City Cast Portland
🎒 Portland’s best backpacking trips
August 22, 2023
Good morning! Hopefully the wildfire smoke is gone now, but if you need another excuse to be inside, there’s a new indoor pickleball facility opening on Friday.
What's CITY Talking About?
🧯 Oregon Delayed its Own Wildfire Recovery in 2020
That’s according to a study by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, which found that in the aftermath of 2020’s devastating wildfires, the state’s lack of funding and communication breakdowns led to delays in recovery efforts. The report concludes that state agencies need more resources and training to be able to coordinate effectively at a local and tribal level. [Statesman Journal 🔒]
- 🎧 Related: It’s not just wildfires that are polluting Portland’s air. [City Cast Portland]
🧾 Settlement Paid in Cash and Apology
On behalf of the City of Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler has issued a public apology to former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. The city also agreed to pay $5,000 to Hardesty, who had sued the city and Portland police officers for leaking false claims about her alleged involvement in a 2021 hit-and-run car crash. The city says the settlement is not an admittance of guilt. [Portland Mercury]
🤑 Community Colleges Make Oregon a Lot of Money
According to a study commissioned by 17 schools, Oregon community colleges generate $9.6 billion in economic activity each year. The study compiled data from college expenditures, current students, and alumni, reporting that the institutions support the equivalent of 118,000 jobs across the state. Findings from the study will be used to lobby for additional state funds in the future. [OPB]
Where Is It?
Rachel stumbled upon this beautiful mural of Portland’s flora and fauna by artist Jeremy Nichols.
This one stumped you! Only one person wrote in with an almost-correct answer. Reader Robin G. says:
- “This mural is downtown on SE 2nd & Salmon. My daughter and I had fun trying to guess if all the plants, birds & butterflies in it were native :).”
This week’s photo ⤵️
Do you know where this skate park is?
What To Do
🥻 ‘Chak De! India’ Screening | Tuesday | 6 p.m.
Part of the Bollywood movie series at Clinton Street Theater, this 2007 film follows a former field hockey player trying to coach a contentious women’s team into a national championship. [Hoshford-Abernathy; $10]
🔊 Live Show at Kelly’s Olympian | Tuesday | 8:30 p.m.
Catch performances by a trio of bands: The Stims, My Dream Band, and Pale Violet. [Downtown; $8 - $10]
🍸 Sumi Ink Self-Portraits for Kids | Wednesday | 5:30 p.m.
This one’s for the kiddos! They’ll learn to paint self-portraits with Japanese Sumi ink and chalk pastels. Ideal for ages 4-11. [Southeast; $15 - $25]
Today on City Cast
How to Protect Oregon’s Native Bees
Beekeepers celebrated World Honey Bee Day this past weekend, celebrating all the work that pollinators do for us every day. But here in Oregon, there’s a lot more than just honey bees buzzing around: We have 600 species of bees, all doing their thing, pollinating plants. And a lot of them don’t look or act how you’d expect. Rich Hatfield, a senior conservation biologist with the Xerces Society who’s studied native bees for 25 years, tells us why they’re so important, how to protect them, and how to observe them out in the wild.
One out of three bites of food that you eat comes from a plant that was pollinated by a bee so they’re contributing to our wild native ecosystem, and then also to our agro-ecosystem and our agro-economy in terms of billions of dollars annually.
I don’t hate garlic, but I’m baffled by how many people are obsessed with it. If you’re one of those savages, you’ll love this story about a bunch of garlic fiends in North Plains. 🧄
— Adrian González
Edited by John Notarianni
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