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Drone!
Drone! Isaac Brekken / Getty Images


Good morning, Portland! Grab your raincoat—we're tumbling into another day of sporadic rain and overcast skies. Just remember: June showers bring... a lower chance of fires and drought by September! Now, for the news:

- Nurses at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center avoided a strike after reaching a tentative contract agreement Saturday. The agreement, which covers nearly 1,600 nurses includes new COVID-19 safety standards, higher wages, improved patient safety standards, and more.

- Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall has had a career’s worth of mishaps that began long before bungling the May election ballot counts. The Oregonian took time to detail Hall’s chaotic time in office. When asked to comment, Hall declined, saying “I have nothing to add.” BOLD.

- Pendleton is the latest hot spot for companies and the federal government to test out new drone projects, thanks to a welcoming local government, low usage costs, and expansive air space. While the feds’ work is top secret (and I’m sure very safe and not murder-y), the private sectors’ various drone projects over Pendleton’s wheat filed are broken down in this fascinating OPB report.

- At least 15 people were killed and 60 others wounded in a string of mass shootings in eight states this weekend. The shootings, which took place from Pennsylvania to Arizona, show that the trauma of last month’s deadly attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas has done little to slow our country’s sick cycle of mass murders by gun.

- If you have the privilege to access the New York Times online, I urge you to take time for this deep dive into the conversations around crime and punishment splitting Democrats in San Francisco. Centered around a recall campaign for the city’s current district attorney, it hints at the kind of debates that will likely frame Portland’s next election cycle for its top prosecutor next year.

- Tropical Storm Alex (no affiliation) drenched Florida in heavy flooding over the weekend before killing three in Cuba and spiraling towards Bermuda. This is the first official storm to hit the Atlantic Coast in 2022’s hurricane season which—surprise!—is expected to be more disastrous than usual.

- In more doomier/gloomier climate news, researchers say that Colorado will experience a 50 to 60 percent reduction in snow by 2080, causing it to look a lot more like Arizona.

- Russian and Ukrainian troops are fighting in the street over the the city of Sievierodonetsk, the largest remaining Ukrainian-held city in the Donbas region's Luhansk province. Meanwhile, the UK has followed through on a promise to provide Ukraine with long-range rockets, which could give Ukrainians a better chance at hitting Russian artillery units, which Reuters says is "a key component of Moscow's battle-plans."

- Today in: Is the UK OK?