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Portland seeking $2-3M annual rent from Blazers, $1B approved for first phase of SeaTac airport renovation, Boise wins water quality award, Oregon arson suspect seeks reduction of $750k bond, Albertsons stock sees 3% jump, Idaho mining coming discovers yttrium deposit,

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PNW Market Look

As of market close 8.13.26

Reddit stock jumps on inclusion in S&P 500 (CNBC)

Headline Roundup

Gun sales surged after Oregonians passed new restrictions, study finds (OPB)
Trail Blazers will meet with Portland to discuss lease negotiations Monday (OPB)
Lift off! Sea-Tac S Concourse revamp to start next year (DJC)
Ashley Furniture pays Bridge $34M for empty warehouse (DJC)
$431 million infrastructure project proposed in Eugene (DJC)
Idaho leads nation with lowest residential electrical rates (IBR)
City of Boise wins national water quality award for second straight year (IDP)
Kalshi ordered to stop most operations in WA (ST)
Kirkland buys former Latter-day Saints church for $10M (ST)
Microsoft cuts purchases of carbon removals by 80% amid AI push (ST)
PNW needs a big energy buildout. A new plan points the way. (PBJ)
Pacific Northwest targets 14 GW clean energy buildout by 2032 (LM)
PGE corporate reorganization agreement includes rate break (PBJ)
North Koreans Use Stolen IDs, AI to Land U.S. Jobs—and Funnel Millions to Kim’s Regime (WSJ)
Idaho community fund helps farmworkers fight heat, wildfire smoke (DM)
Cd'A mining company finds rare mineral deposit (SJ)
State floats seizure of Laurel water as it pursues contested mental health facility (MTS)
Port OKs initial funding for $2.5 billion Sea-Tac Airport concourse overhaul (PBJ)
Seattle posts nation's steepest decline in pending home sales (PBJ)

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Community Highlight

Man accused of setting eastern Oregon wildfires seeks reduction of $750,000 bond (ORL)

Big Grass Fire grows by 61% in one week. Focus shifts to Idaho locations (IDS)

The Big Grass Fire, which was sparked by lightning on July 23, continued its rapid expansion across Owyhee County, Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon, growing from 358,911 acres to 579,366 acres. High winds earlier this week caused the fire to spread by more than 22,000 acres from Monday to Tuesday, most notably around the Battle Creek area, according to a news release from the Northwest Incident Management Team 10.

The ongoing fire response includes 989 personnel, 33 dozers, 69 engines, 33 water tenders and six helicopters, according to the management team.

Officials said no homes had been lost as of Thursday, but 159 people were evacuated, and 315 residential and 420 nonresidential structures were under threat. “There’s a lot of people working really, really hard,” Stephanie Spencer, Northwest Incident Management Team 10 public information officer, told the Idaho Statesman in a phone call. “They’re out there in the heat and the dust, and they’re trying to get as much of this fire contained as quickly as possible.”

The safety of Duck Valley Indian Reservation became a particular concern this week after a finger of the fire stretched onto reservation land and began threatening structures there, according to the management team. Spencer said crews succeeded in protecting those structures and were continuing to secure the area. “Really heavy winds caused the fire to push out a little bit across a dozer line that was in place and move out into the corner of the reservation,” Spencer said. “We got right on it with a lot of aircraft. There were a lot of very large air tankers, scoopers, helicopters. They dumped a lot of loads of retardant and water, and just tried to keep the fire in check.”

Rip’s Spotlight

Bend city council sidesteps proposed affordable housing bond (BB)

“Bend city council sidestepped a bond Wednesday night that would have taxed residents and used the money to build affordable housing.

That bond had been championed by a council-created housing committee, but councilors themselves were concerned that voters would not support the idea.

“There’s no question that an additional source of revenue is critical,” said Councilor Mike Riley of the benefit of an affordable housing bond. “(But) I don’t see anything around having a thorough and robust community conversation about how we’re going to do that and how we’re going to generate that revenue.

Such a bond would require a lot of community engagement to persuade voters, Riley argued.

The committee discussed raising up to $100 million through a bond measure that could last for a decade. The money raised by the bond could be used to build as many as 1,000 housing units.

“(An affordable housing bond) would have a big impact,” said Councilor Ariel Mendez. “Since I have mixed feelings about asking voters for an affordable housing bond, I don’t know that that’s something that I’m prepared to go and ask our community to go and support.”

The city hopes to build 3,942 housing units by 2027, including 1,818 deed-restricted affordable units and 826 middle-income units, based on the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis. From July 2025 through December, Bend issued permits for 947 units, according to city data.

Still, Norris argued a bond would be a “heavy lift.”