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! It's going to be chilly (high 40s) and rainy today. At least, that's what the forecast says. It's what it said yesterday, too, but it wasn't actually that rainy yesterday, and I rode my bike without wearing gloves. Sometimes the weather people don't know everything, and you have to figure stuff out on your own. Bring a raincoat just in case, always.  IN LOCAL NEWS:  • New data about who is paying Multnomah County's Preschool for All tax presents a challenge to the notion that rich Portlanders are fleeing the metro area and its taxes. The data shows in 2024, the county received more returns for its Preschool for All tax from high-income filers (those $500,000 and above annually) compared to the two years prior. While there’s still not enough data available to support sweeping conclusions about Preschool for All, the 2024 data suggests the number of high-income earners in Multnomah County bounced back after a dip in 2022 and 2023. That dip may have been caused in part by people filing their taxes late, or experiencing fluctuations in income. Read the full story here.  The county has limited data about who’s paying its Preschool for All tax, which only went into effect in 2021. Still, some seized on a 14% dip in high-income filers between 2021 and ‘22 to suggest the tax drove wealthy ppl away. New data complicates that narrative.[image or embed] — Taylor Griggs (@taylorgriggs.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 2:19 PM • Yesterday was a big day for movie news at the Mercury. Check out an interview with horror film legend and Oregonian Bruce Campbell, whose new movie, Ernie Emma, will be shown at the Hollywood Theatre soon. (Campbell has also been in the news recently for his cancer diagnosis, which he announced earlier this week.) You may also be interested in a review of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new Frankenstein-inspired film The Bride, featuring Peter Sarsgaard and Penélope Cruz as a detective team. AND, our Lindsay Costello has recommendations for literary-inspired movies to check out this month (not including the controversial recent Wuthering Heights adaptation.) You're welcome, cinephiles.  • The Oregon Legislature is attempting to fill a major budget gap in the state transportation department, and they seem to be on board with robbing Peter to pay Paul. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is in financial free fall for many reasons, the primary one being that two Republican lawmakers brought forward a referendum to overturn the meager transportation package Democrats passed last year. (Voters will decide the fate of the transportation funding bill in May, but for now, there's nothing coming in for Oregon's roads and transit systems.) Anyway, in order to fill the budget gap and backfill ODOT's budget for highway operations and maintenance, legislators are prepared to reallocate millions from Safe Routes to School, bike and walking paths, passenger rail, and more. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill today. The Legislature must adjourn its short session by Sunday night.  • In other news from the Oregon Legislature, Democratic lawmakers approved a bill yesterday that attempts to prevent federal immigration officers from hiding their identities behind masks. Here's how Democratic Senator Wlnsvey Campos described the purpose of the measure: “When someone has the power to stop you, question you, detain you, or arrest you, you deserve to know who they are and who they work for." It's unclear how much power the law will actually have in changing the behavior of the masked goons at ICE, but it's a good start. It's also an effort that's growing—California approved a similar bill recently (and was challenged in court for it), and Portland leaders have also weighed a mask ban.  • Yesterday, the Portland Design Commission accepted the Lloyd Center Master Plan—another step toward the mall's somewhat controversial redevelopment. Despite—or perhaps, because of—the Lloyd Center losing most of its major retailers in recent years, a community has formed there over the last few years, holding pop-up indie shopping events and engaging in "retro mall-walking." They're not happy with the plan to reinvent the Lloyd Center. Others argue the mall is located on prime real estate and should be replaced with mixed-use housing development.  IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:  • In news we've all been waiting for (well...), Kristi Noem is OUT as head of Homeland Security. Noem, who is best known for being horribly corrupt/racist/xenophobic and killing her own puppy, has been under fire for a while now, as Americans increasingly turn on the atrocities committed by Department of Homeland Security and ICE officers under the Trump administration. Yesterday, Trump announced he's finally done with her, moving her to a new, fake job as "Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas." Anything to keep her from shooting more dogs, I guess. Senator Ron Wyden had a notable and much appreciated response to Noem's firing:  Turns out lawlessness is not a winning strategy. See you at Nuremberg 2.0[image or embed] — Senator Ron Wyden (@wyden.senate.gov) March 5, 2026 at 11:12 AM Noem is the first member of Trump's second term cabinet to go (I guess whatever Elon Musk was doesn't count)—may her departure be followed by many more. Replacing Noem will be Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. He is also very bad.  • Who would've thought—someone who participated in the January 6 riots turned out to be a scary criminal in other ways, too.  Since receiving presidential pardons, dozens of former Capitol rioters have gotten into more legal trouble. In Florida, Andrew Paul Johnson was sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse. n.pr/4rUa1zD[image or embed] — NPR (@npr.org) March 5, 2026 at 9:06 AM • Remember when Trump, at the behest of his know-nothing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told pregnant women to stop taking Tylenol? (That happened almost six months ago now, back in September. Feel old yet?) Despite a complete lack of evidence to support the claim, Trump said Tylenol consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of autism in newborns. Making such a claim was bad for a lot of reasons—a practical one being that Tylenol (the brand name for acetaminophen) is one of the only painkillers/fever reducers safe to take during pregnancy. As it turns out, even though there is no evidence that Tylenol causes autism in babies, data shows pregnant women did decrease their consumption of it in the months following Trump's announcement. Even worse is that the behavior change appears to be led by emergency room doctors, whose orders for acetaminophen to treat pregnant patients decreased by 10 percent in recent months. Apparently, you are not immune to propaganda, even if you went to medical school. 😑  • As the war in Iran escalates across the region, the House of Representatives rejected a bipartisan-led resolution attempting to curb Trump's powers in the war. The vote was tight, with four Democrats joining Republicans to vote it down. Those who voted against the resolution were—in effect and also sometimes literally—saying Trump should be able to send the US military anywhere, at any time, with no restraints. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who long ago sold his soul to the devil or something worse, said it would be "dangerous" to limit the president's authority, now that the conflict is already ongoing. Bit of circular logic they've set up here, huh?  • 👀 “.. National average gasoline price is now up by 10.8% over the past 4 days ... the only other time we've seen a larger increase was in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.” - Schwab ⛽️[image or embed]— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) March 6, 2026 at 4:23 AM • Finally, please take a look at this little guy. Happy Friday! Have a good weekend! Eat sandwiches!            View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by BBC Scotland News (@bbcscotnews)       ...read more read less