It was a blood clot. Jerome Kersey died because of a blood clot. If you missed it yesterday, Mercury columnist Ian Karmel wrote a fine essay about maybe the most beloved, and maybe the most Portland, of all the players who've filed through town over the years and put on a Trail Blazers uniform. We'd all be lucky to be remembered so well.

It was a good 10-year run. Helped by a "reluctant" swing vote from Mayor Charlie Hales, Portland's about to rejoin the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Hales in 2001 was the first city commissioner to vote for pulling out. The rest of the city council followed in 2005.

Portland gang cop Charles Asheim is on paid leave after firing a single gunshot during a traffic stop in Gresham that ended in the arrest of a white man suspected of unspecified gang ties. No one was hit by the bullet.

Portland International Airport's hideously worn-out and filthy vomit carpet, its remnants carved into four 1,000-square-yard segments, will be donated to four bidders (out of just 32) who will take on the job of selling off smaller squares and pieces to way too many nostalgic rubes.

Another ground war in Iraq, this time in pursuit of the Islamic State, could begin in April or May, some 12 years (plus a month or two) after the first one started.

The Ferguson, Missouri, police department is looking to fill the job of the cop who quit after killing Michael Brown last summer. Several black officers from neighboring towns have reportedly applied to work in a town that has only three black cops despite its population being two-thirds African American.

Turkish lawmakers debating new powers for cops to crack down on protesters fell back into fisticuffs for the second time this week. It started with arguing. It ended with punches and kicks. The fight earlier this week saw at least one head wound inflicted with the legislature's ceremonial gavel.

Oklahoma teachers remain worried about a fascist-sounding bill that initially sought to scrub away AP US history classes in high school, all because they dare to point out the objectively bad stuff America's done.

Relevant, in light of Portland's JTTF vote: Muslim leaders across America are taking their own steps to keep disaffected young people from falling under the sway of Islamic State recruiters and heading to the Middle East for combat.

The blood of Ebola survivors could become a weird but super-duper antidote for Ebola victims.

The rich white men who finance and staff national GOP campaigns seem to be deciding John Ellis Bush is a better investment than scandal-plagued New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Bill O'Reilly's oft-told chestnut of his time covering an "active war zone" during the Falkland Islands conflict 30-plus years ago is kinda/sorta/totally BS. He only covered tense protests miles away in Argentina. Where no one was killed. Fox News' resident media critic has defended O'Reilly, insisting Mother Jones' exposé is mostly about "semantics." And not about exaggeration and/or lies.

If you've noticed more commercials when watching syndicated sitcoms on basic cable, it's because there are more commercials. Networks have been slyly speeding up old shows and movies to cram in more ad time. It's amazing. And it totally adds up.