The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good morning, Portland! We're set have another lovely week of summer weather. Here are the headlines. 

In Local News:

  • Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Portlanders overwhelmingly voted to approve the creation of a new police oversight board with the power to investigate and discipline police officers. Now, with a proposal for the structure of the new board set to come before City Council at the end of the month, members of council are already whining and signaling that they might try to change parts of it. 

  • A new cluster of far right groups has attempted to harass and disrupt Pride celebrations in smaller, more conservative cities throughout the Northwest this summer — underscoring the threats that LGBTQ+ community members are facing in their day-to-day lives even in states like Oregon that have strong legal protections in place for LGBTQ+ residents. 
  • Drivers can now pump their own gasoline across Oregon, with Tina Kotek signing a bill legalizing self-serve gas into law on Friday. Gas stations are still legally required to staff at least half of their pumps, but it remains to be seen whether they will — and how many workers at gas stations will lose their jobs as a result of the new law.  

  • The group Friends of Portland Street Response submitted a petition signed by 11,000 Portlanders asking the city to fully fund and support Street Response as budget constraints and other political machinations threaten the program's future. Courtney Vaughn has the story. 

In National/World News:

  • The US women's national team ended a rather dismal showing at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with a penalty shootout loss to Sweden on Sunday morning. Former University of Portland star Megan Rapinoe missed her attempt in the decisive shootout in her final World Cup match. 

  • In other upsetting sports news, the Pac-12 is finished as a major college athletics conference with Oregon and Washington's decision to join USC and UCLA and defect to the Big Ten. The athletic future is bleak for universities like Oregon State that have been left behind, while the prize for Oregon athletes will be a slew of trips to places like State College, Pennsylvania and College Park, Maryland. But hey, as long as TV executives are making money...
  • Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, not exactly known as a progressive firebrand, is calling on President Joe Biden to stop the "racists" in the Israeli government from annexing the Palestinian West Bank. Van Hollen is also calling on the U.S. to set conditions for military aid to Israel. 

  • States in the Sun Belt have experienced record-breaking heat all summer long — leaving older people who retired to the region for its warm weather, particularly vulnerable. 
  • Finally... here's a little Lionel Messi magic to kick off your Monday morning.