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, th ere is no us. Thanks for your support! Good morning, Portland! We are set for a dry and balmy day today, with temperatures expected to hit 55 degrees. Rain and mountain snow will return later this week. (There's also a threat of ice over the weekend, but nobody freak out yet.)  Let's get to the news.  IN LOCAL NEWS:  • OHSU's National Primate Research Center may be no more, much to the delight of animal welfare advocates, who have long been pushing the university to shut the doors on its monkey research facility. Yesterday, OHSU's board voted unanimously to look into transitioning the center—which, with about 5,000 primates, is one of the largest research centers of its kind in the US—into a monkey sanctuary. Scientists have historically used the facility to run various experiments, which OHSU says have helped advance research on potential cures for diseases including HIV, multiple sclerosis, and dementia. But it comes at a price—both financially (the center is at risk of losing federal funding) and with regard to the primates' welfare. Watch monkeys move around and interact with each other, and it's obvious how closely related they are to us, making a facility like this hard to stomach. Still, others argue the primate center is necessary, both for OHSU's reputation and scientific advancement in general. At any rate, it's not a done deal yet, so stay tuned. • Good news—while Oregon (and most of the western US) has been really hurting for snow this winter, we got a good dusting over the weekend, and the forecast is looking promising, too. This is good for those of us who like skiing and snowboarding, but more importantly, it's crucial for avoiding horrible drought conditions that would turn our state into a tinderbox come August. Things could change, but right now, weather models indicate the rest of February will bring some much-needed cold air and moisture. So keep praying for snow, even if you're not a winter person. I promise, you'll get your sun. • Speaking of fresh powder, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has announced the winners of its latest snow plow naming contest. I know, it's the moment everyone has been waiting for, so drumroll, please. The five winning names are Keep Portland Cleared, Mississlippy, Damian Blizzard, A Sleetcar Named Deicer, and Pink Pony Plow. There's a wide range of interests represented here! According to PBOT, 6,000 people participated in the ranked-choice voting contest to determine the winners—that's why we wound up with references to the Blazers, Tennessee Williams, and Chappell Roan. (On second thought, I actually think those three interests go very well together, and may even sum up the Portland's vibe.) PBOT's rationale for the snow plow naming contest is quite smart. By giving the snow plows names and differentiating between them, the city is putting an end to the very false urban legend that the city of Portland only owns one plow. In fact, PBOT has 56 plows, and pretty soon, they're all going to have names. Just you wait! Unfortunately, it might not snow in the city this year, so you might have to wait to see A Sleetcar Named Deicer (my personal favorite name) in action.  • Literary Arts announced the finalists for its coveted 2026 Oregon Book Awards on Monday morning. This list always largely dictates our spring reading plans, as we fill in what we’ve missed before the ceremony on Monday, April 20. Every other year, the awards include either works of playwriting or comics. (This is a comics year.) The Mercury's Suzette Smith has the details here. • Lindsay Costello, the Mercury's genius events guide curator (among other titles), describes this week's lineup of happenings as akin to a "magician's endless ribbon trick." Here's a sampling of what's going on in Portland this week: It's Moss Appreciation Week at Lewis Clark College and the Portland Japanese Garden, but it's also a week of opportunities to appreciate other stuff, like planetary chamber music, ’90s anime, and floating saunas. Plus, a new all-ages music venue is officially opening, and did you know David Hockney made iPad drawings? Find out more about upcoming must-do events in this week's Do This, Do That.  IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:  • A US District judge in California struck down the state’s new law banning federal law enforcement from wearing masks to hide their faces while on duty. The judge issued an injunction to block the law from taking effect, finding California’s ban didn’t pass legal muster because it only targeted federal police, not state police, making it discriminatory. The judge did allow the state to maintain a requirement that all officers display visible identification (like a badge) while on duty. The California ruling could impact Portland, which is in the early stages of considering a similar ban, though this one would apply to all law enforcement. The bigger question is whether local police will step in and enforce any new laws that could pit them against federal agents. This injunction seems to indicate that even with the Supremacy Clause, which says federal law trumps any local law, states and cities can require agents to follow the ID and masking requirements. COURTNEY VAUGHN • Speaking of the feds, recent reporting from ProPublica highlights why recent shootings by federal immigration agents often aren’t being investigated by local law enforcement agencies. In many cases, investigations are left to the FBI, raising questions about whether the agency will properly investigate, considering how quickly the Trump administration has been to place blame on the shooting victims almost immediately following the incidents, before the full facts are known. As ProPublica reported, “local police did not open investigations into six of the 12 shootings by on-duty federal agents that have led to the deaths or injuries of citizens and immigrants since September.” In some cases, local law enforcement agencies were blocked from the scenes of shootings, even when they had a warrant. CV • The Trump administration is set to revoke the Environmental Protection Agency's endangerment finding, which  has formed the basis of American climate action and greenhouse gas emission regulation. Which is really bad. Not only would the move gut carbon reduction action happening on the federal level (what's left of it, anyway), it would also impact states' ability to regulate things like auto emissions. It's a completely bunk decision, based in absolutely no science, and will fuck us all over. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move is "the most significant deregulatory action in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs." WRONG! It'll increase costs, because as the earth continues to warm without mitigation, your house is more likely to catch on fire or be whisked away by a hurricane. (Among other costs, financial and otherwise, of the climate crisis.) Legal challenges are sure to follow, and we better hope they prevail.    You can repeal an endangerment finding. You can’t repeal the endangerment.[image or embed] — Dr. Aaron Thierry (@thierryaaron.bsky.social) February 9, 2026 at 7:09 PM   • Has anyone ever chastised you for drinking too much caffeine? Well, jitters be damned—new research from Mass General Brigham shows strong signals that drinking coffee and tea lowers the risk of dementia. (They caveat that last sentence with "in moderation," which is no fun, but I suppose important.) This isn't necessarily a totally new finding, but one researcher said the study—which analyzed data from more than 130,000 people—is the "best evidence we have so far on the association of caffeine and cognitive health." So keep sippin' that java. In moderation, I guess.  • Behold, one of my all-time favorite Onion posts. (BTW, here in Portland, we don't even play this game at all.) TTYL.             View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by The Onion (@theonion)     ...read more read less