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Good morning, Portland! You made it through another scorching weekend to be rewarded with some cooler temps in the 80sâand potential thunderstorms?! Also, here's your warning to being making space in your belly this week to fill with $8 burgers starting next Monday, when we're blessed with the annual spectacle that is the Mercury's Burger Week!
- Despite cancer scientists finding that the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup to be carcinogenic, the city of Portland continues to use it in its public parks system. Nichole Linehan, a city parks employee, shrugged the concern in an interview with the Oregonian, where she gave this cryptic statement: âAnything is a risk,â Linehan said. âDrinking too much water can be harmful to you. âŚEating too much ice cream can be harmful. Taking too much aspirin can be harmful.â
- Hereâs a sad sailor shanty of a story about old men who live in Oregon coastal towns who reminisce about  the time when roving packs of feral cats ruled the shores.Â
- Sherry Hall is at it again, yaâll. Clackamas Countyâs elections officeâled by Hallâhas to re-send voting pamphlets to nearly 4,000 Oregon City households after the initial pamphlets didnât include any information about the coming special election for mayor. You may remember Hall from her past hits âI Took a Month to Tally Election ResultsâWhat of It?â and âNope, I Wonât Conduct Same-Sex Marriage Ceremonies Even Though It Is My Job.âÂ
See last weekendâs Pickathon magic through photographer Mathieu Lewis-Rollandâs lens:Â
(1) Image Thread from Pick-a-Thon 2022 in Happy Valley, Oregon. #pickathon #pickathon2022 pic.twitter.com/wyuWpSt4Ny
â Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (@MathieuLRolland) August 5, 2022
- After weeks of  negotiations, the US Senate on Sunday passed a $750 billion health care, tax, and climate bill led by Senate Democrats. If passed by the House later this week, the billânamed the Inflation Reduction Actâwould be the largest climate investment in US history. Whatâs more, it would give Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices AND reduce the national deficit. Seems good?Â
-Then men convicted for murdering Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood face a second round of criminal penalties Monday for federal hate crimes committed in the deadly pursuit of Arbery. This comes after all three men were sentenced to life behind bars in February.Â
- Law enforcement suspects that the slaying of four Muslim men in New Mexico over an 8-month period may be connected. The horrific trend understandably has New Mexico Muslims on high alertâwith many afraid to leave their homes.
- Israel and Palestinian militants agreed to a ceasefire Sunday on the heels of nearly three days of violence that killed dozens of Palestinians. The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Monday to address the recent violence, which was the worst seen in Gaza since 2021's 11-day war last year.Â
- I leave you with this slightly uplifting read:
âHow do you make a life and a community in a recurring set of crises and still offer any kind of stability or safety?â This question is explored in an excerpt from âAt Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earthâhttps://t.co/d3V2rRJrBH
â High Country News (@highcountrynews) August 8, 2022