Federal judge limits use of tear gas and “chemical munitions” at Portland ICE building

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From a story by reporter Maxine Bernstein that appeared Friday, March 6, in the Oregonian/OregonLive:

A judge on Friday ordered federal officers to stop unleashing tear gas that could seep into Gray’s Landing, the low-income apartment complex across the street from Portland’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, unless they face an imminent deadly threat.

“The Court recognizes a preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy, but this is an extraordinary case,” U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio wrote in a 57-page opinion.

Baggio found federal officers showed “deliberate indifference” based on the quantity of chemical munitions they have used against those protesting President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown as they have gathered outside the ICE field office.

Federal officers have launched the munitions contrary to their own agency’s use-of-force manuals and continued to do so despite complaints of harm from nearby residents, Baggio found.

Her order was short and to the point.

PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ORDER

Defendants are hereby enjoined as follows pending the final resolution of this case: Defendants, their agents, and all persons acting in concert or participation with Defendants are enjoined from using chemical munitions in quantities such that the aerosolized chemicals discharged from said munitions are likely to reach Gray’s Landing—including the Resident Plaintiffs’ individual apartments. Such use is prohibited unless it is determined to be necessary to address an imminent threat to life.

IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED this 6th day of March, 2026.

Unlike her concise order, Judge Battio’s opinion ran for 57 pages in which she reviewed the facts of the situation as presented in an evidentiary hearing lasting several days, and walked step by step through her application of the law.

Government agents showed “deliberate indifference and a ‘protracted failure even to care,’ while acting contrary to their own use of force policies, Judge Baggio found.

Her order applies to the agencies confronting public protests outside the ICE building in Portland, Oregon, including Dept. of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol, and Federal Protective Service, the U.S. Secret Service, and their agency heads.

And the term “chemical munitions” barred from use absent “an imminent threat to life” includes a variety of items defined in the opinion, which took a long section to describe.

Oleoresin capsicum (“OC”‘) is “an oil-based irritant derived from chili peppers, commonly known as pepper spray, in aerosol format.” Officers can deploy OC gas in the form of a handheld spray, such as by using an MK-9 canister or “fogger.” MK-9 canisters can deploy OC up to roughly twelve to twenty feet. OC can also be deployed using a hand-thrown munition, such as a grenade. OC can also be deployed in the form of “breakable ‘pepper balls’ that release OC in a dust format” from a “PepperBall Launching System” (“PLS”). “The immediate impact zone for [a] pepper ball is a 3-6 [foot] radius when deployed at dry hard ground from the PLS.”

Pelargonic acid vanillylamide (“PAVA”) is “[a] synthetic version of OC.” PAVA rounds can affect a fifteen-foot radius where deployed. PAVA can be deployed through an FN 303 launch system (a compressed air launcher) or a PLS with an area of impact ranging from ten to 300 feet.

O-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (“CS”) is commonly referred to as “tear gas. It is “a class of chemical agent that is a powder at room temperature” that will either “explode” or react with a “pyrotechnic” such that a “gas cloud” forms. FPS does not authorize its officers to use munitions containing CS. CBP and ICE officers, however, do use munitions containing CS. Federal officers have used CS near the Portland ICE Facility in the form of hand-thrown canisters, 40MM rounds deployed from launchers, and grenades. When deployed with a “40 mm” or “Less Lethal Specialty Impact and Chemical Munitions” (‘LLSI-CM”) launcher, CS munitions “can impact up to 450 feet.”

Finally, federal officers have used “stinger” munitions, which may contain “more than none agent” including OC, PAVA, or CS.

The full opinion and order appear below.

The cats won again!

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This was the week for a vet visit so that Kali and Kinikini could be checked out by our regular vet, Ann Sakamoto at the Hawaii Kai Veterinary Clinic (top quality care from Ann and their other doctors!).

It didn’t go well.

