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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! 👋

Get ready, Portland: As you bathe in the comfortable temperatures of today (partially cloudy with a high of 76), I encourage you to dream of the Mercury's BURGER WEEK which kicks off this coming Monday and runs through Sunday, August 25! Picture all 88 (!!) of those delicious burgers from the city's best restaurants cascading into your mouth like a meat (and vegan/veg, too!) waterfall. And they're only $8 each (whoop whoop)! Now allow this NEWS to cascade into your hungry brain.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Tough news for those candidates who peddle in FEAR-based politics: According to a survey from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, violent crimes were down across the nation for the first half of 2024 over last year—and yep, that includes Portland. Shootings across the city plummeted from 116 per month as of last summer down to 76, and the homicide rate amongst Black people (who are disproportionately affected) fell 38% in the past year. While obviously still not great, it's a marked, hopeful improvement.

• Travelers were very pleased indeed by the refurbished main terminal of the Portland International Airport which was unveiled yesterday, a feat four years in the making... with even more to come. Highlights include a gorgeous (see today's main photo) nine-acre timber roof, oak floors, interior trees and gardens, and expanding the area to help travelers move more efficiently. The next big reveal is scheduled for this December.

• If you read the previous two paragraphs, then I'd say you're well on your way to scoring big on this week's super fun POP QUIZ PDX! This week you'll also be answering sassy ass questions about stolen Olympic medals, curious Portland carpets, and (in our subjective question) where you think Trump should be eternally banished to! 😈 See how well YOU score!

• In regards to the thorny problem of what to do with downtown's seismically-challenged Keller Auditorium performance center, Portland City Council is kicking the can down the road, telling the two groups with competing plans (PSU and the Halprin Landscape Conservancy) to put their heads together and try to come up with a single plan by October. Mayor Wheeler says if the two groups cannot come to agreement, he'll encourage council to pick only one of the plans.

• Lovers of the indie-folk band Blind Pilot... rejoice! For eight long years, frontman Israel Nebeker suffered a dreadful case of writer's block, before finally returning and creating the band's newest album, In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain, which comes out this Friday. How did he reverse his lyrical blockage? Ben Salmon explains in this interesting profile/preview!

• Today in "Florida Man" news (with a local angle!): "Florida man rescued from Devils Churn on Oregon coast; one of few ‘ever pulled out of here alive.’"

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Vice presidential candidates Tim "Ballz to the" Walz and J.D. "Sofa Enthusiast" Vance have agreed to a debate on October 1 on the CBS network. There was initially some question early in the week whether Vance would take up the challenge, weirdly telling Fox News, “We’re not going to walk into a fake news media garbage debate. We’re going to do a real debate.” Okay, weirdo.

• Disgraced former president (and felon convicted on 34 counts of criminal conduct) Donald Trump is asking the New York judge who oversaw his case to delay his sentencing until after the election. (This, of course, is a baldfaced attempt to get into office and then pardon himself so he doesn't have to pay for his many crimes. Oh, what a president he'll be!)

• More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military, according to the country's Health Ministry, though experts agree that is probably an undercount. They also agree that the majority of the dead are women and children. Is this a good time to remind you that yesterday the US agreed to sell $20 billion in weapons and military aircraft to Israel?

• At least one person has been arrested in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry, a victim of an accidental ketamine overdose, and according to prosecutors, more arrests are on the way.

• RIP to the great Gina Rowlands, brilliant star of A Woman Under the Influence as well as The Notebook, who has died at the age of 94.

• And finally... okay. I'm sorry, but this baby is an asshole.