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Good morning, Portland! We’re looking at a high of 99 degrees today. Go sit in a splash pad.
State Races: Yesterday was the last round of elections (in some states) before the November midterms. Here are some highlights:
– An Ohio race for Congress was deemed too close to call, forcing the candidates into a November runoff and frightening Republicans who expected an easy win in the historically red district.
– Kansas’ gubernatorial race was equally deadlocked by the end of the night. One of the candidates is Kris Kobach, the guy Trump plucked to investigate voter fraud after the 2016 election.
– A longtime county prosecutor in St. Louis County, Missouri—known for favoring the Ferguson officer who killed Micheal Brown—was ousted by Wesley Bell, a Black Ferguson city council member running on a platform of criminal justice reform.
– Missouri also rejected an anti-union ballot measure.
– Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson lost his Washington run for US Senate with a measly 3 percent of the vote. Guess that’s what happens when you hold “campaign rallies” in the state you’re not running in. (It’s maybe also what happens when you lead a movement tied to white supremacy.)
-Also, this:
Rashida Tlaib IS the first Palestinian American, Muslim American congresswomen in US history.
A landmark moment!! pic.twitter.com/Pqq50nnllM
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) August 8, 2018
Higher Power: Three faith leaders were arrested yesterday after blocking the entrance to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Southwest Portland, a demonstration to protest the incarceration of undocumented immigrants in a Sheridan, Oregon prison.
It’s Baaaaack: Vancouver City Council unanimously voted to pursue building a new I-5 bridge spanning the Columbia River (with bike lanes!), reviving conversations about Oregon’s failed Columbia River Crossing project.
Hot Goss: The Oregonian‘s Gordon Friedman leaked Mayor Ted Wheeler’s new bureau assignments yesterday—and, if they’re true, it looks like Wheeler will continue to hoard major city bureaus.
The neglect of public housing in big cities like NYC, Chicago and D.C. has been widely documented. But the crisis is also hitting small towns and mid-sized cities.
In East St. Louis, Ill., @HUDgov was supposed to help residents. It betrayed them instead:https://t.co/071r7BZSL0
— ProPublica (@ProPublica) August 8, 2018
Trump’s Labor Losses: Trump’s restrictive tariffs on goods imported from China have found another victim—an electronics company in South Carolina. The company is closing because of the tariffs, meaning Trump has made 126 more Americans jobless.
Fitting the Stereotype: A scathing investigation has revealed a (tragically expected) culture of sexism, sexual harassment, and general bro-culture-awfulness at video game developer Riot Games.
