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Good morning, Portland! It’s Wednesday, January 21. We’re in for another sunny day, but don’t let the sunshine fool you. It’s still pretty cold out there, especially when you’re not basking in the mid-day rays, and overnight temperatures will hit freezing lows. We can expect a high of 45 degrees and a low of 32.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• A man who shot and injured two Portland Police officers Monday evening is still at large, after an overnight search for the suspect ended early Tuesday morning. One officer was released from the hospital Tuesday and the other remains hospitalized in stable condition. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) declined to disclose the extent of their injuries, but noted one of the officers has been with the Bureau for seven years and the other has been at the Bureau for 17 years. Both are currently assigned to the bureau’s north precinct. To recap: Police say north precinct officers responded to a report of a threat with a weapon at 8:21 pm Monday, after a man called 911 to report he’d been threatened by a man with a knife. The incident occurred near NE 21st Avenue and NE Clackamas Street in the Sullivan's Gulch neighborhood. According to PPB, the suspect fired a gun, hitting two of the officers. Both were transported by ambulance for emergency care. The Bureau indicated the officers didn’t fire back at the suspect. On Tuesday, police released images and a description of the suspect.
The officers are recovering, but the Police Bureau is shaken up by the violence.
— The Oregonian (@oregonian.com) January 20, 2026 at 2:00 PM
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• To mark Trump’s first year in office, a nationwide walkout took place Tuesday, including in Portland. Check out some video footage captured by the Mercury’s Andrew Harlan.
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• If you thought Portlanders went hard on anti-ICE protests and ICE watch networks, meet Woodburn. The suburban city south of Portland recently saw a group of residents swarm ICE agents who had locked themselves out of their vehicle. During that time a group got one of the agents to admit he’s not super keen on his job. It gets weirder: while the feds waited for a tow truck to help them, the group of observers successfully got not one, but TWO tow truck drivers to decline to help the ICE agents (one of which was with a company called “Camel Towing”). According to KATU, the group paid one of the drivers for his missed income.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Southern California residents have been rocked by a series of earthquakes over the past week. A magnitude 4.9 quake hit the Coachella Valley on Monday, about 12 miles outside of Indio. Another sizable 4.2 magnitude earthquake hit just after 12:30 am Wednesday, also near Indio. Earthquakes are typically followed by a series of smaller “aftershocks”, throughout the following day. While no damage or injuries were reported after Monday’s quake, the series of quakes has left residents in the Coachella Valley frightened. The latest earthquakes around the Southern California desert follow a series of quakes throughout the state over the past week.
• If you didn’t already feel sorry for Usha Vance, you probably will now. The second lady is pregnant with her fourth child. (Side bar: Why do conservative families need so many damn children?! Is it the tax break, or the deranged, draconian pro-natalist propaganda??) She and husband/VP JD Vance are expecting a baby in late July (no word yet on when the couch is due), which means they probably conceived in late October, well into her husband’s full display of idiocy and right around the same time Erika Kirk greeted him on stage in hot pants with a prolonged hug.
• Trump is an unabashed racist, and although that’s not news to most of our readers, it’s still worth spotlighting. The US seems to be getting way too comfortable and complacent with this administration’s dehumanizing language, and awful treatment of people–particularly those with black and brown skin. To mark his first year in office, (yes, it’s only been a year), Trump unleashed a tirade against Somali people, blaming them for “$19 billion at a minimum” of fraud in Minnesota. “They’ve taken it,” Trump said Tuesday. “Somalians, can you imagine? And they don’t do it — a lot of very low IQ people. They don’t do it. Other people work it out and they get them money and they go out and buy Mercedes Benzes.” The racist rant was part of a rambling, hours-long speech in which he breathlessly tried to rattle off a wildly exaggerated list of his own “accomplishments.”
At the White House and on his social media, Trump veered into full on eugenics as he repeatedly attacked Somalis. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-m...
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw.bsky.social) January 20, 2026 at 3:22 PM
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• Texas is bracing for a dangerous, arctic front this weekend, so in true Ted Cruz fashion, the Texas senator is getting the hell outta town.
He does this every time, it’s just how nature works
— Paul F. Tompkins (@pftompkins.bsky.social) January 20, 2026 at 10:06 PM
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And finally, someone wrote a song about that billionaire guy that kinda slaps, even if it does borrow heavily from the esthetic and vibe of Cake's "Short Skirt, Long Jacket."
@cartervailmusic A fun song about an entirely fictional character #funnysong #jeffbezos ♬ [Raw recording] Record playback noise 01 (3 minutes) - Icy Light
