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Good morning, Portland! The weather today is set to be quite pleasant (low 80s), so enjoy! There are quite a lot of fires burning around the state right now, so we're lucky not to be completely cloaked in smoke. Hopefully that remains true...but also, sending my best to the people who are dealing with scary fires and evacuations right now. 

IN LOCAL NEWS: 

• On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Oregon (our very own state!) would be the recipient of one of 25 federal carbon emissions reduction grants, netting almost $200 million funds to prop up programs like electric vehicle rebates, waste reduction, and residential energy efficiency. This is good, although the programs that the grant will fund aren't exactly ground-breaking, seeing as most of them already exist and will just get some extra funding through this grant. But it's not always about reinventing the wheel. A valid qualm some people have, though, is all the focus on electric cars as the way to decarbonize transportation. Can we get some better train service and more bike lanes? Pretty, pretty please? Maybe at some point. Read more about the grant in the Mercury's story, helpfully linked for you RIGHT HERE. 

• The Portland Pickles (our local collegiate baseball team) has a ten cent beer night?? YUP...but it might not be as crazy as you think. However, it's always fun to go to a Pickles game. We sent writer Corbin Smith out to Walker Stadium to see what's up at ten cent beer night, and he returned with a (very funny) essay for you to read. And if you've never been to a Pickles game, you'll want to read Smith's endorsement of the experience, which he says has some major perks over a big professional sports game. At a Pickles game, "the seats are pretty much all good, the food and beer aren’t priced like they’re made out of endangered rhino glands, and Walker Stadium is a brief MAX ride away at any given time." Read the full essay for a lot more, including a history lesson of a really crazy ten cent beer night in Ohio back in the 1970s. 

• Despite the more moderate weather this week, fire season has gotten off to quite an extreme start in Oregon. 

Never seen 31 "large" fires burning in Oregon at once and I've been doing this for three decades! Why? Extreme heat + hottest July so far for most of state + several rounds of lightning. Hoping for some rain before seasonal easterly wind events arrive west of Cascades in late Aug pic.twitter.com/4vEpCyLKMm

• You might spot some new electric scooters around Portland, courtesy of Biketown (Portland's e-bike share operator, managed by Lyft). These scooters don't seem very different from the Lime ones that are still around, except maybe they have a phone holder, which would be pretty nice. Just don't look at it while you're scooting! Anyway, Biketown's bike and scooter share are both very expensive for members and non-members alike, which will probably get in the way of mass use. 

IN NATIONAl/WORLD NEWS:

• Yesterday, in Milwaukee, Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first stump speech as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. She entered to the song "Freedom" by Beyoncé and was apparently greeted by an excited crowd, energized not only because Harris is a good candidate in her own right, but also because she is NOT Joe Biden, which is a big relief. (Sorry, Joe.) Harris highlighted her campaign's record-breaking fundraising—they've raised $100 million in a little over a day since she announced her candidacy—saying the fundraising is because "we are a people-powered campaign" and indicates a "people-first presidency."

• Meanwhile, it's quite satisfying to watch Donald Trump get nervous that he picked the wrong VP in JD Vance, who is alienating to many voters (somehow in a way Trump himself is not?). Unflattering clips of Vance have been going around social media in recent days, including one in which he described Kamala Harris as a "childless cat lady" who is "miserable" with her life. Not very convincing when every other viral post on social media is a video of Harris laughing hysterically, but okay. 

• WHALE CHAOS ALERT! If you're a dedicated "Good Morning, News!" reader, you'll know about my fixation with whales capsizing boats, which seemed to be happening all the time last summer and fall. And it's happened again, this time off the coast of New Hampshire. No telling what caused this whale's ire (besides the general hubris of man), but no injuries were reported from the incident. It's worth watching this video, especially for the reaction to the whole situation from a kid on a nearby boat: 

• A hydrothermal explosion occurred at Yellowstone National Park yesterday, spewing boiling water, mud, rocks, and steam into the air. To visitors, this was understandably scary, but geologists and National Park staff say the explosion was small. No injuries were reported, but people did grab some pretty cool video of the whole thing. Click the link above to see it and read more about the explosion.

Side note: If you're ever worried about volcano activity at Yellowstone (I've heard quite a few rumors about the "overdue" Supervolcano that will kill us all), you might benefit from reading about Yellowstone on the United States Geological Survey website. The geologists appear very calm about the whole thing and will help bring you down to earth. ("Yellowstone is not overdue for an eruption...If Yellowstone does erupt again, it need not be a large eruption.) 

• Delta Air Lines has been screwing stuff up lately. The airline never really recovered from Friday's global software outage, and is still cancelling and delaying flights. In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation has opened an investigation into Delta, citing "the high volume of customer complaints." USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the investigation is "not just the right thing to do, it's the law." 

"Our department will leverage the full extent of our investigative and enforcement power to ensure the rights of Delta’s passengers are upheld," Buttigieg said. 

I fully support USDOT holding Delta (and other major corporate airlines) accountable, but I must ask...where is this energy for other transportation calamities, like the car crash death epidemic and the fact that Amtrak trains are so damn slow?? Sigh. 

• Finally...here is a video of a puppy getting chased by a bunch of chicks. I'm glad to live in a world where this exists.

 
 
 
 
 
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