Jonathan Bach

A fight this week over control of Portland’s cash-rich clean energy fund previewed the contentious battle to come over attempts to raid the balance for a Moda Center renovation.

w/ @gosiawoz.bsky.social

@oregonian.com

Portland Chamber Orchestra dissolves after 79 seasons The nation’s oldest incorporated chamber ensemble is dissolving after declining attendance, financial struggles and difficulty recruiting board members.

After 79 seasons, the Portland Chamber Orchestra has announced it will close, marking the end of a long chapter in Portland’s classical music scene. Read more here: www.oregonlive.com/living/2026/...

Thank ya sir!

Thanks, Ryan!

Thanks, Billy!

Thanks, David, and thank you for sharing your story!

Literary Arts Announces 2026 Oregon Book Award Finalists Literary Arts announced the finalists for its coveted 2026 Oregon Book Awards this morning, selecting via juries of out-of-state judges just 35 works from 200 submissions. This list always largely dic...

Babe get your glasses, the Oregon Book Awards nominees dropped

From the housing crisis to witches to Scientology: These are the Oregon Book Award nominees of 2026 Nominees include Lidia Yuknavitch, whose work was adapted into a film by Kristen Stewart, and Oregonian reporter Jonathan Bach.

I'm honored the compelling stories of my sources -- such as @davidwelton.bsky.social and @bduss.bsky.social -- are being highlighted in this exciting way, in a field of high-octane authors like @leahsottile.bsky.social.

Story via @lizzyacker.bsky.social:
www.oregonlive.com/living/2026/...

Invisible wins: How $1.4 billion has transformed Portland area homeless services One family’s story shows how the 2020 tax can work as promised, even as the overall homeless count continues climbing across the metro area.

@lmonghughes.bsky.social takes a step back and asks the big questions of Portland's homeless services apparatus in this sweeping piece.

@oregonian.com

www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Great scoop from Alex Z:

Portland has been under a declared housing state of emergency for 10 years and counting.

Portland’s pile of unspent housing dollars surges to $106M, city administrator says Portland officials have uncovered $106 million in unspent housing funds that they are shifting into the budgetary process for city lawmakers to consider, the city administrator made in an extraordinary disclosure Friday.

Portland officials have uncovered $106 million in unspent housing funds that they are shifting into the budgetary process for city lawmakers to consider, the city administrator made in an extraordinary disclosure Friday.

Nike says its factory workers make nearly double the minimum wage. In Indonesia, workers say, ‘It’s not true’ The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with roughly 100 workers in Nike’s second-largest production hub. None said they made anywhere near twice the minimum wage.

For @oregonian.com and @propublica.org: The average worker at suppliers that make Nike’s goods earns 1.9 times the local minimum wage, the company says.

None of the workers I spoke with in Indonesia, Nike’s second-largest production hub, said they made that much.

www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

‘No way to run a city’: Officials learn Portland has millions more in unspent housing funds The revelation comes months after policymakers learned of a different $21 million in unspent money.

Council President Jamie Dunphy tells @shanedkavanaugh.bsky.social that Jonas Biery, the city’s chief financial officer, informed him Friday night that PHB had “millions” of additional dollars within a housing investment fund that remained unbudgeted.

www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Tear gas canister from ICE agents shatters window in occupied apartment "This incident crosses a line," said the CEO of Reach Community Development, which owns the 209-unit low-income building.

Federal officers at Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility fired a tear gas canister that shattered the window of a nearby apartment during Saturday’s protest.

www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/0...

I think it might have been. I want to say it's near where you can see Mt. McLoughlin.

Ducks swim in a pond with a reflection of a tree

The sun backlights a tree branch and its green leaves

A woman stands on a bridge over a creek

A Steller's jay sits on a branch

We spent quite a lot of time in Ashland's lovely Lithia Park today:

Nike says its factory workers make nearly double the minimum wage. In Indonesia, workers say, ‘It’s not true’ The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with roughly 100 workers in Nike’s second-largest production hub. None said they made anywhere near twice the minimum wage.

This is beat reporting.

@matthewkish.bsky.social of @oregonian.com went to Indonesia to understand Nike's claim about oversees suppliers: that it pays the average factory worker about twice the local minimum wage.

Here's what he found:
www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

Gonna have to print this quote out...

A journalist wrote in 1873, "When one sees the load which every book has to bear of expense before [breaking even], one is tempted to say—Go back, poor little book, into the brain of your author, and venture not into this groaning world.''

—Michael Castleman, "The Untold Story of Books"

Sun begins to set over mountains stacked on top of each other

As my wife and I drove to Southern Oregon, I pulled over along the highway (safely) to make this image of the sun beginning to set on the faraway mountains:

Oregon population growth among slowest in the nation The Beaver State has been trudging along for population growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. A broader slowdown now grips the U.S.

Oregon’s population grew at one of the slowest rates in the country last year, according to new estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

@oregonian.com
www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

‘A 9-gigawatt problem’: Northwest’s soaring energy demand, supply constraints, could spark new power crisis Data centers are straining electricity supplies even as Oregon tries to switch to renewable power. That’s put the grid’s reliability in doubt.

Oregon had just begun to reap the benefits of leaps in energy efficiency and imagine a future where little or none of its electricity came from fossil fuels.

Then came data centers, and extreme weather.

Now the state faces a new energy crisis. @rogoway.bsky.social reports in the first of a series:

Protesters converge on Portland ICE facility after latest Minneapolis shooting, met with tear gas Mass protests returned to the Portland ICE facility after the latest shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis.

And read @noellecrombie.bsky.social's wrap up of the events here:

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

I work with a phenomenal team of journalists.

Check our coverage of tonight's protests below:

Portland mayor, council president call for peaceful protests in wake of fatal Minneapolis shooting “Calm and purposeful does not mean passive,“ Mayor Keith Wilson and Council President Jamie Dunphy said in a joint statement.

Portland mayor, council president call for peaceful protests in wake of fatal Minneapolis shooting

www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Man shot during Minneapolis immigration crackdown has died, hospital record shows The shooting came amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good.

Man shot during Minneapolis immigration crackdown has died, hospital record shows

via @apnews.com
www.oregonlive.com/nation/2026/...

Washington County faces mounting legal costs in discrimination case it lost The county says it paid $483,287 to lawyers Vicki Smith and Helaina Chinn, but that tab only includes bills through the end of last September.

Washington County faces mounting legal costs in discrimination case it lost

via @noellecrombie.bsky.social
www.oregonlive.com/washingtonco...

ICE detains family seeking emergency care for child at Portland hospital The Venezuelan parents and their 7-year-old daughter entered the U.S. legally.

ICE detains family seeking emergency care for child at Portland hospital

via @gosiawoz.bsky.social
www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

Shoot me a note with the broad strokes of the story of how you found your rental and how much it costs as a share of your monthly budget, please! Might not make the final cut, but I am always wanting to learn more and want to hear your story.