News
PPB presentation requesting munitions overstates urgency, records show
The city of Portland recently rubber-stamped a Portland Police Bureau, or PPB, emergency request to spend part of a $1.1 million budget to pad its crowd control equipment inventory, including shields, less-lethal munitions and training. Emails obtained by Street Roots show PPB’s May 29 presentation to City Council included incorrect information, while Mayor Ted Wheeler…
Artist and novelist Willy Vlautin’s on his new book, rock’n’roll lifers and lost American dreams
"Why are all your songs so sad, Al?" a country singer asks Al Ward, the main character in Willy Vlautin’s new novel, “The Horse,” released July 30, before they end up in a Las Vegas hotel bed. “Every single one of them.” It is surely a question Vlautin himself has heard about his own work,…
Opinion
Kaia Sand | Don’t believe your eyes
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an ominous decree: destroy the encampments where people are surviving. Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. This column represents her views. First, he advocated the U.S. Supreme Court open the floodgates on criminalizing homelessness, which the conservative majority obliged in its June 28 Grants Pass v. Johnson…
Last Month in Oregon Labor | July 2024
Though Oregon saw half the union election wins of June in July, workers formed six more campaigns and held two more labor actions than in the prior month. “Last month in Oregon labor” is a monthly installment by Aurora Biggers covering all things Oregon labor. Health care led the way as usual, but July was…
Culture
Artist and novelist Willy Vlautin’s on his new book, rock’n’roll lifers and lost American dreams
"Why are all your songs so sad, Al?" a country singer asks Al Ward, the main character in Willy Vlautin’s new novel, “The Horse,” released July 30, before they end up in a Las Vegas hotel bed. “Every single one of them.” It is surely a question Vlautin himself has heard about his own work,…
