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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Hmmmm... you look hungry. Oh, I know what you'd love... a plate of delicious, creative NACHOS, right? Well lucky you, the Mercury's annual NACHO WEEK starts today! Some of the best restaurants in town are putting their creative spin on nachos, and you can get a whole damn plate of them for only 8 damn bucks each and all damn week long! And now here's some NEWS, damn it!

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Let's kick off with some GOOD NEWS! On Friday a federal judge in Oregon ruled that the voter-approved Measure 114 (which is one of the toughest firearms laws in the country) does NOT violate the US Constitution as some gun nuts seem to imagine, rightly saying the measure's restrictions "are consistent with this Nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety.” The law stands as written. 🎉

• In somewhat less great news, as we reported last week, Portland City Council is meeting on Tuesday morning for a work session in which they plan to undo major components of the charter reform that Portlanders voted for by a large majority. This is not entirely surprising, since they've expressed their distaste for the reforms since day one, but now they seem solely focused on spreading disinformation and will be asking voters to "re-vote" against it. If you're thinking, "Well... that's bullshit!"—you're right. There's going to be a rally tomorrow morning in front of City Hall to hopefully convince council to stop this corrupt sabotage. 

• Portland City Auditor Simone Rede announced the topics her office will be looking very intently at over the next year, which includes the Arts Tax, homeless services, gun violence prevention, and climate justice initiatives. Their intention is to take a hard look at the subjects that will directly affect the largest number of Portlanders, and our Courtney Vaughn has the details!

• Look out, the nurses at OHSU are preparing for a possible strike, saying the hospitals have failed to address chronic staffing issues among other issues. And since they are currently working on an expired contract and its been six months since negotiations began... well, a strike is indeed very possible. Abe Asher has more on the story.

• Anybody missing a cougar?

• While hot as balls, yesterday's Portland Pride Parade was wicked fun and is a great reminder about how life could be every day... if certain people just minded their own goddamn business. 

• While the day may start off cloudy, the sun will return this afternoon bringing today's temperature to 79, and then slowly creep up to 92 degrees by Thursday. 

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• A bridge to Crimea used to transport critical supplies for the Russian military has been bombed and is unusable—and according to the Washington Post, Ukraine is claiming responsibility.

• Dangerously high temperatures are expected to hang tight in the Gulf Coast and Southeast, racking up a month of temps over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Not the headline I wanted to read today: "Elton John testifies for the defense in Kevin Spacey's sexual assault trial."

• For those who despise tennis star Novak Djokovic (🙋‍♂️) get ready to celebrate: Carlos Alcaraz beat this smirking jerk in the Wimbledon's men's final, denying Djokovic his fifth consecutive title. HA. HA. HAAAAAAAAAAA.

• And finally, that reminds me... time to take a vacation.