Good morning, Portland. Unlike this week's weather, these links won't let you down.
First up, some breaking news as of last night: Portland Police Chief Mike Marshman is back from paid leave.
Out in print as of yesterday: The county campaign finance reform measure you more than likely voted for last November heads to court, preemptively, so a judge can rule on its constitutionality. The measure's backers are upset the county attorneys will be taking a neutral position on its validity.
Also out in print yesterday: Updates on the new home for Right 2 Dream Too, the homeless rest area. The Lloyd District Community Association isn't pleased.
"An angry, overflow crowd of about 500 in The Dalles gave Rep. Greg Walden an earful Wednesday about his positions on health care, immigration and climate change,"the Oregonian reports. "Two hours later, an even larger, more vocal group did the same in Hood River."
A crazy story out of Eastern Oregon: "Mental hospital doctors suspected for years accused killer was faking, records show."
"OHSU administrators say President Trump's plan to cut billions of dollars in funding to the National Institutes of Health would cripple their scientific community and destroy major progress they've made in the lab,"KPTV reports. "OHSU administrators say they've dealt with budget cuts before, but nothing like this. If President Trump's budget is approved with these cuts to NIH in place, they add that it would be impossible for them to continue to operate as they are."
Another story in the Portland Tribune's great "Unequal Justice" series: "A study TriMet commissioned last year found no bias in the agency's fare-enforcement practices. And yet, an analysis of racial disparities for this series showed African-Americans are disproportionately charged with the most serious of transit violations— a finding confirmed in an independent analysis by local prosecutors."
The eight-seed Blazers open the playoffs on Sunday against the one-seed Golden State Warriors on Sunday. Damian Lillard is confident:
Damian Lillard says @trailblazers in 6 games👊#NBAplayoffspic.twitter.com/saNtJvrdWA
— CSN Northwest (@CSNNW) April 13, 2017