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Actual sign here in Portland. People wonder why Oregon schools are consistently ranked in the bottom 5 states. Portland Public Schools have had a history of wasted funds, underperformance, and will soon be closing up to 10 schools due to a net population decline for several of the last years as people move away from the widespread homeless problems as well as some of the highest taxes in the country.

I guess it really helps when your teachers are high too.

CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent 2026 report, Portland now ranks 34th out of 50 top North American tech markets. This ranking represents a steady downward slide for the “Silicon Forest,” which sat at 24th place just a few years prior in 2023.

Major layoffs at Intel and Nike as well as dramatically increasing costs of doing business in Portland (taxes) have seriously impacted Portland. While Nike often goes through more regular cycles of layoffs, Intel’s major decline of nearly 40% of it’s staff is not likely to turn around anytime soon as the company continues to hemorrhage billions in losses every year.

Personally, I used to go to Portland coder and technology meetups every night of the week I wanted. Pre-covid there were multiple meetups per night every day of the week to choose from: startup talks, programming language groups, tech talks – you name it. Now, I’m lucky to find one useful one a week; with many nights have NO tech meetups.

There were tons of startups in downtown buildings. Now Big Pink’s floor of startups is almost completely empty. Small tech companies have long since left Portland’s unfriendly taxes and business climate when remote work became a thing.

• https://siliconflorist.com/2026/08/21/portland-has-definitely-slipped-among-tech-communities-but-at-least-were-still-registering/

Oregon has one of the highest homeless rates per capita in the country.

For years, an iron gate with Egyptian statues in Damascus, Oregon became famous online. The internet created wild stories about secret cults, ancient temples, and underground societies.

“Oculus Anubis” was never real. The truth is much simpler: this property was built with money stolen through healthcare fraud.

Read the full story here.

Officers served search warrants at six properties, seizing 86 guns and $11,500 in cash, while destroying 110,437 marijuana plants and 81,460 pounds of processed pot.

Investigators and victim advocates identified at least 57 potential survivors subjected to forced labor. Responding advocates described inhumane conditions, with laborers forced to sleep on pallets or in tents inside sheds and greenhouses without electricity, running water, or air conditioning during summer heat waves. 

Legalization of pot has certainly not stopped illegal marijuana manufacturing and human trafficking in Oregon. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Stuart Reges, a University of Washington (UW) computer science professor, recently received a $600,000 settlement when the University of Washington’s was convicted of violating his first amendment rights when he challenged the university’s land use statement.