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Good morning, Portland! Hot, juicy tip: The Mercury's burger week is back this year, and starts in just a couple weeks!
With that important news out of the way, here are the headlines.
• Hmmm... soooo... I guess I shouldn't have burned all my masks last month?
As COVID cases surge, Multnomah County recommends everyone 5 and older wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status. The recommendations will not be enforced. https://t.co/J0qnjUGzTf
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) July 26, 2021
• And in case you think this is just a Portland thing: President Joe Biden's team is weighing whether they should recommend the re-introduction of mask mandates in some heavily hit parts of the country.
• Meanwhile, new data shows that only 18 percent of Portland Police Bureau officers actually live within city limits. A lot of them live in Washington, supporting my theory that commuting over the I-5 bridge every day turns people into violent, vindictive assholes.
• The headline pretty much says it all here: "Industrial Hub in Northwest Portland Will Cause Catastrophic Oil Spill During Earthquake, Report Finds."
• Sweeps Week:
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: https://t.co/OgYjy1KQqQ
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) July 26, 2021
• The suspected shooter in March's Atlanta-area spa killings will plead guilty to murdering four people—part of a plea deal that will give him life in prison without the possibility of parole.
• Congress' January 6 commission is meeting today, and they're hearing testimony from US Capitol Police officers on just how harrowing the day was:
D.C. police officer Michael Fanone says Republican efforts to downplay the Jan. 6 attack have made it tougher to recover from the trauma of that day.
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 27, 2021
"I feel like I went to hell and back ... but too many are now telling me that hell doesn't exist." pic.twitter.com/xNlAQq2lm4
• In Tokyo, Team USA's Simone Biles dropped out of the women's group gymnastics competition today, citing a mental health concern. Biles, who was heavily favored to win Olympic gold, said she'd been shaking with anxiety all day, and didn't want to risk not winning a medal with her team. Team USA went on to win silver, losing to the Russians.
• And we'll end today with a more feel-good Olympics story: Here's the reaction from friends and family when Lydian Jacoby, a 17-year-old swimmer from Alaska, won a surprise gold in the 100m breaststroke:
ELECTRIC.
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 27, 2021
Relive the moment Lydia Jacoby's friends and family cheered her on to GOLD from Seward, Alaska. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/jjLWAlaljy