Doug Brown
Portland Mercury
Portland, OR, United States
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Past articles by Doug:
The Scorpion
How the Feds found one of the web’s most prominent illicit diet pill dealers in Oregon. → Read More
Good Morning, News: Portland's Alternative History, the Village of Hope, and Oregonian Layoffs
Good morning, Portland. Here are some links. First up is this week's feature, by Joe Streckert, about Portland's alternative history. Here's an example:1845: Welcome to Boston, Oregon!In 1845, city founders Francis Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy couldn’t decide what to call this place. Pettygrove wanted Portland. Lovejoy wanted Boston. To decide, they flipped a coin. Portland won. BUT WHAT IF... it… → Read More
Trump Administration Again Threatens Oregon and Other Jurisdictions Deemed Insufficiently Cruel to Immigrants
The United State Department of Justice escalated its attacks on local governments they deem insufficiently cruel to immigrants, demanding that 23 so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions around the country turn over documents or face a DOJ subpoena. In letters to the sanctuary agencies today, including the State of Oregon's Criminal Justice Commission, the DOJ, led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions,… → Read More
Chief Outlaw Sides With Civilian Oversight Board, Agrees a Sergeant Should Be Disciplined For Wrongly Threatening to Arrest an Activist
Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw sided with a citizen oversight board today, agreeing that a Portland Police Bureau (PPB) sergeant should be disciplined for threatening to arrest an activist who was legally filming cops during a protest in November 2016. This is Outlaw's first decision on a case where the Citizen Review Committee (CRC) challenged the PPB's findings since taking office in… → Read More
Complaint Seeks to Oust County Commissioner Loretta Smith From Office For Campaign Violations
A complaint filed today in Multnomah County could oust Loretta Smith from her spot as a county commissioner and impact the future campaigns of county politicians who have aspirations for other offices. At issue is whether Smith should be forced to resign from the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners because she's been campaigning for a Portland City Council seat before the start of her final… → Read More
Good Morning, News: Portland Sex Scandals, Parking Wars, and Lies in the Voters' Pamphlet
Good morning, Portland. Here are some links for you. First up is this week's feature by writer Heather Arndt Anderson about a 1912 Portland sex scandal: "In those days, prostitution and other forms of vice (the fun, old-timey name for sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll) were rampant, but largely hidden from view—until a 14 year-old boy named Hazen Wright, brought downtown for questioning after being… → Read More
Remember the Top Stories of 2017 With Us
Then put it behind you forever. → Read More
Good Morning, News: Burning Down a House, Evan Turner's Pool, and the Winter Solstice
Good morning, Portland. This post is only as strong as its weakest link. Before we get to the newsy shit, check out this week's Mercury feature and plan your New Year's Eve. Here's your guide to the best events in town. Check out Dirk VanderHart's story on a city fee meant to spruce up streets, but is also very screwy. One interesting nugget:Under the LTIC program—passed by City Council in April… → Read More
Good Morning, News: Lying Cops, the Molalla Earthquake, and Darlington Nagbe
Good morning, Portland. Link time. First up, check out our feature on Christmas. Specifically, critiquing Christmas-related events in Portland. It's fun! Portland police: A high threshold for what constitutes a "threat" when the statement is made by one of its own:When one sergeant policing a protest on a public sidewalk last November approached an activist who was legally filming cops and said,… → Read More
Feds Seize $50,000 From Repeat International Gun Part Smuggler in Oregon City
Oregon City's Haoqian Liu, who runs an online gun store, keeps getting busted by the feds for illegally smuggling in gun parts from countries in Asia. In the middle of a probation sentence for bringing in at least 30 shipments of gun parts from the Philippines—including some that violated the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations—the US Department of Homeland Security seized $50,000 from… → Read More
Good Morning, News: The Sidewalk Sitting Ban, Tonya Harding, and Ted Wheeler's Tweets to Ben Carson
Good morning, Portland. Hit these links. First up is this week's feature (pick up a print copy) from Emilly Prado about Portland Ballroom: "a monthly gathering that continues the decades-long tradition and evolution of drag balls." Dirk VanderHart's news story about the anti-homeless sidewalk sitting ban: "While Portland’s had its current rule enabling no-sit sidewalks on the books since 2010,… → Read More
Good Morning, News: Affordable Housing, Matt Lauer, and OSU's New Football Coach
First up is this week's feature (pick up a print copy, too) by Megan Burbank. It's tremendous story about the Northwest Abortion Access Fund:... Unless something drastically changes, this will be the reality for women in the Pacific Northwest and across the country: If they can’t afford an abortion, they will need to call someone they don’t know, at a phone number they don’t recognize, to ask… → Read More
Multnomah County’s Jail is a Devastating Place for Mentally Ill People
Officials and advocates are attempting to make the criminal justice system less terrible. → Read More
News Reporter Doug Brown’s Wish List
It’s the Mercury staff wish list—and we’re very greedy. → Read More
Good Morning, News: The First Protest Lawsuit, Uber's Future in Portland, and Bad Al Franken News
Good morning, Portland. Here are some links for you this morning. First up is this week's feature (pick up a print copy, too), by Joe Streckert, about the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon. The ACLU of Oregon filed the first of several protest-related lawsuits against the city. This one's for the June 4 protest, where Portland cops "kettled" and detained a whole bunch of people at once. We've got the… → Read More
Man Arrested for Stabbing a Guy on the MAX Yellow Line
Yet again, a man was stabbed on a Max Train. The Portland Police Bureau announced that two men were "fighting" on the Yellow Line this afternoon when the train was in North Portland's Kenton neighborhood. One of them stabbed the other. The cops found the victim at the the Denver Avenue Transit Station, provided "emergency first aid," and then an ambulance took him to a hospital, the police said.… → Read More
Good Morning, News: Roy Moore, Louis CK, and the Wapato Jail Sale
Oh man, where to start? Yesterday was a pretty big news day. Let's just get into some of the national news. Roy Moore, the Republican nominee in Alabama for a US Senate Seat, is a big fucking creep, the Washington Post reports. The paper found four women who went on-the-record to say Moore, as an adult, either groped or tried to get physical with them while they were minors. Exclusive: Woman… → Read More
County To Sell Money-Draining Wapato Jail for $10.8 Million
Multnomah County commissioners voted today to officially wash their hands of the unused and money-draining Wapato Jail facility, formally approving the sale of the boondoggle building to a local developer. Commissioners voted 4-1 at Thursday's board meeting to sell the unused county-owned 155,400-square-foot building and 18.4-acre property for $10.8 million to Kehoe Northwest Properties. The… → Read More
Video: Portland Jugglers in the 90s Were Whimsical as Fuck
There's really no point to this post other than to point out this video is unexpectedly absorbing. The unironic 90s fashion, the familiar landmarks seen on grainy footage, the montages, the corny juggling—this video's got it all. A dude named Alan Plotkin just uploaded the video, which takes clips from the 1995 and 1999 Portland Juggling festival. The festival—the "PJF," as I call it—still… → Read More
Video: Portland Jugglers in the 90s Were Whimsical as Fuck
There's really no point to this post other than to point out this video is unexpectedly absorbing. The unironic 90s fashion, the familiar landmarks seen on grainy footage, the montages, the corny juggling—this video's got it all. A dude named Alan Plotkin just uploaded the video, which takes clips from the 1995 and 1999 Portland Juggling festival. The festival—the "PJF," as I call it—still… → Read More