🌱 Omicron Endangers Schools + Portland Police Right Wing Memes

It's already Wednesday, Peoples! It's quite the day and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Let's get going.

First, today's weather:

All clouds and some rain with a high of 47. A pretty standard Portland winter day.

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

1. As COVID-19 cases surge in Oregon — forcing some of the state’s largest school districts to close last week due to staffing shortages — a letter from three dozen nurses at the Portland Public School District circulated over the weekend, in which they question the relative health and safety in school buildings. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported on Monday that the nurses’ letter contends that the various mitigation layers that education officials are calling for — from ventilation to vaccination, proper masking to social distancing — are not being followed consistently. (OregonLive)

2. The Oregon Supreme Court has OK’d a proposal that would give would-be lawyers the option to skip the bar exam and instead become licensed to practice law through experience or supervision. Brian Gallini, dean of the Willamette University College of Law and a backer of the project since the COVID-19 pandemic said one proposed alternative would allow Oregon law school students to become licensed attorneys after completing a standard curriculum and likely a capstone project. The other proposed alternative is tailored for out-of-state applicants and would require would-be lawyers to spend 1,000 to 1,500 hours with a licensed Oregon attorney. (The Skanner)

3. One spot that has been consistently busy the past few months is your local pharmacy. Pharmacies have been overwhelmed with people lined up to get COVID shots and there is a shortage of pharmacy technicians to help the pharmacists. The big request now is not a COVID shot. Instead, it’s a take-home COVID test. Those tests remain in short supply. (KOIN)

4. Speaking of COVID testing, Center for Covid Control, the COVID-19 testing company that’s under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice, received $123 million from a federal government program that reimburses companies for offering tests to uninsured people. It did so by billing the feds from a lab it operates in Illinois, Doctors Clinical Laboratory. Within the past two weeks, Center for Covid Control has come under intense scrutiny in a dozen states for potentially fraudulent practices. (Willamette Week)

5. The Portland Police Bureau's Internal Affairs department is investigating a police training PowerPoint presentation that included a slide with a right-wing meme that endorsed violence against protesters. As reported by the Portland Mercury, the website Know Your Meme describes the text on the image as the "Prayer of the Alt Knight" attributed to "Based Stickman," an alias of far-right activist Kyle Chapman, who previously founded the extremist group "Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights," a subset of the far-right Proud Boys group. (KGW)

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Today in Portland

• Visit Kelly's Olympian in downtown Portland for performances by Chonk, Abbey Pope and Kevin Raybon. This is part of Portland Music Month. Also appearing will be Siena Christie. Tickets available online. Doors open at 8:30 PM

• You want to see some rock? Check out Starday Lounge in SE Portland as Veradas, gasp and Shawna Pair (Exotic Physics) perform. "From the ashes of Northern California’s Arcade Rebellion comes Portland’s post-hardcore phoenix, gasp. Perfectly chaotic and messily melodic, gasp. has a little bit of something for everyone who wants to immerse themselves into the onslaught of sound." This show happens right after bingo. And it's free! Showtime is 9:00 PM.

• Who's a dog lover? Trick question, we all are. Well, you may wish to know that the 2022 Rose City Classic Dog Show is going on at the Portland Expo Center. It's a competition with more breeds than you can imagine. Tickets available online. 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

• For a fun evening out, check out Drag Bingo at Ecliptic Brewing in North Portland. Hosted by Nashville Hott and Syda Pickles, this event is free to play and includes fun prize giveaways, including the best theme ensemble. The Moon Room food trailer will also be serving a special menu, detailed on the Facebook event page. 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

• Tonight, at the Clinton Street Theater in SE Portland, The Church of Film presents The Shadow & Its Shadow. THE SHADOW & ITS SHADOW--Nightmares of French Surrealism
  Andre Breton declared Surrealism the "prehensile tail of the Romantic," and in this program of French experimental oddities, we'll trace its python twists into the deepest recesses of the human psyche. The themes of the evening will be love, eroticism, madness and sorcery, all with a deviant disdain for the rational and orderly of course! Showtime is 8:00 PM.

From my notebook:

• Portland Trail Blazers: "An absolute feast for the Beast 🍽" (Instagram)

• Travel Portland: ""Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 📷: @OregonConventionCenter#PDX #PDXNOW #TravelPortland #TravelOregon #PortlandOregon #HereForPortland" (Instagram)

• Oregon Historical Society: "On this #MLKDay we remember Dr. King and the many civil rights leaders who came before and after him. You can read about many of these individuals who made history in Oregon on the @or_encyclopedia including this recently published entry..." (Facebook)

• Portland's TidalWave Productions is honoring the late great Betty White with a comic book biography tracing her life and career. They released the 30-page book on Monday. It would have been White's 100th birthday. Book writer Michael Frizell added, "in a culture where getting old is often the death knell of a Hollywood career, Betty White was as popular as ever before her death. (Portland Patch)

• Isaiah Bostic is the mastermind behind Batter on Deck, a food cart he started in Portland, OR devoted to his favorite food: corn dogs. Batter on Deck takes food served on a stick to new heights with creative concoctions like steak and cheese tornado potatoes, extra spicy Hot Cheeto corn dogs, and much more. (YouTube)

• Disc Golf is almost an Oregon Ritual. Here are Simon Lizotte, Eagle McMahon, Ricky Wysocki and Calvin Heimburg in a heated competition at the Burnside Skatepark. (YouTube)

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There's your Wednesday, Peeps. It looks like we're in for quite a 2022. But I'll be here, 5 days a week, telling everyone the news about Portland.

— Dominic Anaya

About me: Doctor, educator and now a writer/artist, I'm just chillin' in Portland, OR with my wife, our ferrets, our chickens and our goats.

This article originally appeared on the Portland Patch