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Good afternoon, Portland! I hope you're staying warm this week. We're happy to help with this afternoon's serving of piping hot NEWS. 

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• The region's three top government officials had a little retreat with our pals at the Portland Business Alliance earlier this month and announced they are opposed to a May ballot measure that would institute a capital gains tax to pay for legal services for tenants facing eviction. Mayor Ted Wheeler, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, and Metro Council President Lynn Peterson all confirmed their opposition to The Oregonian. 

• Multnomah County's annual "domicile unknown" report on houseless deaths found that 193 people died without a fixed address in the county in 2021—a record-setting number. Eight of those deaths were due in part to hypothermia caused by cold temperatures like the ones we're experiencing now, which made the timing of Commissioner Rene Gonzalez's announcement that he has banned his bureaus from providing tents seem even crueler than it otherwise would have been. 

• The Portland Timbers apparently haven't had their fill of feel-good press leading into the 2023 MLS season, because the club announced today that it has traded center back Bill Tuiloma to Charlotte for roughly $900,000 in cash. Tuiloma, a well-liked New Zealand international, had been with the club since 2017. 

• Two Oregon-based organizations are working to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. The Oregon Turkish American Association raised thousands of dollars to aid relief efforts in Turkey, while Mercy Corps is working to coordinate relief efforts in Syria.

• Portland playwright Mikki Gillette has a new show up that grapples with the minefield trans women navigate while dating—specifically while dating cis men. My Perfectly Valid Objections plays at the Oblique Coffee Shop Thursday-Sunday January 26, and Andrew Jankowski has the review. 

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• Sen. John Fetterman's staff announced this morning that the Pennsylvania senator has checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to get treatment for clinical depression. Fetterman is still recovering from the effects of a near-fatal stroke he suffered last spring, and has had to do so squarely in the public eye. Here's hoping he gets the time and help he needs. 

• Another day in the United States, another mass shooting: Last night one or more shooters killed one person and wounded four other people at a mall in El Paso less than a half mile from where 23 people were killed in a mass shooting perpetrated by a white supremacist in 2019.

• Two people have been shot leaving synagogue in less than 24 hours in the Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson in Los Angeles. Both victims are reportedly in stable condition; LAPD has not determined whether the shootings are connected or not.

• A whole bunch of New York Times contributors and readers signed on to a letter calling the paper out for its frequently transphobic coverage, and the Times' leadership got extremely pissy about it. (Jeeeez, somebody doesn't like feedback from their workers!) 

• They Wanted to Live in Greece Full Time. BUT WHAT WOULD THEY FIND FOR $300,000? If you enjoy looking at pictures of beautiful, soulful apartments in Athens and dreaming about seeing the sun again, this is the article for you. 

• Finally... hope you kick off your Friday with the same ease as James Bond.