🌶️ Hot takes on Portland’s best dive bars

Salmon Growth Stalls

Before 1850, upwards of 10 million salmon and steelhead populated the Columbia River Basin. Efforts to restore those numbers haven’t been successful so far. The number of fish have increased sharply since the 1990s, but the past decade saw no improvements over the previous one. [Idaho Capital Sun]

New Oregon Laws

New state laws going into effect on Jan. 1 aim to lower prescription costs, make school bus rides safer, and make it easier to repair cellphones and other devices. Plus, the state treasury must divest from coal companies. [Oregonian 🔒]

Portland’s Quintessential Dive Bars

Portland Monthly’s food and drink editor Alex Frane compiled his list of Portland’s most quintessential dive bars. He shares some hot takes on what even constitutes a dive bar — and even hotter takes on why he left some very popular picks off the list. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

My favorite part of the week is getting to hear your reactions to the newsletter and your knowledge of Portland.

It’s time for some reader emails:

Bumper Sticker Wisdom

I ran a bumper sticker of an innocent pastel-colored tea cup that read “Make Tea, Not War.” And I received this reminder of the limitations of bumper sticker wisdom, specifically that one:

“This bumper sticker has always cracked me up. How do you think tea was achieved in the West?” — Paul

And there was this reader submission to the ongoing feature of favorite bumper stickers around:

“Saw this in The Pearl a couple months ago. Right to the point.” — Tom Cole (See below.)

Lents Neighborhood

I ran a guide to the Lents neighborhood this week, and a reader offered another suggestion that didn’t get a mention:

“I'm not sure if they're technically in Lents or if it's more a part of the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, but Red Castle Games is an awesome place to stop by and check out board games/merch and even get snacks and play their games (if you buy $5 worth of food you can play the games from their game library in store for free!). The people that work there are so cool too!” — Cynthia

Don’t hesitate to be in touch: Please email me.