If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution to the Mercury, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
Good morning, Portland! Here’s hoping you can get out for some outdoor activities this weekend and enjoy the sun before the rain comes in early next week. Are the dog days of summer coming to an end? Not exactly. But school is back in session and fall will be here in no time. For now, let’s get to the news. 📰
IN LOCAL NEWS:
If you went down to Canby Rodeo a couple of weeks ago, it’s possible you were exposed to measles, the Oregon Health Authority says. The top health agency sent an exposure notice to attendees of the first night—Tuesday, August 18—letting them know that they may have been exposed to the dangerous respiratory virus. Measles cases are on the rise in the United States as vaccination rates among children are lower. OPB reports that there are more measles cases in the last two years—did anything notable happen in the last two years that would impact this?—than the previous 25—yes, twenty-five—years combined. Officials said the rodeo’s large, tightly packed crowd and general milling about made it challenging to pinpoint who exactly might be at risk, so they issued an order. Read more on this notice, the 50 cases in Oregon this year, and the 97 percent protection against measles that two doses of the vaccine offers, here at OPB.
Portland Police on Thursday released the name of a victim in a fatal crash, in which a vehicle driver killed a 72-year-old woman on an e-bike on a small Portland road. Police did not fail to mention that the bicyclist was “wearing a helmet and highly-visible yellow shirt,” something some traffic safety advocates argued wrongly implied it would be her fault if she wasn’t wearing that stuff. Again, the news reminds a community of the dangers of vehicles and the lack of safe infrastructure that could prevent unnecessary deaths like this. Our thoughts go out to the families and communities impacted by another traffic tragedy on Portland streets.
Two transgender inmates in Oregon prisons filed a class action lawsuit last year, arguing that keeping trans women in a men’s prison violated the 8th Amendment. It is back in court now, after the Oregon Department of Justice appealed. Read the full story at OPB.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests topped 46,000 in July, according to the latest data. The arrests came much more quietly than last year, when disgraced former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem filmed the agency’s actions to stoke fear across the nation. A new story demonstrates how President Donald Trump’s administration is quietly disappearing Latinos, adding that those who remain can unconsciously forget about those who are gone when they are not represented in the collective consciousness. It’s a powerful look at the involuntary ways that society can bend to the whims of the racialized, fascist project—if we’re not careful. Read more in this Oregonian republish of a story in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists news site, Palabra.
There’s a lot to do this weekend in Portland, and the Mercury has you covered. The latest Do This, Do That is alive and well, with an arts and culture event calendar for your weekend, including the Converge 45 arts programming (read our feature here), the Big Portland Bake Show, and Orquestra Pacifico Tropical’s album release show. Check out the full calendar, curated by the Mercury‘s Lindsay Costello, here:
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
People from at least 30 countries are missing after Wednesday’s flash flood in Nepal and Tibet. More than a thousand people are missing and 400 confirmed dead after a chunk of ice snapped off of a glacier, causing the floods. The melting glaciers are a result of human-caused climate change due to the burning of fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal. Scientists say we can expect more catastrophic events like this as global temperatures rise and glaciers melt at an alarming rate. The images out of Nepal and Tibet are devastating, with entire communities wiped out from the floods. More on the impacts of climate change, and what to expect in the future, here at NPR. The Mercury‘s Climate Issue is out now around town in print, and online too.
Trump yesterday signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America. So, this is what winning looks like? Moving forward, the body of water that splits New York and Ontario, Canada will be referred to as Lake America in federal documents to prove some kind of point about Canadian trade with the US. But, you can keep referring to it as “Lake Ontario,” which was always the Indigenous name for it, prior to the US or Canada taking their lands.
If you’re tired of the headline “Trump Official Faces Inquiry Over Claims He…” then read no further. The federal corruption scheme today has ensnared Michael Boren, a top official who oversees the US Forest Service, after claims that he diverted wildfire resources to his own property. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden joined Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich on a letter expressing “serious concerns” that he used his position to remove resources from one fire to save his own ass. The senators are requesting an investigation into whether he made personal calls to save his private ranch in Idaho in July. More on the latest federal corruption here in the Guardian.
Fed Chairman Kevin Walsh on Friday stayed quiet on federal interest rates in a keynote address in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. People who pay attention to this stuff say it is a break from tradition, as the chairperson typically gives some insight into where interest rates are headed at this kind of central banker, finance minister, policymaker gathering. The US economy is, according to Walsh, at “full employment”—news to all the unemployed people out there who are struggling to get by as wealth transfers upward. More on this from CNN.
Have a good weekend! (Don’t be like this. Or…?)
