6/22/2023 News Roundup

STREET RESPONSE <<Portland Street Response is both widely popular and politically embattled, thanks to a city commissioner, Rene Gonzalez, who’s reducing its funding and a firefighters’ union that remains unfriendly to it (“Flame War,” WW, May 31). But the dispute over involuntary holds shows other tensions that threaten the program’s long-term prospects. WW reviewed correspondence …

4/20/2023 News Roundup Part 2

TEAR GAS <<Portland police blanketed downtown in tear gas at concentrations more than 50 times what federal regulators consider “immediately dangerous,” The Guardian reported yesterday. The first-of-its-kind analysis was performed by Forensic Architecture, a company that investigates human rights abuses. At one location, it concluded that concentrations were 2,000 times the federal limit on the …

4/16/2023 News Roundup

POLICE UNION <<Brian Hunzeker, the one-time president of the Portland Police Association who resigned over a false leak concerning then-Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, was placed on leave Saturday by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, two days after resigning from PPB. Hunzeker was fired by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler over the false leak that linked Hardesty …

4/15/2023 News Roundup

SCHOOL RACISM <<New data is revealing some concerning results regarding disciplinary action within Portland Public Schools. School leaders said the research shows students of color are disproportionately impacted and they’re also seeing an uptick in hate speech. The discussion at the Prophet Center centered around how to create an environment of belonging to transform culture …

1/27/23 News Update

INSTEAD OF PRISON <<The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office launched two new programs last year to divert people accused of violent offenses from prison time. The first was profiled in this week’s paper: a treatment court for Measure 11 offenders. The second is called Restorative Roots. It’s a partnership among prosecutors, public defenders and a …