by Courtney Vaughn If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support! Good morning, Portland! We're in the thick of January, which is now bringing us very chilly weather. Expect fog throughout the early morning, with a partly sunny day and nighttime temperatures that could dip as low as 31 degrees. Buurrrrrr. 🥶 Let's check in on what's happening in the Rose City, and the rest of the world. In Local News: • The historical impacts of the city’s infrastructure development on Portland’s Albina neighborhood have been well documented. Now, with some federal funding and willpower, Portland’s Bureau of Transportation is studying ways to reconfigure an “overbuilt” I-405 off-ramp in an area that Albina residents say is blighted by poor land use and car-centric planning. Taylor Griggs has the latest on what’s in Albina’s future. Much of Portland's historically Black Albina neighborhood was razed by highway projects in the mid-20th century, including the I-405 ramp on the east side of the Fremont Bridge. New federal funds may help the city scale back the "overbuilt" ramp's impact. www.portlandmercury.com/news/2025/01...[image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) January 13, 2025 at 4:54 PM   • A lawsuit against a young man who was investigated for shooting and killing a Portland man and his dog on a hiking trail in Washington has been settled between families. The Oregonian reports that the family of 49-year-old Aron Christensen, who died alongside his puppy on Washington’s Walupt Lake Trail in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in 2022, has settled with Ethan Asbach. Asbach, who planned to go bear hunting in the area at the time, admitted to firing shots into the dark wilderness the night Christensen died. He was investigated, but never charged. Lewis County law enforcement botched the death investigation so badly, a prosecutor said it was impossible to charge Asbach, who was 19 at the time. Christensen’s family sued Asbach in civil court.  • We hear a lot of talk about homelessness from politicians and media, but rarely is it directly linked to wages. In an opinion essay, Jonathan Tasini argues for a broader discussion of the economic causes of homelessness, like a minimum wage that hasn’t kept up with skyrocketing rents. You can read the full essay here. Guest opinion: "The math is simple: to rent a two-bedroom place in Portland, the minimum wage should be just shy of $39 per hour," Jonathan Tasini writes. "In a city in which the minimum wage is $15.95 per hour, it’s hardly surprising that working people struggle to keep a roof over their heads."[image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) January 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM • A robbery at the Gateway Fred Meyer store Monday turned into a homicide investigation, after police found a man lying in the parking lot. Police were dispatched to a reported purse snatching at the store, and shots fired, but KGW reports police initially said no one was struck by gunfire. They later reported a man was found and pronounced dead shortly afterward, though a cause of death has yet to be determined. It's unclear whether the man who died was connected to the robbery. In National/World News: • President Biden has less than a week left in office, and on his way out, he's again trying to shore up student loan debt relief for thousands of borrowers. An additional 85,000 people with outstanding federal loans were notified, Politico reports. Biden made student loan debt relief a priority when he took office, as numerous reports of loan servicing errors, fraud, and closed schools have surfaced over the past decade. To date, more than 5 million borrowers have had loans forgiven, but an earlier plan to wipe out debt for millions of people was shot down by the Supreme Court in 2023.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Moo Deng and hippos (@daily.moodeng) • US Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on President-elect Donald Trump's election interference cases indicates the evidence against Trump would have led to a conviction, if the cases went to trial. Prosecutors dropped pending charges after Trump won election in November, because of a long-standing practice not to prosecute a sitting president. As NPR reports, Smith's 137-page report "lays out prosecutors' evidence of Trump's efforts to influence the election and propagate election claims he knew were false." • Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is playing politics with disaster relief for California wildfire victims. Johnson said Monday that aid for the state should be conditional. According to ABC News, "Johnson said the House Republican Conference will have a 'serious discussion' about aid and blamed leadership in California who he said, 'were derelict in their duty.'" It's unclear exactly what terms or conditions Johnson would propose.  In related political news: Wow — Hegseth steamrolls Hirono as she tries to ask him about accusations of being drunk on the job. He then dodges a question about if he'll commit to resign as sec def if he drinks on the job[image or embed] — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 14, 2025 at 8:39 AM • In "Oh, That's Pathetic!" news: Online gamers are roasting Elon Musk, the billionaire who appears to be second-in-command to the incoming US president, for allegedly paying someone to elevate Musk's character in "Path of Exile 2" to an expert level, so Musk could claim superior gaming chops. The claims surfaced quickly after Musk live-streamed himself playing the game, making claims about how good he was, despite clearly displaying very little tactile knowledge of the game's features and throwing around false claims about the gear his character was sporting. His character later "died" that day, nearly solidifying the theories that Musk was inept at the game and couldn't have risen to a top level status without paying an expert to play the game for hundreds of hours on his behalf. Whoopsies!  Elon Musk (annoying weirdo) was in the Top 10 of 'Path of Exile 2' leaderboard before he got banned. This week he streamed the game and fans of the game believe he payed someone who ranked his char for him because he clearly don't understand the game. www.windowscentral.com/gaming/elon-...[image or embed] — Knoebel (@knoebel.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 12:47 AM           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by WeRateDogs (@weratedogs)