by Jeremiah Hayden 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 also subscribe and have our papers deli vered! Good Morning, Portland! There could be some snow arriving in the upper elevations as soon as Monday, and in the Willamette Valley as soon as Wednesday. It isn't super likely, but with the need for precipitation on the mountains, one can hope. If it does arrive, maybe your long weekend can be extended for a few extra days. Or, if you're a service worker, your busy three-day weekend could turn into hours-long slips into your Snoop Jobby Job where your manager got an early start so WHY CAN'T YOU!? Let's check out the news. 📰 IN LOCAL NEWS:  In January, two men were arrested and detained by ICE agents while sitting in a car at a Portland gas station. Friends of one of the men said agents broke a window on the vehicle and forced them out. Immigrant advocacy groups say ICE has leaned more heavily on that tactic in recent months. Agents often trail people in their cars, then box them in or ambush them while they're parked. It's the same strategy Border Patrol agents used in Portland that same month, when they shot two people in an Adventist Health parking lot. Read more about how federal agents are changing tactics in this story by Abe Asher. Is there snow in our future? Maybe. Would that be good? Definitely!           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by The Oregonian (@theoregonian) For the month of February, the Mercury is celebrating Black History Month with a feature package dedicated to Black innovation in Portland—edited by author extraordinaire Donovan Scribes. The new issue includes ten Black innovators/changemakers, an interview with artist Ronin Roc, 28 moments in recent Black Oregon history, and a new edition of the Scribes’ column the Black Byline. Plus, food, books, theater, music, and your lovesick Mercury Reader Valentines! Check out more info here on what’s in the issue, and find a print copy on news stands all over the city. 😭           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury) Tenants who live in the affordable housing complex Gray’s Landing, which sits across the street from the Portland ICE facility, are going before a federal judge Friday to talk about how federal agents’ use of tear gas has impacted them. The tenants say the chemicals are coming into their building and harming their homes and their lives, which anyone who has been near the building can see is both plausible and horrifying. Read much more about the case at OPB, here. Lots of music and culture news went up on the Mercury site yesterday! Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is the stuff of crazed movie magic. The meta misadventure follows Torontonian best friends Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol in their ongoing quest to get their band, Nirvanna the Band, a show at Toronto venue the Rivoli. Dopey gags and painful stunts abound as our protagonists accidentally transform their RV into a time machine and meet their past selves—through clever editing of their old web series. It’s exceptionally funny, especially with an audience. Read the whole Mercury review from Dom Sinacola. You can read this whole review of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and not know what happens in the movie! The Mercury’s critic had plenty to say just discussing the notorious writer-director, the surprising lack of small dog violence in this adaption, and THE OUTFITS. We’re going all substance, low spoiler. Read the review here! On Friday, February 13, Portland's angriest indie outfit Nonbinary Girlfriend will release their sophomore album IM NOT PRETTY. The new release punches above its weight with the deeply nuanced experiences and processing of human existence. The band is also celebrating the release on Friday the 13th at The Coffin Club with fellow queers Myriads and Femme Cell. Read the feature by Nolan Parker here. Last night on earth for Landmark fans, which includes many here at the Mercury. Thanks for all the good times, friends.  Southeast Division's cherished western watering hole (and Mercury staff favorite) the Landmark Saloon has announced they will be closing their doors for the final time Friday, February 13.[image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) February 10, 2026 at 8:55 PM It's finally happening, The Off Beat is finally hosting its grand opening Tonight, Friday, February 13! After years-long fundraising efforts and renovations by Friends of Noise, Portland's newest all-ages venue is about to take off. Grand opening bands include grunge rockers Adnauseam, intergalactic duo Brown Calculus, distorted shoegazers Spiderling, and queercore legends Team Dresch. Read more from Cody Tracey here. This is national news, but also local, as Border Dork Tom Homan says the surge of United States Ethnicity Police agents in Minneapolis is coming to an end. Agents are expected to arrive in other cities, which could mean Oregon sees an influx of state violence and resistance. But Senate Democrats have effectively blocked a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security going into the weekend. Did they just… accidentally do something? Was it maybe even on purpose? BREAKING: No deal on ICE reforms, DHS shutdown is set to occur at midnight[image or embed] — MS NOW (@ms.now) February 13, 2026 at 7:13 AM IN NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS:  The Trump administration pulled back on a major Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientific finding on Thursday, in a move Trump himself called “the single largest deregulatory action in American history.” The endangerment finding says that the buildup of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere is a danger to public health, but Trump says it’s totally cool actually, as long as billionaires are making more money. This will be bad for anyone who isn’t a billionaire, since we still have to breathe air to live and can be impacted by Earth’s warming, but fortunately for the snakes, they don’t have to… oh wait… the snakes have to breathe air too? Someone, quick! Lower their taxes! Read more about the EPA’s devastating move here. Have the oppressors not learned? New Yorkers return Pride flag to Stonewall after Trump administration removed it reut.rs/4qCvPyh[image or embed] — Reuters (@reuters.com) February 12, 2026 at 9:20 PM The Trump administration is pointing fingers all over the place after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed airspace over El Paso, Texas this week. The Pentagon reportedly wanted to use a counter-drone laser but didn’t coordinate with the FAA beforehand to let them know it could also impact civilian flights. Defense Secretary and guy who I’m guessing didn’t like Benito’s Super Bowl halftime show Pete Hegseth signed off on loaning the super cool and not totally pointless laser technology to Customs and Border Protection. Some sources said the federal government used the technology to shoot down a party balloon, which sounds like a totally awesome gender reveal party if you're a meathead. It's hard to get facts when everyone is obscuring the facts, but one thing we do know: Everyone is now mad at each other because it turns out using highly unnecessary technology over civilian airspace is not super popular and nobody wants to take credit for doing it. I’ll let CNN take it from here: “The episode was met with heightened frustration as it threatened to taint the entire administration with a pall of incompetence…” NOT AGAIN! Read more here. Still worth throwing the Ring into the fire if you have one. Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash[image or embed] — The Verge (@theverge.com) February 12, 2026 at 3:10 PM Today in EWWWW! On Wednesday The Intercept reported that Google handed over a whole bunch of personal data to ICE after the federal agency subpoenaed the Silicon Valley email company/mass surveillance giant. A student activist and journalist (tiny piece of advice here: pick one or the other, it’ll be easier for you that way) went to a protest in 2024 that was targeting companies that provide weapons to Israel, but that’s not something you’re allowed to do in Trump’s America (or Biden’s, really). But when Trump took over and doubled down on targeting activists, ICE sent a subpoena to Google, and Google returned credit card and bank account numbers, among other things that governments get in a well-functioning democracy. This is a weird escalation and a good reminder that the surveillance used abroad (like say, in Israel) can and is being used in the United States too. Read more here. Finally. The weekend arriveth.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by I’m Just a Corporate Girl (@imjustacorporategirl) ...read more read less