Good morning, Portland. Crank up that box fan and click these links.
First up is this week's feature (out in print as of yesterday) by... me. It's about a federal investigation into a guy in Northeast Portland:
In 2013, the feds swooped into Northeast Portland and began a multi-year international smuggling investigation.
Undercover agents, stakeouts, covert infiltration, financial records, search warrants, communication snooping, a raid, and a felony conviction—this one had it all. But this time, the feds weren’t after people dealing in drugs, guns, or human trafficking.
They were looking for a plant smuggler.
Tax reform has failed in Salem. Dirk VanderHart on what that means: "Well, beyond the funding hole lawmakers are going to have to paper over partly with service cuts, the failure means you’re likely going to be pelted over the head with the issue of corporate taxation for at least the next year."
Speaking of state government, a potential tenant protection law is likely to die in the Oregon Senate, we reported yesterday:
As Oregon continues to grapple with an affordable housing shortage, the Oregon Senate appears ready to kill renters' best hope for new protections in this year's legislative session.
Over the weekend, speculation began spreading online that Democratic senators didn't have the support to pass House Bill 2004. With the clock running out on this year's legislative session, it looks like the legislation will die in committee.
"I can confirm that there is not a path forward for House Bill 2004," says Rick Osborn, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leadership.
"The Clackamas County sheriff's sergeant who blew the whistle on a detective's failure to follow up on rape and sexual abuse allegations has accused the agency of deceiving the public about how it handled the case," the Oregonian reported. "Sgt. Matt Swanson called public statements issued by the Sheriff's Office 'inaccurate and misleading' and suggested they're part of an agency effort to cover up its failure to address former Detective Jeff Green's performance... Green pleaded guilty last week to two misdemeanors for failing to investigate reports of child abuse. Green, a veteran detective who worked for the Sheriff's Office out of Wilsonville, was accused of ignoring allegations involving the sexual abuse of a toddler and preschool-age child, the physical abuse of an 8-year-old and the rape of a teen."
There's a 5-acre wildfire near a popular hiking trail in the Columbia River Gorge. The US Forest Service is fighting it.
Good news for people who believe in reproductive rights. The Oregonian:
The Oregon Senate voted Wednesday to require insurance companies to cover abortion and other reproductive health services at no cost to patients. The bill, already passed by the House, now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.Oregon would become the second state, after California, to require private insurers to cover all abortions. New York also requires insurers to cover abortions deemed by a doctor to be medically necessary.
In Oregon, the Democrat-backed measure passed 17-13 along party lines, after a lengthy and at times emotional debate on the Senate floor.
A FedEx driver killed an 83-year-old woman in crosswalk. He paid a $260 fine for failure to yield. That's it, according to the Portland Tribune.
A local Home Depot employee says he was fired after trying to stop what he thought was a kidnapping.
The strongest earthquake to hit western Montana in years:
Montana Earthquake Is Felt For Hundreds Of Miles Early Thursday https://t.co/QkfZqNRG9q
— NPR (@NPR) July 6, 2017
Wait... what?
Hobby Lobby has agreed to forfeit thousands of ancient artifacts that prosecutors say were smuggled into the US https://t.co/VQLv3LbdhO pic.twitter.com/meCeWFbLMm
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 6, 2017