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After a LOT of screaming and yelling, President Biden is finally making a move to protect abortion rights.
After a LOT of screaming and yelling, President Biden is finally making a move to protect abortion rights. Drew Angerer / Getty Images

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! If you're looking for a sunny-sun weekend, Portland, you're living in the right place. Expect highs in the upper 70s/low 80s... which I'd say is perfect weather to experience the final hurrah for THE BIG FLOAT (in which thousands hop in the Willamette with their floaties for music and fun), happening this Sunday! Don't miss it, and don't miss this NEWS either!

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• The newest forecast from OHSU predicts that the current Oregon surge of COVID strains (BA.4 and BA.5) will peak in mid-July. These strains are highly contagious, and if you've been lucky enough to avoid it thus far, scientists are predicting you probably won't for much longer.

• No need to panic YET, but as of now six cases of monkeypox have been discovered in Oregon, and many more are expected in the coming weeks. Reminder, this virus is spread from close, skin-to-skin contact rather than through the air like COVID, and is therefore a lot less transmissible.

• Though Oregonians voted in favor of legalized psilocybin (the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" that has been proven to be beneficial in small doses to treating an array of conditions, including PTSD), Umatilla County commissioners apparently aren't accepting the will of the people, and even though psilocybin won't be sold over the counter, they want to put the manufacturing of the drugs and their service centers on the ballot again in the fall. (You know, rather than going to the trouble of making ballots, campaigning for months, and then asking thousands of citizens to vote on something that's already been decided, one could do 20 minutes of research to discover this treatment is a very good thing.)

• Thinking caps on, it's time for another super fun POP QUIZ PDX! This week features trivia Qs about local insect plagues, illegal fireworks, and the MANY troubling aspects of governor candidate Betsy Johnson! 🤔

• Do you love nachos with all your heart? YES, YOU DO!! That's why you're gonna flip ass-over-teakettle for the Mercury's NACHO WEEK: $6 plates of creative nachos from some of the most skillful snack makers around town—and it runs from July 11-17! DO NOT MISS THIS DELICIOUSNESS!

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Japan's former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been assassinated during a campaign rally. While shocking enough, the gunman shot and killed Abe with a homemade firearm in a country where gun laws are some of the strictest in the world.

• A positive sign for those who have been fearing a coming national recession—the US added 372,000 more jobs in June, which was a lot more than expected.

• Facing increasing pressure from Democrats, President Biden is finally making a move to protect abortion rights and will sign an executive order that aims to safeguard reproductive health care, including access to abortion and contraception.

• Trump's former lawyer Pat Cipollone is scheduled to testify today before the Jan 6 committee after a LOT of public shaming for his silence thus far. Cipollone has been named as one of the few Trump cronies who was around when the January 6 domestic terrorist attack was being planned and tried to stop it.

• The chief of the IRS is on the receiving end of some suspicious looks after it was revealed that two of Trump's sworn enemies—former FBI director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe—were BOTH targeted with supposedly "random" audits.

• Remind me again... why exactly do you like this guy? "Netflix releases Dave Chappelle's speech slamming transphobic joke critics."

• And finally... your week may have started like THIS, but I hope it ends like... THIS.