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Good Morning, Portland! If you loved those two days of high-90s heat last weekend, have I got some more hot days for you! Forecasts for this upcoming Monday and Tuesday are lookin’ cooked, brushing up against the low- to mid-90s. Weekend highs should stay in the 80s, with a blissful little dip down to 73 tomorrow for Juneteenth.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Disability Rights Oregon is frequently in the news, speaking out about the rights of Oregonians with disabilities. But now staffers at the nonprofit law firm say they’ve been forced to show a different side of their workplace. The unionized workers are calling for the organization’s board to fire its CEO who they say has allowed wage disparity to spiral to unacceptable levels while he personally receives raises. For the Mercury, reporter Anna Del Savio unpacks this story of “High Turnover, Low Pay.”
• Today in bless this begrudging budget:
• When you read through the roles actress Daveigh Chase performed, you may be shocked at how many you can readily recall. Chase played the youngest Darko sister in Donnie Darko (2001) and voiced protagonist Chihiro Ogino in the 2002 English-language adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. The Oregonian‘s Jonathan Bach gave this celebrity obit a little more elbow grease than is typical, writing that Chase died this week after suffering from meningitis and a blood infection. Her family said she had been experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
• Moviegoers at Portland’s Regal Lloyd Center caught a shocking advertisement on Sunday, before a screening of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day. In addition to all the repeat slow motion pans of fizzling soda-filled cups, a new 90-second video joined the pre-show slog, repping President Trump’s “Department of War.” The new ad features images of military action playing over clips of Trump’s speeches accompanied by cinematic music, according to Oregonian reporter Isabel Funk. “Our friends will respect us, our enemies will fear us, and the whole world will admire the unrivaled greatness of the United States military,” Trump says in the video. “If you attack the United States of America, we will hunt you down and we will find you.”
• Pride Month, like most if not all designated awareness months, ought to just be imbued into the everyday fabric of society. Pride in who you are, what you believe, how you identify, and how you show up is really about the freedom to be whoever and whatever the hell you want to be, with whomever you want to be. In this week’s Spin Cycle, albums by Triple Lutz, Light Bird, and Zoon talk the talk, walk the walk, and rock the rock, representing a diverse cross-section of LGBTQ artists for whom the world is a great big oyster just waiting to get shucked.
• Every year, Profile Theatre takes a deep dive into one or two dramatists, exploring their work in depth. The Roommate is Jen Silverman’s odd couple comedy about the perils reinventing yourself. It also presents a pretty neat connection to the company’s next season—which will serve even more Silverman and the debut of a commissioned work by Mike Lew! Read our review by John Rudoff!
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• President Trump signed a physical copy of an interim deal with Iran on Wednesday, which (sort of) ends the US portion of the war on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Under the agreement, the US will lift its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran can get back to selling tons of oil. Pundits, talking heads, and people reading the news for the second time in their lives are all observing: Hey, isn’t that like… how it was? As part of the agreement, Iran can return to exporting oil regardless of a final agreement on its nuclear program. The New York Times points out that “Iran is reopening the Strait of Hormuz to free passage for the next 60 days, though the agreement seems to leave open the possibility of charging fees after that period.”
• Even as we type this newsblast, US VP JD Vance is taking part in a press conference, telling reporters things like the Trump administration is confident it can lift sanctions on Iranian oil without getting Congressional approval.
• In related news, gas up your guzzler because oil prices are dropping.
• An attack in Moscow, by hundreds of Ukraine’s drones, shut down all of the Russian capital’s airports this morning, though they gradually reopened as the day continued. The strike is being called the largest drone bombardment Ukraine has visited upon Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago.
• Now I’ll send you into this fine Thursday, wishing you strength and joy on Juneteenth tomorrow—which the Merc observes so we won’t have a morning newsblast. I didn’t realize we were also observing heatwaves in the middle of June, but the culture is culture.
