Taylor Griggs

2 weeks ago | portlandmercury.com | Courtney Vaughn |Taylor Griggs

With more than 120 proposed budget amendments and nearly 12 hours of deliberations, Portland City Council worked until midnight Wednesday to pass an $8.5 billion 2025-26 budget. The budget, which is scheduled for final adoption on June 18, includes additional funding for homeless shelter beds and public safety, but it also relies on deep cuts to the city’s permitting department and an unspecified number of job cuts.

2 weeks ago | portlandmercury.com | 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, there is no us. Thanks for your support! Good morning, Portland! It's gonna be cloudy and temperate today, in the high 60s. Perfect weather, if you ask me. Time for the news.

2 weeks ago | portlandmercury.com | Taylor Griggs

Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church had a pavement problem. The church, located in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood, was surrounded with space for car parking—well beyond what congregants needed or wanted. And the excess blacktop had consequences.  In the summer, the unused parking lot on the south side of the church trapped and radiated heat into the sanctuary.

2 weeks ago | portlandmercury.com | Taylor Griggs

Oregon’s attempts to curtail diesel emissions are in jeopardy following a state decision to delay enforcement of the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule until 2027.  The ACT rule, which was approved by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Commission in 2021, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from high-polluting diesel engines by requiring truck manufacturers to sell a certain number of zero-emission electric vehicles each year.

3 weeks ago | portlandmercury.com | Taylor Griggs

Just about 10 years have passed since Portland City Council first adopted a Vision Zero resolution in June 2015, setting the goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on the city’s streets. At the time, city leaders said that even though it didn’t set target dates to accomplish its goals or dedicate funding to the mission, the Vision Zero resolution represented more than just words.  Today, Portland is further from reaching its Vision Zero goals than it was a decade ago.