Good morning, Portland. Let's get these links.

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Ashley Nicole Deleon

First up, out in print as of yesterday, is Dirk VanderHart's story about the shackling of inmates in courthouses.

Multnomah County gets a lot of use out of its shackles.

As a matter of course, prisoners who have hearings in the county courthouse have their hands cuffed, their legs in irons, and their arm movement constrained by a third chain around their waist. They are marched through the courthouse’s public hallways like this, and—unless appearing before a jury—typically remain at least partially restrained throughout their hearings.

It’s been this way for years, but the county’s shackling policy—along with the policies of an untold number of courts—has been ruled unconstitutional.

I interviewed local public defender John Schlosser, who's pushing for the state to pay for immigration attorney consultations for immigrants who have been charged with a crime: "The immigration lawyer would work with the defense attorney to figure out what charges [the defendant] is facing, what are the facts of the case, and, based on what the facts are, if there are other potential charges they could plea to in the negotiation process. They’d provide that info to the district attorneys office and try to work out a plea."

"An FBI agent accused of lying about firing two shots at Oregon standoff spokesman Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum faces a five-count indictment, charging him with three counts of making a false statement and two counts of obstruction of justice," the Oregonian reports.

The Oregonian's Elliot Njus on Wednesday's TriMet meeting:

TriMet's board of directors began Wednesday's meeting with a Portland woman who had been aboard the Max train where a known extremist fatally stabbed two men and attacked a third last month.The agency, she said, needs more security to deal with those kinds of threats.

The meeting ended, at least temporarily, when it was interrupted by protesters who wanted more discussion about the police presence on the system. They wanted the agency to reverse its response to the May 26 stabbing, which included beefing up police patrols.

A Vancouver man bought "Naked Falls" and the surrounding area from a logging company and plans to open it back up for visitors.

"With hundreds of thousands of eclipse watchers converging on Oregon's Willamette Valley on Aug. 21, grass seed growers and the state Department of Agriculture have agreed to do their part in keeping the air clear," the Portland Tribune writes. "To keep from obscuring the view of the rare phenomenon and avoid possible impacts on traffic, farmers have agreed not to burn their fields either the weekend before the eclipse or on Monday, Aug. 21, said John Byers, manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture Smoke Management Program."

"The U.S. Forest Service is proposing sweeping new rules that would limit the number of people allowed into five of Oregon’s most popular wilderness areas," the Statesman Journal reports. "A sharp increase in crowds — and environmental damage that’s followed — has led the agency to propose major changes to the way people access Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington, Three Sisters, Waldo Lake and Diamond Peak wilderness areas."

Craziness in downtown Portland yesterday:



Police officers around the country have killed people for way less than that. Cops said 23-year-old driver, Elizabeth Hefner, stole the car. She was found hiding in a dumpster.

And, finally, your daily reminder that an internet troll is the president of the United States.