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Good morning, Portland! If you need the weather report: Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-60s, with a possible shower. It’s expected to heat up starting tomorrow and lasting through the weekend. But fall is in the air—the leaves are starting to change colors and fall into the bike lanes. Get your rakes ready, people.
But first, read the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Oregon is partially responsible for the US Supreme Court’s decision, announced yesterday, to leave mail-in voting be in the upcoming midterm elections (more details on that below). Isn’t it great that our state leaders have had to spend so much time solving ridiculous problems that would have never existed if Trump wasn’t re-elected? Anyway, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (thank goodness for him) had this to say about the decision:
“What does [the Supreme Court’s decision] mean for Oregon voters? It means we’ll continue to vote in November just like we have for decades, with a Vote By Mail system that is safe, secure, and accurate. We can expect that Trump will continue looking for ways to meddle with our elections, and we’ll continue blocking him. We must all remain vigilant, and we’ll keep fighting to ensure that no one—not even the president—can interfere with our right to vote.”
• Portland was supposed to experience “carmageddon” during yesterday’s commute as a result of the I-5 southbound closure. But it actually wasn’t so bad. It’s probably too soon to make sweeping assumptions about what the lack of apocalyptic traffic meant and will mean for the next five weeks of freeway closures, but if you’ve ever heard of induced demand, you may have some theories. As economists and (good) urban planners know, induced demand describes the phenomenon in which the more something is supplied, the more it will be consumed (and vice versa). This includes space on the freeway—the more lanes available, the more they’ll fill up. When a freeway is closed, people often figure out another way to get around, or skip unnecessary trips. The reason this idea is important is because the state wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to expand I-5 at the Rose Quarter. If the current I-5 closures continue to go relatively smoothly, it may signal the expansion isn’t really that necessary after all.
• As usual, there’s lots of stuff to do in Portland this week, and the Mercury has curated a list of the best events of the bunch, just for you. On the calendar this week: a Lido Pimienta concert on Wednesday, the HUMP! Fall Film Festival starting Thursday, the Unipiper’s Portland Weird Fest on Saturday, and a vegan food fest on Sunday. Find out more here. (Also, check out the Mercury‘s interview with musician Chelsea Wolfe, who you can see perform at the Roseland Theater on Sunday.)
• I support state’s rights (to protect gray wolves, when the federal government decides it doesn’t GAF about the imperiled species).
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• The Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday informing President Trump he cannot, in fact, use the US Postal Service to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections. The ruling addressed Trump’s executive order seeking to restrict voting by mail by requiring states to turn over voter rolls in order to receive ballots from USPS. Dozens of states, including Oregon, sued over the order, and two federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions blocking USPS from imposing the new rule. In its ruling yesterday, seven Supreme Court justices co-signed the decision from the lower courts, keeping the injunction against USPS in place. In summary, the Supreme Court’s decision means USPS should deliver your ballots as normal this year—though Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read still says you should plan to return your ballots via a secure drop box or mail them back at least a week before the election. Also, in case it wasn’t already clear, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas (the two hyper-conservative justices who dissented on this opinion) genuinely hate democracy. They should have no place in polite society, let alone as members of the country’s highest court. But we knew that already.
• The rumors of Senator Mitch McConnell’s demise, it turns out, were somewhat exaggerated. The elderly Kentucky senator finally returned to work yesterday after months away, following a June medical event that left him hospitalized for weeks. McConnell’s disappearance from the Senate triggered rampant speculation about his health, with many believing he was not, in fact, still on this earthly plane. At one point, McConnell’s team attempted to quell suspicions by posting a “proof of life” photo on social media, but the photo actually seemed to make things worse, with many people online claiming it was AI-generated. McConnell’s appearance in DC may satisfy most of the “Mitch is dead” truthers, but it’s still bad a sitting US senator was MIA for so long. It’s also bad that public trust has degraded to the point where so many people genuinely believed McConnell was dead and the Republican Party apparatus was lying about it. Anyway, McConnell’s time in the Senate is wrapping up regardless, with the 84-year-old thankfully deciding to retire come January. I guess we can all be grateful for that.
• Trump’s “Environmental Protection Agency” (scare quotes intended, because it genuinely feels absurd to use the agency’s name at this point) has decided to repeal a Biden-era rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions at power plants. Why? I don’t say this lightly: It’s because the people running our government are evil and don’t care if you live or die. That’s not an exaggeration. Power plants running on gas and coal are the country’s second-largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Gas and coal are also highly inefficient and costly. But our country’s highly-compromised leaders don’t mind peeing on your leg and telling you it’s raining. (Maybe a better metaphor: They’ll drown you in a climate change-induced flood while telling you it’s just a normal summer rainstorm.) EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proclaimed the deregulatory move will help Americans. If you happen to be an American fossil fuel executive, Zeldin’s right. Otherwise, he’s dead wrong. Don’t buy it.
• In a completely unsurprising development, Trump has come out against guardrails for AI (after multiple industry leaders threatened the tech is going to lead to the “end of the world” and calling for a slowdown).
• The rapper Macklemore announced yesterday that he was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour over his support for Palestinians. The decision to oust Macklemore apparently came at the behest of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who told Sheeran the rapper couldn’t perform at Kraft’s stadium in Massachusetts. Macklemore said Kraft also rallied other stadium owners, who collectively threatened Sheeran’s ability to perform at their venues if he didn’t drop Macklemore from the tour. Macklemore has been outspoken about his support for the people of Palestine for several years, amid the Israeli government’s relentless siege on Gaza. The rapper is one of a relatively small number of American celebrities to take this stance so strongly, and it has come with professional consequences. In a social media post, Macklemore described the situation, making it clear that despite the professional setback, he knows he’s not the victim in this situation.
“We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world,” Macklemore wrote on Instagram, describing himself and Sheeran. “Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families…the victims are the Palestinian people.”
• UMMMM…(this situation deserves more thoughtful commentary than that, but it’s a start. Read the ProPublica article.)
• Finally, another post from my new favorite social media account, which you will likely see more of here. Happy Tuesday! XOXO
