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Good Morning, Portland! There's a new Kid Cudi pump-up hum holding my whole emotion (I only have one) together. What is it about this artist's rhythmic buzzing; it's like the secret glue of the universe. Also worth notice: In "New Worry," Chip Tha Rapper rhymes "complain" with "twankly chain." Fuck. Yes. Let's the hit THE NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• It's so unthinkable to lose a life partner in a car collision completely out of your control. Even more unthinkable that the collision was caused—according to a new federal lawsuit—by a speeding police chase targeting a robbery suspect... and it wasn't even the person police were looking for. Even the light details of this Oregonian story are so sad.

• Earlier this week, we learned that over 1,000 names had been erroneously added to the state's voter rolls since 2021, and it appeared that ten of those improperly-registered people subsequently voted. The Secretary of State has attributed the errors to clerical mistakes at the DMV, and today Oregon election officials assured the voting public that—although 1,000 votes could certainly make a big difference in some elections—the ten votes cast (at least one appears to have become a US citizen by the time their ballot was counted) didn't influence any state race during that time.

• This story is also sad, but the conversation around it is really spinning out in the multifaceted ways that can only happen online.

• In this week's edition of Pop Quiz PDX, there's a mystery going down: The case of "The Missing Cat, Bird, and Political Ethics from Leaders Who Should Really Know Better!"

• Also this week: A lot of exciting music news in our Hear in Portland column:

• MUSIC MUSIC (COMEDY)—a lot of hot ticket sales are dropping this morning, like Charlie Berens at Rev Hall and Sun Ra Arkestra Live at the Hollywood Theatre!

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• By the time Hurricane Helene hit the gulf of Florida last night, it was ranked at a category 4. The massive storm is now covering much of the Southeastern US, including areas as far inland as the mountains of Appalachia. At this time, 14 people have died from situations related to the storm, but those numbers may rise in the coming days, especially as officials have tried to spread the word that "the leading cause of death from hurricanes is water, not wind."

• Actress Dame Maggie Smith died today, in London. She was 89. Younger audiences will remember Smith as the transfiguration teacher Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films; the more film-literate may be drawn to revisit her performances in A Room with a View and The Honey Pot, but it was her role as Dowager Countess Violet Crawley on Downton Abbey that put her in the ever-uncomfortable public eye, according to this New York Times obituary.

• Close friend of the publication, Sam Elliott, has lent his husky, teller-of-hard-truths tones to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign. In the new Lincoln Project ad, he urges manly men to man-up and vote for a woman—dropping a "fucking" and "hell" along the way. Scandalous.

• New York's Mayor Eric Adams arrived to be arraigned this morning, on charges of bribery, conspiracy, fraud, among others.

• Countering the rising falsehood-filled anti-immigrant narratives of former US president Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, NPR reporters dug into the economy-buffeting relationship between business owners and immigrants in Dayton, Ohio. Even if you aren't vibing with the sentiments etched upon the Statue of Liberty, Dayton HR manager Beth Casella says that setting up an English class for employees is "not altruism; it's just good business."

• Haha, you had me at Leggy Tyrannosaur.

• Summer's only over when we stop shotgunning iced lattes!

 
 
 
 
 
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