👠 Why liberal Portland should want cops in drag

Job Losses Mount

The Portland area lost 9,000 jobs last year — the fourth highest of any metro area in the country. That plus slower population growth, high housing costs, and growing homelessness point to “structural challenges that will shape Portland’s trajectory for years to come,” warns a recent report from Portland-based research firm ECOnorthwest. [OPB]

The Battle Over When To Repeal the Gas Tax

There’s consensus among Democrats and Republicans that the gas tax hike passed last fall will not survive the referendum currently scheduled for November. Instead, the fight in the Legislature is over whether to move that vote to May. Democratic legislators have advanced that proposal out of committee, on a party-line vote. But Republicans, who are in the minority, say they may go to the courts to try to block a May vote. [Oregonian]

• Related: At the same time, the Oregon Department of Transportation faces a $288 million budget shortfall. [Oregonian]

Grocery Closed After 110 Years

Sheridan Farms opened in 1916 and was one of the last vestiges of Produce Row. It survived multiple pandemics, two world wars, and the Depression, but an era ended when the family-owned shop closed Friday. [Oregonian]