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! Hi everybody. It's another Tuesday. The sun may or may not be shining right now, and it may or may not turn up later. But I wouldn't count on it being as warm out today as it was yesterday—the forecast says it'll be about 60 degrees. Oh, I guess it's not just another Tuesday, huh? It's St. Patrick's Day. Have fun! Don't drink and drive. Put on some green, if you don't have it on already.  Anywayyy...let's get to the news. IN LOCAL NEWS: • Evidently, the Trump administration wants to continue using tear gas and other chemical munitions on protesters outside Portland's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building. Yesterday, the US Department of Justice submitted notice of an appeal against a recent order by a federal judge in Oregon restricting federal agents from using tear gas against protesters outside the ICE facility. The judge ruled that the massive amounts of tear gas used outside the building has impacted people across Portland's South Waterfront, especially those who live in an apartment building just feet from the ICE facility, who say the munitions have violated their right to bodily integrity. As to be expected, the Trump administration and its DOJ disagrees, and plan to argue their case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. (We've been through this song and dance before. Last time, the US government lost big, as it does frequently these days. Imagine going to court—multiple times— to argue in favor of poisoning an entire neighborhood with tear gas.)  • Five Republican lawmakers, including two running for Oregon governor, missed more than one-third of the votes that took place during this year's short session in the Oregon Legislature. Representatives Shelly Boshart Davis and Ed Diehl, the latter of whom is vying for the GOP nomination for governor, both missed roughly half of the votes this session. Rep. Bobby Levy missed a little less than half. Less egregiously, but still pretty egregious, are the attendance records of Senator Christine Drazan (another gubernatorial candidate) and Rep. Virgle Osborne, who each missed a little more than one-third of the votes. Is it a slog for Oregon legislators to go to Salem every day throughout the session and participate in state lawmaking? Yes, I'm sure. Is it also their job? Definitely—and most of them actually do it! According to the Oregon Capital Chronicle, which conducted this investigation into the legislators' attendance, 18 lawmakers didn't miss a single vote, and most of the others participated in the vast majority of the votes. So...maybe GOP voters in Oregon should expect better behavior from their representatives. Especially those who want to be the next governor.  • Here's SPJ Oregon's take on a new public records law passed by Oregon legislators. 👀 HB 4177 takes a wrecking ball to Oregon public meetings law. That's why SPJ Oregon, which represents journalists across the state, is calling on Gov. @tinakotek.bsky.social to veto it and preserve the public's right to know. www.spjoregon.com/news/oregon-...[image or embed]— Greater Oregon SPJ (@spjoregon.bsky.social) March 16, 2026 at 2:17 PM • March Madness is here, and Portland’s very own Moda Center plays host to the Western Region’s first and second rounds of March Madness this week. Whether you're a "true basketball sicko" or not, you'll want to check out the Mercury's preview of the event.  • Speaking of the Mercury's event previews, you'll want to check out this week's Do This, Do That, which includes exciting happenings from Portland Dining Month, Toody Cole at the Star Theater (tonight), a Depths of Wikipedia show on Friday, and much more!! Check it out here.  IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:  • Joe Kent, the far-right director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned from his position today due to his opposition to the war in Iran. Kent was born in Sweet Home, Oregon and maintains a home base in Southwest Washington state (he ran for Congress against Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in 2022 and 2024, obviously losing both times). In a post on X, he said he "cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," saying the country "posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Oh! Will his boss (and former critic of "forever wars" in the Middle East) Tulsi Gabbard, be next? It's an interesting split, but Kent is still an extremely racist (among other adjectives) guy who is apparently more interested in sowing domestic conflict than participating in it abroad.  • Tell me you live under an authoritarian government without telling me. After Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s constant assailing of how national media are covering the war in Iran, the FCC director is now threatening to yank the broadcast licenses of stations whose news coverage they dislike. Brendan Carr, the FCC chair who’s been quick to bow to Trump’s wishes, posted a warning to broadcasters on social media, claiming news stations are “running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news.” Carr suggested the stations could alter their coverage of the US and Israel’s war with Iran before their licenses are due for renewal by the FCC. “The law is clear,” he wrote. “Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.” Weird. The First Amendment is also pretty clear about this. All these threats come just days after Hegseth’s aides barred certain press photographers from entering the Pentagon, alleging “unflattering” photos of him were being published. Is there such a thing as a “good” photo of this man? COURTNEY VAUGHN  • In other Iran war news, Trump appears to have lied about one of his predecessors giving him effusive praise about his decision to bomb Iran, saying they wish they could've been the one to do it. Here's what NBC News said: "An aide for George W. Bush told NBC News that “they haven’t been in touch,” while an aide to Bill Clinton told NBC News that whoever Trump was referring to was not Clinton. An Obama aide said “no recent conversations” have taken place between Barack Obama and Trump, and a source familiar with the matter said the former president Trump was referring to was not Joe Biden." I suppose one of them could also be lying. Either way, it's embarrassing for Trump.  • In January, President Trump threatened tariffs against any country selling or providing oil to Cuba, imposing an energy blockade on the small island country that remains the subject of Red Scare propaganda. Now, Cuba is facing an island-wide blackout, impacting essentially the country's entire population. This is the third major blackout Cuba has experienced over the past four months. The effects are major, as you might expect—no electricity to keep refrigerators running has led to constant food spoilage, to name one major consequence. It's unclear when this outage will end, but if nothing changes, it'll only be followed with another one shortly.  • Taking a look at another Trump administration official, FBI Director Kash Patel is always up to something (derogatory).  the first fbi director outfitted by zumiez[image or embed] — Vivian McCall (@vivmccall.bsky.social) March 16, 2026 at 6:07 P • I am failing to embed a video at this moment, so please click here for a very cute Instagram Reel of a lamb that thinks it's a dog. Happy St. Patrick's Day/Éirinn go Brách. XOXO ...read more read less