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Kelly Kenoyer

Good Morning Portland! I hope you enjoyed your barbecues and your veteran family members yesterday. Today's the perfect spring weather, in my opinion—partly cloudy and not too hot, peaking at 69 degrees. Nice! Let's get to the news.

Starbucks is closing 8,000 stores this afternoon for racial bias training after two Black men were kicked out of a Starbucks in Philadelphia. With that company's reputation in the toilet, Black coffee shop owners are seeing an opportunity to bring in new customers. Good! Starbucks coffee is terrible anyway. #HotTakeTuesday

Big pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma knew about the possibility of their opioid being abused way back in the 1990s—but kept producing addictive OxyContin anyway. Prosecutors have recommended that three top Purdue Pharma executives be indicted with felony charges for their hand in the opioid crisis. Hey, maybe capitalism is a bad way to manage the treatment and care of diseases and pain? Just a thought.

Remember how the Trump Administration kept bragging about the low death tolls for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico? A new study from Harvard puts the count at 4,645, 70 times higher than the 38 deaths reported by the Puerto Rican government.

Speaking of capitalism: Trump is bringing back 25 percent tariffs against $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. It's a bit surprising, considering this happened a few weeks ago:



But Chinese company ZTE apparently isn't too badly affected by the tariffs—Trump and China reached a deal on Friday that would keep the company in business.

Two North Korean officials are coming to the U.S. this week to plan a Kim-Trump summit. This follows Trump's abrupt cancellation of that summit last week—something allies Japan and South Korea didn't find out about until after the news broke publicly.

Gazans are attempting to break a 12-year siege at sea with a ship carrying 25 injured Palestinians on its way to Cyprus. The boat is reportedly surrounded by Israeli warships, but beyond the normal barrier of 6 nautical miles from the coast. Godspeed!

A Virginia Congressman won't be pursuing reelection this year after admitting he's an alcoholic—and after a scandal broke that he mistreats his aides.

In science news, a Chinese deep sea drone has discovered 30 new species! Look at these cool guys!

A bit of news on the Republican midterm strategy: distraction and conspiracy are the name of the game. Ain't democracy beautiful?

Here in town, a man ran down several pedestrians near Portland State University on Friday in a hit and run. The suspect, 61-year-old Greg Philip Porter, is in custody and has been charged with attempted murder.

Details were released Friday about the police shooting of John Elifritz, including previously unseen video. Officers shot and killed Elifritz within two minutes of entering the shelter where he was threatening to commit suicide.

Folks gathered at the Hollywood Transit Center on Saturday to honor the victims and heroes of the MAX stabbing on the year anniversary of the attack. Visitors put flowers up on a new mural honoring the victims and gave speeches in a touching ceremony.


Another sad anniversary: the Vanport flood happened 70 years ago on May 30, 1948. That tragedy is honored each year with the Vanport Mosaic Festival. It also has been honored this year with the release of an album—From Maxville to Vanport—which explores the stories of two historic Black settlements in Oregon.

That's all, folks! Here's the funniest damn video I've seen this month: two guys feeding a camel from an unending supply of hot dog buns.