon to be outside — or to buy a Blazers playoff t-shirt, since the team apparently isn't going to. Plus: Circling back to the issue of Moda center renovations, and the Zoo has a little explaining to do.

Tom Dundon has owned the Portland Trail Blazers for three weeks, and the city has learned a lot about him fast. He made staffers wait in hotel lobbies during a recent Phoenix road trip to avoid late checkout fees. He left the team's three two-way players home in San Antonio — Portland was the only road team to do that — reportedly to save on travel. He cut complimentary playoff tickets for support staff. He may try to eliminate Douglas Fur, the team's second mascot. And when Portland hosted its first playoff game in five years, there were no free t-shirts on the seats. Every other arena had them. Local brand Portland Gear stepped up to hand out shirts Thursday before tip-off. The Blazers won Game 2, 106-103. Game 3 tonight at Moda, 7:30 p.m. Yahoo Sports

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In 2024, voters passed a $380 million bond to upgrade Oregon Zoo animal habitats, educational exhibits, and the visitor entrance. A new Metro Auditor report released Tuesday says the regional government bungled the start. The oversight committee didn't hold its first meeting until February 2026 — a year and a half after the bond passed. Poor planning led the zoo to scale back the first project, the main entrance renovation, so dramatically that the entry now has no budget or timeline. Instead, crews are building a deck off an existing café. The audit also found cost-tracking tools weren't finalized before construction began, and financial reserves may be too thin. Metro says it's already working on the fixes. Voters are encouraged to stay tuned. KATU

Oregon handed the Trail Blazers a $365 million renovation package in March. Now Portland is being asked to chip in $120 million more — on top of Multnomah County's $101 million — to refurbish Moda Center, which the team says needs $600 million total to modernize. Dundon pays nothing unless costs run over. Two Portland city councilors are pumping the brakes. Tiffany Koyama Lane, the only councilor who refused to sign a letter praising the deal, put it plainly: she's thinking about the arena-hasn't-had-a-renovation-in-30-years argument alongside having watched ceiling tiles fall on kids' heads in Portland public schools. Councilor Steve Novick is skeptical of relocation threats and opposes tapping the Portland Clean Energy Fund — meant for emissions programs — to pay for arena upgrades. Mayor Wilson floated roughly $75 million from that fund. Negotiations continue. Portland Mercury

Portland Gear has been putting the city on chests since 2013. The local brand makes Portland-proud apparel and accessories — and if you've seen someone wearing a bridge skyline tee on the MAX, that's them. Shop online or at their flagship on NW 23rd. portlandgear.com

In 1800, Congress passed legislation establishing the Library of Congress. Portland's library system has 19 branches and will not be firing any of its mascots.

Sixty-five degrees and sunny in late April. Portland will spend the entire day convinced this is permanent now.

by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]