Suzette Smith by Suzette Smith If you appreciate the Mercury's interesting and useful news culture reporting, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can a lso subscribe and have our papers delivered! Good Morning, Portland: Someone's dog horked in front of my apartment building yesterday. And yeah, I hosed it away eventually, but not before I saw, like, 10 tiny passion plays of people talking their dogs down from rolling in it. Anyway, apropos of nothing—here's the news! IN LOCAL NEWS:• Portland City Council finally reached a majority and picked a council president to serve for 2026. Following hours of deliberation—including last week's marathon meeting—the hard-locked governing body elected neither of the candidates it had been recently split over, and instead voted in guy-I-see-everywhere Councilor Jamie Dunphy via a 9-3 tally. Dunphy had previously supported Councilor Sameer Kanal for the role, and he noted that he would serve to bring an end to the deliberation, but would not seek it again. “This is not something that I have been seeking and is not something I am excited about,” said Dunphy. me when my friends want to hang out[image or embed] — Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith.bsky.social) January 14, 2026 at 8:32 PM • Also at Wednesday's council meeting, the Mercury got a shoutout from Councilor Dan Ryan who claimed reporter Jeremiah Hayden didn't give him time to comment or clear enough context regarding Hayden's Boomer text size scandal at City Hall "Racist, Dehumanizing": Chat Images story from Tuesday. Ryan said this as if Hayden hadn't just revealed himself as a pretty hardcore receipt king. • Today in enforceable (?) a proposed city policy change would seek to ban law enforcement from obscuring their faces with masks and to require them to wear identifying information or a badge. Championed by Councilor Sameer Kanal, the new policy responds to ongoing concerns of public safety, as federal immigration agents carry out arrests and detentions nationwide. The Oregonian's Austin De Dios reports that a draft policy calls for restriction of “the use of facial coverings to specific, clearly defined, and limited health circumstances,” which would seem to leave room for medical masks. The proposed ban would rely on Portland police to enforce it. The state of California passed a law stripping masked law enforcement of “qualified immunity,” last year, and it would have gone into effect this month, but it's currently being contested in court. • Oregon congresswoman Maxine Dexter joined Robin Kelly of Illinois in filing articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday, for “obstruction of Congress,” “violation of public trust” and “self-dealing." • In the late ’00s and into the ’10s, Oregon's "population and economy were growing robustly, yet power demand was flat" writes the Oregonian's Mike Rogoway. "Major advances in power conservation, like LED lightbulbs and more efficient heating and air conditioning, kept a lid on electricity use. That helped hold down rates because Oregon’s utilities could make do with the power they had." But now the increasing energy demands of data centers mean power companies need to figure out how to meet that demand—and it's going to cost us. • Kristen Stewart's first feature film is an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's 2011 memoir, The Chronology of Water. Starring Imogen Poots and Thora Birch—with sometimes Oregon cannabis farmer Jim Belushi as Ken Kesey—the film leans on 16mm-shot atmospheric moments that feel like fragmented memories. Lindsay Costello reviews the new work for the Mercury, just ahead of a special QA at Living Room Theaters on Friday. • Portland says goodbye to rock roll troll Dim Wit, and says hello to its new Elliott Smith!(?) This week's Mercury Music Picks doesn't shy away from local hardcore, Jersey footwork, or ambient ether. Not too shabby for mid-January in the opinion of Mercury music editor Nolan Parker. IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:• Today's will they or won't they: Will the Trump administration cut 2 billion to the nation's substance abuse and mental health programs? Reports of the sudden cuts led to confusion and alarm on Tuesday as agencies scrambled to safeguard their most vulnerable programs and clients. The cuts amounted a quarter of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services' budget. But then, by Wednesday night, the Trump administration said it would restore the money, though some agencies have yet to officially hear this. • In a ruling that merely addressed the issue of jurisdiction, a decision by a federal appeals panel may result in Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil being taken back to immigration jail. BREAKING: An appeals court has struck down the decision that freed pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention.[image or embed] — The Associated Press (@apnews.com) January 15, 2026 at 7:01 AM • US forces seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea early Thursday morning. The Trump administration says it the ship has ties to Venezuela, so [to paraphrase] it's okay to be pirates now. • FBI agents searched the home of a reporter for Washington Post on Wednesday, seizing a phone, two laptops, and a smart watch. The reporter, Hannah Natanson, has covered the Trump administration's efforts to fire federal workers. and had recently written about acquiring 1,169 sources after making a call for stories of upheaval under the Trump administration. • AP reports that a state senator in Nebraska resigned Wednesday after facing possible expulsion, due to allegations of sexual misconduct. If Dan McKeon had been expelled he would have been the first in the state's legislative history and 57th on a national level. Last May a staffer complained that McKeon told her she should “get laid” on her vacation and patted her on her butt. A report about the incident notes that McKeon characterized the remark as being about a receiving a lei (the flower garland) in Hawaii but the staffer had no plans to travel to Hawaii. Following the complaint, McKeon was instructed not to attend parties where staffers would be present, but he still did so. He also sent the woman a note telling her she should find it within herself to forgive him “because that is what the Bible instructs people to do," and told an officemate of the staffer that the woman “seems to be difficult to work with." A report determined that his conduct did not rise to a level of sexual harassment or retaliation that is actionable under state or federal discrimination law, but he could still be expelled for it. • Always appreciate hearing about a pretty nebula. The Oregonian's Jamie Hale notes that the Rosette Nebula—ALSO CALLED 💀SKULL NEBULA💀—is best viewed during the inter. Some amateur astronomers "offer detailed instructions for those" with strong enough telescopes who want to find this nebula in the night sky. • Sending you into Thursday with a prayer for the casualties of smol energetic dogs.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Elijah (@e_squared07) ...read more read less