Aaron Mesh

1 week ago | wweek.com | Aaron Mesh

As Portland City Council weighed shifting $1.9 million from new funding earmarked for the police bureau to parks maintenance last week, elected officials on both sides of the issue pointed to polling as evidence that Portland voters shared their funding priorities. In hearings, Councilor Angelita Morillo referenced polling that showed more voters approved cutting the police budget than cutting the parks budget.

2 weeks ago | wweek.com | Aaron Mesh

Polling conducted last month on behalf of business interests shows more than two-thirds of Portland voters would support a ballot measure requiring the city to maintain a police force at the same scale as other large U.S. cities—in effect, nearly doubling the number of sworn officers. That concept was one of a half dozen floated to 600 voters in early April by polling firm DHM Research on the dime of downtown property owner Greg Goodman and Calbag Metals CEO Warren Rosenfeld, among others.

3 weeks ago | wweek.com | Aaron Mesh

Eagle-eyed readers of The Oregonian recently noticed a disclosure at the end of several stories published on OregonLive.com this month. “This story was drafted with the assistance of generative AI,” it says, “and reviewed by Oregonian editorial staff.” That’s a significant advance in the newspaper’s use of artificial intelligence to write story drafts. Editor Therese Bottomly announced in 2023 that The O would use AI to summarize real estate transactions.

3 weeks ago | wweek.com | Sophie Peel |Aaron Mesh

The long-anticipated sale of the Portland Trail Blazers is underway. The estate of the late tech billionaire Paul Allen announced Tuesday morning that the franchise is for sale. The announcement from Allen’s estate, which is controlled by his sister, Jody Allen, comes more than six years after his death.

1 month ago | wweek.com | Aaron Mesh

In this month’s election, Portland Public Schools officials will ask voters to spend up to $1.15 million to rebuild three high schools amid declining enrollment. But in an interview with WW’s editorial board last week, PPS Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong offered a surprising contingency plan if enrollment doesn’t rebound: Those high schools could also be used as elementary and middle schools.