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Good morning, Portland! Have you treated yourself to a plate of nachos this week? The Mercury’s NACHO WEEK—$6 nachos from your fav local eateries—lasts through Sunday, so snag some body fuel before it’s too late! Now, on to the brain fuel. 

In local news:

• After a mixed year of public scrutiny and praise, the Portland Clean Energy Fund is asking city council to approve $107 million in green energy-related grants next week. These grants are a major increase from the $8.6 million in funding the program distributed during its first year and are the first grants to go through the program’s addition vetting process. 

• Climate change is making the Pacific Northwest an increasingly attractive home for mosquitoes. According to Multnomah County officials, the region is seeing tens of thousands more mosquitoes than normal thanks to our wet spring and hot summer—conditions that will only increase with climate change. 

• An investigation by Portland Police Bureau concluded that one of its own officers did not violate professional conduct standards by joining the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia, in 2018. According to the report obtained by OPB, PPB found that the officer’s membership to the group did not affect PPB operations or erode public trust. 

• My favorite excerpt from Suzette Smith’s conversation with poet Matthew Dickman: "I'll tell you my biggest fear," Dickman says, regarding his reading style. "My biggest fear is that someone will finally figure out that these books—Husbandry, Wonderland, and Mayakofsky's Revolver—are just Dickman talking. And people will be like: 'That's not art. That's just this guy, like, talking out loud.’"

• Weed sales have hit a three-year low in Portland despite the price of cannabis flower being the lowest it’s been since April 2019. Growers and sellers have some theories, including the end of “work from stoned” and inflation cutting into Portlanders' discretionary weed budget.

• This week’s Best Contributing Member of Society award goes to Michael, who answered my call for editing the Jurassic Park music over this video of baby flamingos at the Oregon Zoo:

In national news:

• In the past 12 months, average food prices increased by 10.4 percent—the largest annual increase since 1981. Grocery staples like eggs and flour have spiked the most, increasing in cost by 33 and 19 percent respectively. Some financial analysts believe we’re currently at peak food inflation (thank goodness) but estimate it will take six to nine months for prices to actually start falling. 

• The city of Detroit will pay a $7.5 million settlement to a man who claims police switched bullets in a murder case to pin it on him, leading to 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The man was convicted of fatally shooting a friend in 1992 after police seized a gun that belonged to the man’s mother and claimed it was the murder weapon. Police testified that the bullets from the gun matched the bullets in the victim, but they were actually two different sizes. 

• Subway can be sued over its claim that its tuna is “100% tuna,” a federal judge ruled Wednesday. A woman is suing the sandwich chain, claiming that 19 of 20 samples from Subway tuna sandwiches contained “no detectable tuna DNA” during an unofficial analysis by a marine biologist. Subway tried to get the case dismissed, claiming that tuna routinely contains other ingredients like mayonnaise (uhhh okay… but WHERE’S THE TUNA, SUBWAY?)

• More than 40 people are missing after severe flooding in western Virginia on Tuesday, according to local authorities. A series of storms dropped four to six inches of rain over a few hours, closing roads and causing landslides.

• Have you ever seen a bear pant?