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Good Morning, Portland! Can you stop your dog from doing a big bork? I know you can't. Here's the news!

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Oregon Department of Transportation is up for a major federal grant to expand and cover areas of the interstate that run through Portland’s Rose Quarter. But they're hearing opposition from environmental and transportation advocates. Mercury reporter Taylor Griggs lays out why.

• 4,000 pounds of sewage rocked a playground in South Portland yesterday, and it's currently closed while the school cleans the site. There's not a ton of info yet, but Environmental Services took the opportunity to remind people not to flush wet wipes.... but, like... is that what did this?

• There are other way to go country than listening to the new Macklemore... though, by all means, you should do that too. At FairWell Festival's second year in Deschutes County music critic Ben Salmon found a laud-worthy line-up of headliner jams and new country, folk, psych-rock acts worth a listen. 

• The 2024 summer Olympics kick off this weekend in Paris, France, arriving with plenty of goofy coverage of poop in the Siene etc. Despite that, if hearing about Paris has you in mood for parfaits, EverOut's Julianne Bell put together a list of Portland-area bistros and boulangeries for your ease and snackjoyment.

• Also for your perusal: There's plenty of tickets dropping this morning for shows in the area. Make sure to have Criminal's November date at Rev Hall and Haley Heynderickx's pair of October shows at Aladdin Theater on your radar.

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Ahead of tonight's opening festivities at the 2024 summer Olympics, a number of targeted arson attacks have disrupted three of France's high speed rail train lines. The New York Times reports Eurostar plans to cancel 25 percent of its trains through Sunday. People are going to be late. So far, no groups have claimed responsibility, nor have there been any reported injures associated with presumed attacks.

• There's a certain beauty to news outlets that just want to confirm facts before they put them out in the world. For instance: We were able to observe Donald Trump's ear bleeding at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13. However, the absence of an official report—medical records, et al.—from either the federal gvernment or Trump's campaign is now bringing headlines like "Speculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet" into the world. 

• Another great title, NASA scientists are calling a rock, found by the Perseverance rover, “Most Likely to Contain Fossilized Microbial Martians.” 

• The tumultuous DC visit from Israel's Prime Minister continues as Benjamin Netanyahu met with Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden separately yesterday, after delivering an address to congress Wednesday. Harris later told reporters that she affirmed her support for Israel's right to defend itself from terrorism, and the US' continued work to free remaining hostages of the Oct 7 attacks, but also declared that “far too many innocent civilians” have been casualties of Israel's invasion of Gaza. "What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating..." she said. "We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies, we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”

• You can go around hating jam-band-musers Dave Matthews Band—but you should honestly respect their live performance skills. Here's the group's eponymous singer again being hella respectable:

• As Democrats continue to fall over one another to support Harris' candidacy for president, everyone was patiently waiting on word from Barack and Michelle Obama. But, of course they did. It's just a roll out, folks.

• On this episode of Planet Money's Summer School:

 
 
 
 
 
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