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Good morning, Portland! I hope you're staying cool (physically) and safe. Here are the latest headlines to help you stay cool (demeanor) and informed.

In local news:

• It’s hot and will continue to be hot through the weekend, so cooling shelters are scheduled to stay open through at least Friday morning. Depending on the forecast, officials may extend shelter hours into the weekend. Multnomah County officials have identified at least one person who they believed died from the heat earlier in the week, but the cause of death has not been confirmed.

• People of color working at the Oregon Convention Center Burgerville location are lobbying to have their store manager removed for his allegedly racist actions. Workers allege that the manager made racists comments about a Black employee and ultimately fired the employee when she stood up for a fellow employee of color against an irate customer. Burgerville Workers United, the union representing staff, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this month.

• A Portland police officer fatally shot a member of the public in Southeast Portland Wednesday night. Police say officers were responding to multiple 911 calls of a person firing a gun in a front yard. This is the second person Portland police officers have killed this week and third incident of police officers firing at civilians this week.

• From one transmissible threat to another: Monkeypox is in Oregon and spreading. We get that you have a lot on your plate already keeping track of that other virus spreading throughout the state, so here’s a handy guide on everything you need to know about Monkeypox—including what it is, how to lower your risk, and the status of vaccines.

In national news:

• Nearly two million Georgia voters—about a quarter of the state’s voters—saw their travel time to a ballot drop box increase this year in comparison to the 2020 election. The change was due to new state election laws that ultimately restricted access to drop boxes in counties that used them the most and had the highest number of voters of color and Democrats. Under the new laws, the number of drop boxes across four metro counties decreased from 107 to 25.

• Eight women in an Indiana jail are suing a county sheriff and former corrections officer, claiming that the corrections officer facilitated their sexual assault in the jail. The lawsuit alleges the former corrections officer took a $1,000 bribe from male inmates to give them keys to the female side of the jail, leading to attacks, threats, and rapes by the male inmates. According to the lawsuit, no jail officer on duty came to the women’s aid during the hours-long incident and women who complained were punished by jail staff.

• You’ve heard of COVID-19 and Monkeypox. Now, allow me to introduce *drumroll* melioidosis! While thought to only exist in tropical climates, the bacteria that causes melioidosis—an infection that can replicate symptoms of tuberculosis or pneumonia—has been found in soil in the continental US, specifically in Mississippi. Scientists say the finding it not totally surprising, but it is still significant.

• The US economy shrank for a second straight quarter, prompting fears that we are heading towards a recession. According to a GDP report, consumer spending slowed, high interest rates dramatically reduced home construction, and government spending decreased.

• Stay cool!