Portland Police say gassing an entire crowd for the actions of a few is unavoidable.
Portland Police say gassing an entire crowd for the actions of a few is "unavoidable." Alex Zielinski

Here's your daily roundup of all the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to the Mercury to keep it comin'!)

• The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported that the state gained a whopping 389 new cases since yesterday (another sad new record), with six additional deaths. In a further disturbing revelation, OHA released data that shows Oregon's Pacific Islanders have contracted the virus three times as much as other communities.

• Finally, some positive COVID news: The survival rates for Oregonians who have been hospitalized by the virus have significantly improved since March.

• In a press conference yesterday, Portland police said that, according to their own rules, they really don't have a choice about whether or not to fire tear gas indiscriminately into crowds of protesters. Our Alex Zielinski has the details on this clearly screwed-up situation.

• Meanwhile, the head of the Portland police union is upset that city leaders aren't doing enough to stop protests, even while cops refuse to make systemic changes that could stop these very same protests.

• A new ruling from the Oregon Appeals Court will now ensure that the identity of nonbinary people will be recognized by legal authorities across the state. Our Blair Stenvick has more on this happy news.

• The man who struck and killed activist Summer Taylor with his car during Seattle's Black Femme March has been charged with vehicular homicide.

• Related: During last night's protest in Portland, a driver menaced demonstrators and fired a gun several times into the air. No one was reported as injured, and police have not been able to locate the driver.

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• In bad news for our utterly corrupt president, the Supreme Court voted in a 7-2 decision that New York prosecutors can now look at Trump's tax returns for their continuing investigation into his wildly shady financial dealings. The not-so-good news for the rest of us: The Supremes also ruled that Congress and the public will probably not be able to see his returns until after the election.

• Trump responded to the rulings in his usual way: "WAHH-WAHH-WAAAAAAHHH!"

• In "news you probably already knew unless you're a COVID denier": "The surge in the United States is being driven largely by states that moved to reopen early." (Oh, and having a president who exhibited exactly ZERO leadership didn't help either.)

• The police body camera transcripts from the killing of George Floyd have been released, which show the victim telling officers 20 times that he couldn't breathe, and while one officer did raise concerns that they were going too far—the cop was silenced by a superior.

• Do you enjoy attaining sex knowledge? Well, the new Savage Love column is here, and topics include cheating hubbies, offbeat masturbatory fantasies, and cuckolding dykes. Sign us up!

• And finally, when New York City officials paint "Black Lives Matter" on Fifth Avenue, right outside of Trump Tower... that's a pretty good day.