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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Expect a mostly sunny day today with a high of 74 and a chance of a later thundershower, but starting tomorrow? Get ready for a week-ending blast of sun with temps steadily climbing to 95 (!) by Sunday! Now let's climb into some NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Mayor Wheeler plans on convening a meeting to see if something can be done about rising city taxes—including bumps for water and sewer, parking meter rates, as well as building and development permits, which he says are causing undue financial hardships on local residents. OH! And this also provides an opportunity for the Portland Business Alliance to bitch and moan about progressive, people-helping taxes (such as those to fund preschools, homelessness, and drug addiction services) which they claim are causing undue financial hardships on local Scrooge McDucks and their ability to swim in a money-filled swimming pools.

• Speaking of greedy, right-wingers infiltrating city hall: Check out the tweet below for an example of how mad the conservative, dark-money organization, People for Portland, gets when one of their main cheerleaders turns against them. (The good news is that P4P is no longer disguising their right-wing agenda and general distaste for the people of Portland.)

• Governor Kotek and state legislators are hitting the brakes (at least temporarily) on ODOT's plans to toll local freeways—which in turn were to fund the almost certainly unnecessary widening of I-5 in the Rose Quarter. Or as our Taylor Griggs puts it, "Will ODOT be able to find a new funding mechanism for big-ticket capital projects without unpopular tolls—or will the inability to implement this program be the nail in the coffin for some freeway expansion projects?"

• Here's your daily reminder that a) this election—though small—is very important, b) you must absolutely NOT vote for the extremely sketchy Derrick Peterson for a seat on the MultCo School District, and c) you can get help deciding who and what to vote for with the Mercury's always reliable and smart Election Endorsements! This concludes your daily reminder!

• It's been seven days since Republicans in the state legislature started their most current hissy-fit and walked off the job WE FUCKING PAY THEM TO DO. And yet? Dems are planning to meet with these GOP do-nothings to entice them into coming back on the job that, once again, WE FUCKING PAY THEM TO DO. (The Dems plan is actually just a ploy to prove that, even when they are open to negotiating, Republican lawmakers are actually just performative losers who have no intention of doing anything of merit, especially... the jobs WE FUCKING PAY THEM TO DO.) 

• Today in "Ummm... YUM":

• Also (not to brag, but) you know you've made it when the Multnomah County's DA Office retweets your Pop Quiz! 😀

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Uncontrollable Republican liar, Rep. George Santos, has turned himself in to authorities and is in custody on multiple charges which include wire fraud, money laundering, stealing public funds, and... you guessed it... LYING. He's expected to appear in front of a judge later today where he will undoubtedly continue lying. Good luck with that!

• A Manhattan jury has found that Donald Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million for battery and defamation. Pointedly, they did not think Carroll proved she had been raped (a weird example of splitting hairs), though the writer says this is a big victory for victims of sexual abuse everywhere. (And it certainly doesn't help Trump's chances of returning to the presidency as the "Sex Criminal in Chief.")

• A US Army sergeant who was found guilty of killing a protester at a 2020 Black Lives Matter rally in Austin, Texas, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Now we'll wait to see if inhuman monster/Texas Governor Greg Abbott decides to pardon this murderer.

• After being unceremoniously fired from Fox News for racist behavior, Tucker Carlson announced he'll be launching a show on Twitter (ha-ha-ha-SAD). However, apparently the almost-equally disliked owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, is not exactly giving him a warm welcome and taking a "let's wait and see" attitude.

• And finally... me, telling friends why I can't make it to their party this weekend.