City Council candidate Ben Hufford allegedly offered patrons free entry to a nightclub he co-owns in exchange for campaign donations. He got 170. He says the bar was hosting an "event" for his supporters. That's not what 11 bar patrons WW spoke to said. wweek.com/news/city/2024…

Homeless service providers and business community have deal: extend the homeless service tax 20 years in exchange for indexing the tax to inflation and lowering it from 1% to .75% over time. Now they and Metro will try to get counties on board. wweek.com/news/2024/11/1…

Chatter in Oregon GOP circles: U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is a candidate to become Trump's labor secretary. Politico today added some heft to that chatter, reporting the national Teamsters boss is on board. LCD lost her CD5 seat to Janelle Bynum Nov. 5. wweek.com/news/2024/11/1…

Six insurers have sued, asking for a temporary restraining order to stop Willamette Week from obtaining what they call trade secrets. wweek.com/news/courts/20…

Mayor-elect Keith Wilson has chosen Aisling Coghlan as his chief of staff. wweek.com/news/city/2024…

Four Lincoln High School students filed a tort claim notice with Portland Public Schools alleging that their basketball coach, Heather Seely-Roberts, used homophobic slurs to refer to players, among other allegations. wweek.com/news/schools/2…

Latest twist: In Oct., Seely-Roberts filed a tort claim with the school district, alleging it failed to protect her from a disgruntled basketball family. wweek.com/news/schools/2…

Following the troops to Bluesky. Planning to post there, not here—at least when I remember to post at all. bsky.app/profile/sophie…

Last week, we reported that Street Roots executive director Kaia Sand quietly went on leave in October. She resigned Friday. Sand + the org remain mum about what led to the separation. Plz follow me on Bluesky instead: sophiegreenleaf.bsky.social wweek.com/news/2024/12/1…

More trouble for Portland Small Donor Elections, the city's public campaign finance program. Portland public campaign finance deputy slams program head in searing resignation; director fires back oregonlive.com/politics/2024/…

The incoming City Council is eyeing a budget amendment to increase the amount of staff each councilor can hire. That desire—to increase councilors' office budgets—comes when the city is staring down a $27 million budget shortfall. wweek.com/news/city/2024…

After 10 rounds of voting, Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney snagged the coveted president position with a 7-5 vote, beating out Councilor Avalos. The councilor to flip the vote: Mitch Green. He'd voted for Avalos in nine rounds, up until the tenth. wweek.com/news/city/2025…

Bonus episode this month! Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Sophie Peel return to the Stump Talk podcast to guide listeners through the new government's very eventful first two weeks. Always a pleasure to get their takes on the new normal at City Hall! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stu…

City administrator Michael Jordan tells bureau directors that the city will be analyzing the communications, equity and engagement shops across the city, and eyeing cuts in each. wweek.com/news/city/2025…

My monthly reminder to my Twitter followers to please follow me instead on Bluesky! bsky.app/profile/sophie…

Prosper Portland flouted all its own risk guidelines when it approved a $7 million loan to an ambitious footwear manufacturing hub last week. Project so far is almost entirely funded with public dollars. Gov. Kotek is unhappy. Lots more. wweek.com/news/2025/02/1…

Chip Terhune, the CEO of SAIF Corp, the state's largest workers compensation insurer, says somebody fired three bullets through the front door of his home in Lake Oswego last night. Nobody was hurt. Police are now investigating. wweek.com/news/2025/02/2…

City Administrator Mike Jordan, in an usual move, stopped short of recommending roughly $60 million in budget cuts necessary to create a balanced budget. That leaves a set of politically hazardous decisions in front of the new council. wweek.com/news/city/2025…

.Sophie Peel reported for Willamette Week how PBOT erroneously approved the structure above despite it being on a state road. That’s the “mistake” PBOT is referencing. wweek.com/news/2025/05/1…

Whoah. "For the first time in living memory, Portland in effect has two viable political parties—and the second one isn’t the Republicans." --Sophie Peel of Willamette Week : wweek.com/news/2025/07/1…