OPB’s First Look: Farewell to Centennial Mills

Subscribe to OPB’s First Look to receive Northwest news in your inbox six days a week.

Good morning, Northwest.

The Centennial Mills warehouse is easily noticeable when you walk around Portland’s Pearl District. But as the century-old building is slated for demolition after it caught fire two weeks ago, some local residents are using this as an opportunity to remember the city landmark.

OPB’s Riley Martinez took the chance to speak with these people as the warehouse’s days are numbered.

Here’s your First Look at Saturday’s news.

— Winston Szeto

Top story

Portlanders gather to remember Centennial Mills as demolition gets off to slow, quiet start

For the 75 years Diane Lewis has lived in Portland, she’s seen the derelict Centennial Mills warehouse on Northwest Naito Parkway not as an eyesore but a landmark.

She set up a lawn chair behind the chainlink fence now blocking The Fields Park to paint a watercolor of the charred and hollowed-out 116-year-old building before it’s demolished.

The Centennial Mills warehouse caught fire on Aug. 2, sending out huge plumes of smoke that were visible from miles away. City officials announced that its demolition is expected to begin in earnest on Monday.

Throughout yesterday, people continued passing by to see what progress had been made on the building. (Riley Martinez)

Learn More

3 things to know

1. About a thousand people have been ordered to evacuate their homes between Grants Pass and Medford after a wildfire grew rapidly overnight near the rural community of Rogue River. Meanwhile, more than 6,000 personnel have been deployed to other fires burning across Oregon. (Courtney Sherwood)
2. An investigation into the former head of the state’s human resource department, spurred by a litany of wide-ranging anonymous complaints, alleges Jessica Knieling did not always follow the state’s own rules around hiring and disciplining employees. (Lauren Dake)
3. Last night at Springfield’s City Hall, various activist organizations held a rally after a local resident was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week. (Julia Boboc/KLCC)

Northwest headlines

• Lloyd’s not dead yet, at least for these businesses (Lillian Karabaic)
• Proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act could make tribal consultation optional (Mackenzie Olivo, Underscore Native News)
• Lane Community College receives accreditation warning over governance (Rebecca Hansen-White, KLCC)
• Kalshi ordered to sharply curtail operations in Washington state (Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard)
• The Bateman Island Causeway is gone. Now, there’s a ‘surprising’ number of sockeye returning to the Yakima River (Courtney Flatt, Northwest Public Broadcasting)
• Ashland chiropractic clinic faces another lawsuit over former employee’s alleged sexual abuse (Jane Vaughan, JPR)
• ‘Every day is harder.’ Dad killed at Seattle Center is laid to rest (Casey Martin, KUOW)
• Holly Winterburn scores season-high 20 and the Fire build early lead before holding off Storm 84-82 (Associated Press)

One more look

Superabundant recipe: Tamalito-stuffed sweet peppers are the tamale-chile relleno mashup you didn’t know you needed

Tamales and stuffed vegetables have been around for thousands of years in the New World and Old, respectively.

But stuffed peppers like chiles rellenos are a relatively recent addition to the Mexican culinary landscape.

Why? And why aren’t there already a dozen different types of tamales stuffed *inside* chiles?

This week’s Superabundant newsletter might not have a good explanation, but at least it includes a recipe for these tamalito-stuffed sweet peppers. (Heather Arndt Anderson)

Learn More

Subscribe to OPB’s First Look to receive Northwest news in your inbox six days a week.