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Good morning, Portland! After yesterday's unseasonable heat, you might be pleased to hear it's supposed to be in the 60s and rainy today. Well, at least, *I* was pleased to hear it. So there. Anyway, how about some news??

IN LOCAL NEWS: 

• Two years ago, Portland adopted a three-year plan of action to make good on the city's 2020 climate emergency declaration. The plan has 47 action items to reduce emissions citywide, but according to a recent progress report on the work plan, only two of those goals have been achieved. Six or so goals are on track to be completed by the end of next year (though what "completed" means is a bit up in the air in this work plan). Most of the actions, many of which are quite general, won't be completed for the foreseeable future, though city staff say they will continue to work on them. 

Although critics recognize the scale of addressing the climate crisis (and the fact that it's not really possible to achieve 47 big, often-vague climate actions in three years, especially not with Portland's current bureaucratic structure), they still think the city could've set better, more specific goals from the outset. And considering the escalating climate emergency we're all facing (reminder: it was 90 degrees yesterday), it's pretty critical that the city gets it together on this. Read more about the city's lagging climate action right HERE. 

• A new policy will go into effect at the Oregon Labor Bureau beginning next week, denying workers earning more than $52,710 the opportunity to file wage claims with the state. The agency made the decision to "triage" their caseload with an earnings threshold because it's understaffed and can't handle all the complaints it receives. But the new policy is seemingly unlikely to significantly improve employee bandwidth at the agency, and it will disenfranchise middle class workers from getting help from the state if their employer acts up. While it is extremely important for workers earning minimum wage to get prompt assistance if they're being incorrectly compensated, it seems to me that it shouldn't be an either/or situation. Hopefully they can get it together. 

• The Oregonian's Zane Sparling truly nailed the lede of this story about (potentially illness-inducing) unlicensed food vendors in Ridgefield, Washington, and I just had to draw attention to it. Here in Portland, unlicensed hot dog vendors have started to spring up outside sports and music venues, too, and while I am inclined to defend them against the joyless bootlickers who want to shut them down, I suppose I understand the concerns about questionable street meat from health officials. At the same time, these vendors are probably excellent home cooks, and I got food poisoning once from a VERY MUCH LICENSED food truck hawking chocolate covered bananas. So you can really never be safe. Now that I've reached the end of this paragraph, I want to say that I actually don't really have an opinion on this matter but I did really want to share Sparling's punny lede sentence with you all. 

• Portland restaurant L'Orange, which our Andrea Damewood wrote a glowing review about back in February, made it on the New York Times' list of 50 top restaurants in the US! We love to see it, folks. The Thai Chinese restaurant Yaowarat also made it on the list, providing the Montavilla neighborhood representation in the NYT that we all needed. 

In National/World News: 

• The state of Missouri, with the support of the US Supreme Court, executed Marcellus Williams last night for a 1998 murder he very well may not have committed. Despite a national pressure campaign to get Williams off death row, due to the many questions about his guilt even from the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney, the Supreme Court rejected a last-minute request to delay his execution. Even the family of murder victim Felicia Gayle gave their blessing to have Williams' sentence commuted to life in prison instead of lethal injection, but their wishes were denied. 

Williams maintained his innocence in the case, and the supposed evidence originally used to condemn him to death was later shown to have major problems. According to Williams' attorneys, DNA experts determined he was not the source of DNA on the knife used to kill Gayle. But even with this much room for reasonable doubt—which should prevent a person from being put to death—Williams didn't get another chance for justice. 

• As Israel continues its bombing campaign of southern Lebanon, killing hundreds of people, thousands of people in the country have been forced to flee without knowing where to turn. Yesterday, Hezbollah confirmed that the Israeli military killed senior leader Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, amplifying tensions that have Lebanese civilians scared for their lives. Israeli airstrikes are also continuing in Gaza, where many people in refugee camps were injured yesterday by Israeli bombs, and some killed. Meanwhile, Turkey's President joined the growing group of people around the world calling Israel's war in Gaza a genocide, telling world leaders at the U.S. General Assembly to impose sanctions on the country for its disregard of human rights in Gaza. 

• A little bit of levity for you: Fat Bear Week will start at Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve next week. Are you ready to vote on your favorite chunky bear preparing for hibernation?? Last year, the contest drew more than a million votes, presumably from fat bear lovers all over the world (not that many people live in Alaska). I highly recommend checking out the bears in this year's contest. (The Fat Bear Jr. contest is also worth checking out...look at those chubby babies!!)

• Finally...you ever feel like an armadillo on a hamster wheel? Hopefully you get somewhere on this fine Wednesday. TTYL!

 
 
 
 
 
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