by Taylor Griggs The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. 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! It's going to be cool and dry again today. It's time for the rain to return, methinks. According to the trusty 8-14 day precipitation outlook from the National Weather Service, that should happen sometime toward the end of the month. Fingers crossed the National Weather Service is not banished as a federal agency in the coming days/months/years.  Image: NOAA/NWS First, a quick message about the state of the news. The new Trump administration is already a complete shitshow, as was expected. While it's crucial to stay up-to-date on what's going on so you can make moves accordingly, that doesn't mean we all have to follow every single little piece of bullshit that comes out of the White House over the next four years. Don't burn yourself out on day three, and be wary of pundits and news-types who purposefully work to stir outrage and hysteria in the name of informing the public. I guess what I'm saying is you're not OBLIGATED to doomscroll. And please remember, not everyone on the internet knows what they're talking about, even if they phrase things in scary and intellectual-sounding ways.  That being said, when it comes to the Mercury's daily news digest, READ ON!  IN LOCAL NEWS: • Several blue states are suing the Trump administration over the president's unconstitutional executive order calling for an end to birthright citizenship, and Oregon is one of them. Oregon's Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced he'll be joining AGs from Washington, Arizona, and Illinois in a lawsuit against the executive order. A separate lawsuit, filed yesterday by a group of 18 Democratic-led states, Washington, DC, and the city of San Francisco, calls the effort to end birthright citizenship "a flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution."  • On a related note, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson issued a statement yesterday reaffirming the city's status as a sanctuary city—a response to the anti-immigrant rhetoric and action from the Trump camp. As he made clear throughout his campaign, Trump wants to carry out a massive deportation operation, targeting millions of people with undocumented or temporary immigration status. Wilson pointed out that in Oregon, Trump's plans could directly impact more than 100,000 people. "Portland is rich in diversity, a value that includes immigrants and refugees who have only just arrived," Wilson wrote in a letter to Portland City Council. "We stand together in solidarity with our immigrant families. Their lives, families, and businesses are part of the fabric of our community...We must come together to live our city’s shared values of freedom from fear and sanctuary from federal overreach in the days ahead, no matter what our city may face. • The Multnomah County Elections building was back open yesterday—with boarded-up windows—after a group of people in masks and hoods vandalized the Multnomah County Elections building early Monday morning. Portland Police Chief Bob Day called the incident an "orchestrated attack" with an anti-establishment and anti-government motive, but wasn't necessarily related to Trump's inauguration.  • The Oregon DMV is closing its Mall 205 location in East Portland, apparently due to maintenance problems they couldn't resolve with their building property managers. The DMV says it could no longer operate in the building due to problems including sewage smells (?). DMV leaders say they have "high standards for [their] offices," and Mall 205 owners have failed to work with them to resolve the issues at that location.  The East Portland DMV is one of the busiest locations in the state, and its closure leaves a big gap in service—the other locations in the city are in North Portland and downtown. As the DMV pointed out in its press release, this comes at a bad time, as the office will be even busier and more hellish than usual due to the upcoming "REAL" ID requirements.  The DMV plans to move the office to a new location, but it's unclear where that will be or when it will happen. The office will extend its hours at a location in Sandy shortly after closing the Mall 205 office at the end of the month.  • Oregon has 13 James Beard Award semifinalists this year! Chefs Sarah Minnick from the amazing pizza spot Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty and Gabriel Rucker from Le Pigeon have nabbed semifinalist slots in the national category, as has restaurant Coquine, bakery JinJu Patisserie, the bar Scotch Lodge, and bartender Joel Gunderson of Heavenly Creatures. Wow—that’s a lot of eastside representation, huh? Anyway, check out the rest of our 2025 James Beard Award semifinalists here.  Twenty years ago, the movie Dig! crushed my longtime fandom in the Dandy Warhols by doing what all great music journalism does: reveals the motivations behind the art. And yet I love this movie. Can’t wait to see the expanded version.[image or embed]— Leah Sottile (@leahsottile.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:  • An early hero of the second Trump era has emerged in Bishop Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington. In a prayer service to DC VIPs (including President Trump and VP J.D. Vance) yesterday, Budde spoke directly to Trump, asking him to "have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now," including "gay, lesbian, and transgender children...some who fear for their lives." She also spoke out against the racist and xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump and his allies have incited throughout his time in politics, saying although "the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants...may not be citizens or have the proper documentation," they're not criminals. They're our neighbors.  In response to Budde's words, Trump said he "didn't think it was a good service." One Republican politician (Rep. Mike Collins from Georgia) took things much further, calling on Budde to be "added to the deportation list." This is what those who speak out against the president are up against. Budde's bravery in the (literal) face of such hostility is highly commendable and will hopefully be replicated in the days ahead.  If you want to see the opposite of “obeying in advance,” here it is. Remarkable bravery by Reverend Budde.[image or embed] — Dave Fox (@foxdm.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 11:39 AM • Trump has already made many horrible executive orders and decisions in the two-ish days he's been back in office. For example, he moved yesterday to put all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion staff on paid leave and eventually lay them off, starting this evening. His initial executive orders also target Biden-era environmental policies, with the goal of rolling back all the progress we’ve made on clean energy and climate action. As this New York Times article puts it, "Trump effectively told the world that the US is out of the climate fight"—right as climate change is heating up potentially beyond repair. We'd better hope and pray the rest of the world listens, and realizes they must go above and beyond to make up for American destruction. I really am sorry, world. These are just two examples of the extremely damaging moves Trump has already made—there's plenty more where that came from.  This will get almost no attention. It fucking should though.  The combustion of coal, oil and gas is killing one of the most remarkable and important places on the planet before our eyes, and most people are looking away instead.[image or embed]— Tim Baxter (@timinclimate.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 1:34 AM • A very rare snowstorm hit the US Gulf Coast earlier this week, blanketing typically warm states including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi in snow. It's disconcerting for climate change reasons, and because people in these states aren't used to freezing temperatures and icy, snowy roads, but it is quite interesting to see New Orleans covered in snow—and with some jazz bands still playing!  The music never stopped, St Peter street, New Orleans — (In the next few days you can find many of my best snow pictures on IG at marcorasi1960)[image or embed] — marcorasi.bsky.social (@marcorasi.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 3:25 PM • That's all for now, except for the obligatory funny/cute animal video (the following choice is both). In these trying times, such videos have become all the more important. LUV U MEAN IT. Bye! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pavel (@pa.vel6089)