Knowing Kali’s resistance to being examined, I had carefully dosed her with a gabapentin cream three times, one the evening before, once the morning of the exam, and then a third time 2-1/2 hours before our vet appointment.

Despite that, Kali managed to retain her focus, her strength, and her skillful combinations of defensive swats simultaneous with fancy moves to avoid being immobilized. She kept her mouth clamped shut, avoiding an exam of her teeth and gums. And the warded off an attempt to draw blood to check for possible background conditions. We are reminded that Ms. Kali, the sweetest cat, can be fierce when it serves her purpose. And Kinikini? This is the first time he has resisted the major elements of his vet exam.

So both cats received only the most basic exam, but we agreed on a plan for another visit in a few months. We aren’t providing details so as to avoid the cats learning about and thwarting the plan.

Meanwhile, here come the cats.

Feline Friday: March 6, 2026

Photos of our Kahala home 60+ years apart

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One of my dad’s high school friends dropped by our house with his wife in 1963, more than 30 years after they had graduated from Wilson High School in Long Beach.

Myron Brejcha and my dad remained lifelong friends, and managed to stay in touch throughout their lives. At the time of this visit, I was in high school, while ny dad and the Brejchas were turning 50.

When I recently stumbled across the 1963 photos, I thought it would be interesting to match them with others taken in the last couple of years.

On each page, 1963 is on the left, and the recent photos on the right.

In 2015, after my parents had passed away, Meda and I supervised a major renovation of the house while attempting to keep it within the same footprint and with the same feel.

Some things remain the same. For example, the giant Bird of Paradise just to the left of our front door is still there, much older and wiser now. And other photos show it was already higher than the roofline by the early 1950s.

Other things have changed, though. The coconut trees are gone. You can see there were coconuts on the two front corners of the hard, fronting Kealaolu Avenue, and several more across the back of the yard, and for a while one on either side of the lanai. But two things happened. The trees grew and their roots began causing problems like cracks in the concrete floor of the old lanai. More importantly, the cost of keeping the trees trimmed increased dramatically over time. So my mother slowly had them removed over a few years, a painful decision for her.

The panax hedges separating the house from the neighbors on either side have been replaced by walls, much to my mother’s dismay. This meant an end to just stepping through the space in the hedge to join a neighbor for a cup of coffee or glass of beer.

And although my parents enjoyed their ground-level covered lanai with a few stairs down from the house, we chose to replace it with a deck at the same level as the living room floor, so that you now slide open the deck doors and step right onto the lanai.

In any case, enjoy these two views of our home in Kahala.

Walking through our house and yard 60+ years apart

I was about 10 when this beauty drove in

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I first posted this back in 2020 while we were all hunkered down as Covid worked it’s magic.

I just ran into it again, and thought I would share it a second time with a few slight edits. That car is too classic!

I remember it being very exciting as we waited for my dad to get home after buying a new car, which at that time he did every 4-5 years.

At that time, he was manager of a San Francisco-based hotel and restaurant supply company, Dohrmann Hotel Supply. I guess he thought the car made him more managerial? Or maybe he just thought it was cool, as I did.

I believe this was probably the day he took possession of this new Ford Fairlane and brought it home for the first time. I think it was a 1957 model, but could be wrong. I was too young to drive, so I just had to look. And, of course, I was assigned to wash it now and then.

Note the asphalt driveway, which was considered a big step up from the original crushed coral. It lasted another 30 years (with repairs) before being replaced by concrete courtesy of a crew that had poured a concrete driveway on a large new home next door and it was just enough to replace my parents’ aslphalt.



After my parents died, Meda and I supervised a complete renovation, sticking mostly to the original size and shape of the house except that we enclosed what had been an open carport, and also extended the front of the kitchen and living room out severa feet to allow a kitchen larger than the tiny cell my mother cooked in for about 70 years. I’m sure she would have considered the expense unnecessary and wasteful. Theirs was a different generation.

And here’s the house at it looks today. The large bird of paradise plant is still there outside the front door.