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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! First of all, welcome to JULY! After a few morning clouds, you can expect sunny skies for the rest of the week with a high of 79 today and catapulting to 97 (!) by Saturday. Sounds like a perfect week to dive into the Mercury's SUMMER OF SLUSHIES, featuring $8 frosty, boozy cocktails from the city's best barkeeps, starting today and lasting all damn month! And now allow me to serve up some boozy NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• ICYMI, the Supreme Court has too many conservative assholes. And last week they dealt a harsh blow to houseless people, allowing cities on the West Coast lots more latitude in criminalizing homelessness. Lucky for us (and unlucky for cruel politicians like Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, who is cuddling up with Justices Alito, Kavanaugh, and Thomas on the subject), a 2021 Oregon law prevents homeless policies from being excessively punitive or unreasonable. Find out what this all means for Portland and the rest of the state in this great, informative article from our Courtney Vaughn.

• Reminder that July 4th is this week... and even a bigger reminder that FIREWORKS ARE ILLEGAL in Portland, and—if you're the kind of thoughtless jerk who uses them despite the harm caused to the environment, pets, people, and (maybe even) your fingers—if caught you could be fined and arrested. (The city is always crying about how it needs more money... sounds like fining firework-shootin' ding-dongs could be just the ticket.)

• Good news for those toying with the idea of transitioning from driving to biking: Thanks to a Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits plan designed to provide incentives for electric bike purchases, thousands more Portlanders could join the e-bike revolution in the next five years! Our Taylor Griggs has all the details, including some stern words for our current PBOT leadership, in her latest, very excellent STREET VIEW column!

• More good news... especially for those who like swimming: This weekend, hundreds of people in North Portland celebrated the opening of a new dock in Cathedral Park (willed into existence by the Human Access Project), which will now provide easy access for swimmers, paddlers, and anyone who wants to enjoy the Willamette River.  The new floating dock is similar to the nice one in Sellwood, and replaces the old, decrepit wooden dock which led to the formation of gross algae blooms.

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Back to the Supreme Court, which has been making TERRIBLE decisions as of late, and today is no different: The Justices have issued a major ruling on the question of Trump's immunity, saying that while presidents do have absolute immunity for official acts while they hold the office—such as some of those being examined in his election interference case—they do not enjoy this same protection for unofficial acts. This means that while the case revolving around his January 6 actions to overthrow the government can go forward, it will probably not go to trial before the coming election... and raises doubts on whether or not he can be convicted at all. (Not that a conviction would've swayed his cult followers anyway—as we all know by now.)

• In other news of the Supremes: The cases of tech companies vs. Republican-led states like Florida and Texas over social media content moderation have been wiped away by the justices and sent back down to the lower courts, which the Supremes say did not properly consider the free speech issues in either of the cases. (That's good news for the tech companies who had been accused of limited the free speech of GOP a-holes who wantonly spread dangerous disinformation.)

• Following President Biden's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad debate day, his family is meeting with him at Camp David and are reportedly telling him to stay in the fight and continue his run for reelection. (For all those screaming for him to be replaced, please remember the only sure-fire person who could defeat Trump—Taylor Swift—is not running.)

• Hurricane Beryl—an "extremely dangerous" Category Four storm, and possibly the strongest on record with winds hitting 150 mph—is closing in on the Caribbean islands, and while the odds of Beryl making its way into the Gulf of Mexico are low, it's still possible.

• And finally... here's your Monday vibe.