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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! 👋

Get ready for another sunny, warm week with highs topping out at 88 today, and touching or exceeding 90 through Friday! Hmmm.... this sounds like the perfect week to dive into the Mercury's SUMMER OF SLUSHIES, featuring $8 frosty, boozy cocktails from the city's best barkeeps, and even better? It lasts all damn month long! And now, here's some NEWS that will roughly last seven damn minutes long.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• If you're like me, you've been wondering "What's up with all the new big music venues being planned for Portland... and should I hate one of them?" If so, do not miss this report from our Suzette Smith on the new big music venue that's being proposed for the Lloyd Center as well as that one being planned by Live Nation/Ticketmaster over in the Central Eastside. It's super interesting and has all the info you need to know! 

• More Oregon suspected heat-related deaths are being reported by officials following that gnarly 100+ degree heatwave—a direct result of climate change—that struck early last week. While each of these cases are still being investigated, the death count is reported to have hit 16. Our Courtney Vaughn has more.

• Ever wonder where our Portland houseless neighbors go when their camps are swept by authorities? Many are choosing to camp in more remote areas near our state's rivers, which according to homeless advocates and researchers, are leading to environmental hazards and fires, while also pushing the campers into areas where it's very difficult to access services or get help if needed. As usual, this poor result stems from cruel city policies that push people from place to place rather than investing in fixing Oregon's housing shortage crisis.

• Speaking of river things, yesterday marked the annual Portland Bridge Swim, in which 100 swimmers hopped into the Willamette and swam ll miles all the way to the St. Johns Bridge, crossing underneath 12 bridges in total. (This is a good reminder to check out our Taylor Griggs' excellent article about how ceaseless work from activists helped revive the Willamette the swimmable recreational area it was 100 years ago.)

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Police and the FBI are still looking into the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday by a 20-year-old registered Republican by the name of Thomas Matthew Crooks. After firing the AR-15 purchased by his father, Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers, but not before killing one rally-goer and injuring two others. The investigation is still ongoing, and there are many questions that need to be answered, for example, how a would-be assassin was able to position himself on a nearby roof only 400 feet away from the former president. President Biden addressed the nation last night to remind everyone that political violence (the kind that President Trump encourages on a regular basis) is bad. Interestingly, the botched assassination may have helped Biden in that his detractors in the Democratic party have at least for now ceased their calls for the president to step aside. It also inspired this headline: "Sunday services paint Trump as God’s chosen one." (Stop this world, I would like to get off.)

• Best analysis of this situation I've seen yet:

• Trump’s classified documents case dismissed by Trump-appointed judge: In news that shouldn't surprise anyone, Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the classified documents indictment against Donald Trump—in which he took classified documents after leaving the White House and attempted to hide them from investigators. Cannon ruled that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed, and while this reasoning is shaky as fuck and will certainly be appealed, it's amazing what a criminal can accomplish and get away with when one owns their own judge.

• As if this news day couldn't get any worse, the Republican National Convention gets underway today. And to mark this ignominious occasion, Trump is expected to announce his pick for vice president today, who insiders believe will be either Sen. J.D. Vance 🤮, Sen. Marco Rubio 🤮, or North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (who I admittedly don't know a lot about, but I assume he's 🤮). 

• Rest in peace, queen:

• In good news for people who hate Novak Djokovic: Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz defeated the detestable Novak Djokovic for the second year in a row to take Wimbledon, handily beating him 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 to win his fourth Grand Slam title. (I do not like Novak Djokovic, and so today I will take my joy wherever I can get it.)

• And finally... I have never been so jealous of another being in my life.