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Good afternoon, Portland! Here's the latest on local news, national news, and a little bit of fun.
In local news:
• Multnomah County is now recommending that all people 5 and older wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccine status. The county, which previously recommended that only unvaccinated people wear masks indoors, announced the new recommendations today in response to a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.
• New data obtained by the Mercury shows that as of July 2021, only 18 percent of all sworn officers employed by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) live inside Portland's city limits. That's 155 of Portland's 828 total officers.
• 🥴:
The industrial hub in Northwest Portland may cause one of the largest oil spills in the world when the Cascadia earthquake hits, a new report from the city and county finds. https://t.co/kfIMH3EE2M
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) July 26, 2021
• After months of simmering tension regarding the growing houseless encampment at Southeast Portland's Laurelhurst Park, Portland City Council has approved a plan to evict campers by the end of the week. Our Alex Zielinski has all the details on this fraught situation.
In national news:
• Some people with long-haul COVID symptoms experience memory loss for months after contracting the virus. Now, researchers at UT Health San Antonio are studying these patients, and are looking into whether the memory loss and cognitive problems associated with COVID could put them at higher risk for having Alzheimer's later in life.
• A tough but fascinating read:
"My dad thinks the absolute hell we went through, where 9 of the victims were in our class, is a hoax..." https://t.co/FMNYjfpbpn
— VICE News (@VICENews) July 26, 2021
• President Joe Biden announced today that "the US combat mission in Iraq"—which I guess is what we're calling the Iraq War now—will be over by the end of 2021. This comes as the US is also pulling troops out of Afghanistan.
• The US Department of Veterans Affairs will require all of its doctors and other medical workers to receive a COVID vaccination, making it the first federal agency to require the shots—but probably not the last.
And just for fun:
• Consider yourself warned: It's the last week to enjoy delish, $5 frozen cocktails in the SUMMER OF SLUSHIES!
• Finally, the Olympics are officially problematic this year, but you can't not love this:
Philippines has competed in every edition of the #Olympics since its debut in the 1924 edition, except American-led boycott of the 1980 #Olympics.
After 97 years, the Phillipines finally won their first ever gold medal. Hidilyn Diaz wins it in weightlifting.#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/Ntz6OraX28
— Jayanta Kumar Nath (@IMJayNath) July 26, 2021