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Good morning, Portland! Hopefully the weekend has left you rested and ready for yet another rollercoaster week, both in DC and right here in River City. Grab your raincoat (it's going to be a wet day) and come along for the ride:
- This morning, the US House of Representatives introduced articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, charging him with âhigh crimes and misdemeanors." The quick-turn decision comes after Republican members of Congress rejected a long-shot request to ask Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, effectively removing Trump from office.
- News tied to last week's failed right-wing insurrection at the US Capitol continues to unfold. On Sunday, former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told the Washington Post that he had requested support from the DC National Guard six times before and during Wednesday's riot, and that each request was denied. The reason Sund was given by higher ups? Bad optics.
- Capitol Police have reported the death of an officer who had been guarding the Capitol from the Wednesday mob. According to the Baltimore Sun, Officer Howard Liebengood died from an apparent suicide. He is the second Capitol Police officer to die after protecting the Capitol Wednesdayâhowever, it's not yet clear if his death was related to the riots.
- Read this important essay by NPR's Sam Sanders:
âWe are a country built on fabrication, nostalgia and euphemism. And every time America shows the worst of itself, all the contradictions collapse into the lie I've heard nonstop for the last several years: "This isn't who we are."â â âŠ@samsandersâ© https://t.co/gZ0MzDeyc2
â Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson đ (@ayanaeliza) January 10, 2021
- The US attorney for DC told NPR that hundreds of people may ultimately face charges for their role in the storming of the US Capitol. In the meantime, here are a few familiar faces who've already been arrested for their involvement.
- In the rush to hide from the extremists flooding into the Capitol Wednesday, many lawmakers gathered in small rooms to hunker downâsome not wearing face masks. Because things aren't bad enough, this may have turned at least one of those spaces into a COVID-19 super-spreader event, according to a physician for Congress.
- Surprise! OPB reports that at least three people who attended the December 21 attack on the Oregon Capitol during 2020's final special legislative session were in DC for the storming of the US Capitol.
- Job update for former mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone:
Sarah Iannarone named executive director of The Street Trust, a Portland advocacy group https://t.co/xrN4nmZt4e pic.twitter.com/qXNOaIeHIp
â The Oregonian (@Oregonian) January 10, 2021
- The Seattle Police Department (SPD) has put two officers on administrative leave after learning that they independently attended the riot at the US Capitol. SPD is now investigating the officers' role at the event. According to SPD Chief Adrian Diaz, if the investigation finds that any Seattle officers âwere directly involved in the insurrection at the US Capitol,â he will âimmediately terminate them.â
- The Oregon state legislature will swear in its newly elected members today. The group of freshman pols includes four new legislators of color, all Democrats, boosting the number of non-white state legislators to a record 12. And yet, this still leaves Oregonians of color under-represented in the State Capitol.
- It appears that Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has been doling out the COVID-19 vaccine to staffers and students who aren't frontline healthcare personnel or those who work from home, meaning they don't technically qualify to receive a dose this early in Oregon's statewide vaccine rollout. The discovery promptly pissed off the state and other frontline workers still waiting for a vaccine.
- COVID-19 cases in Oregon have begun to surge (again), but experts have yet to directly link it to holiday travel. Over the past two weeks, new daily coronavirus cases in Oregon have increased 24 percent and deaths 14 percent .
- I leave you with this sweet moment:
Day 258: Portland has been reduced to a burnt out husk. Stores are boarded up. Kale has returned to store shelves, but itâs of middling quality. All that remains is a band dressed up in fruit costumes called âSweet Nâ Juicyâ absolutely ripping a free concert. God has forsaken us. pic.twitter.com/gz6ylt8bA4
â Dane (@danegado) January 10, 2021