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NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

Good morning, Portland! I hope you managed to have a nice long weekend—and if you still had to work over the 4th, I hope you didn't have to deal with too many assholes.

Here are the headlines!

• In case you missed it last week: The Mercury found that Multnomah County's 2-1-1 hotline failed over 100 callers who were seeking help during last weekend's record-breaking heatwave. The death toll for the county now sits at at least 64 people.

• And speaking of the heatwave, here's more reporting from OPB on what the extreme temperatures are doing to Oregon crops. That includes strangely shaped potatoes, berries ripening too quickly, and the need to use a lot more water.

• Zooming out for a moment: Oregon's average daily temperature has risen 3 degrees Farenheit since 1990, according to an Associated Press analysis. Only three states—California, Nevada, and New Mexico—have seen a higher temperature hike in that time period.

• Meanwhile, on Independence Day:

• While the United States has been able to largely reopen thanks to COVID-19 vaccination efforts, much of the rest of the world hasn't been quite so privileged. But in England, where the first person received a vaccine back in December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to lifts all COVID restrictions by July 19.

• Yesterday, Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon, exactly 27 years after he founded the online-bookstore-turned-small-business-crushing-retail-behemoth. Andy Jassy, who has led Amazon Web Services since 2003, has taken Bezos' place.

• The death toll for the condo building that collapsed in Florida has now hit 32. Read more about the strange and devastating circumstances for survivors and rescue workers here:

• It's now more obvious than ever that climate change is going to be one of, if not the defining issue of the 21st Century. So, right on cue, Fox News has decided to launch its own weather channel. That's exactly what we fucking need, right?

• The Tokyo Olympics kick off in a couple weeks—and in Japan, vaccine supply shortages have many worried that the games could become a COVID super-spreader event. But the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government are adamant that the show must go on.

• And finally, the second season of genius sketch comedy show I Think You Should Leave drops on Netflix today! Here's one of my fave sketches from season one, to celebrate and start your morning off right:


New Printer | I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson from Will Marshall on Vimeo.