The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
Good morning, Portland! There's plenty to look forward to. Today, we're in for gorgeous weather today, with a high of 78 and a very gentle breeze. 😎 Tomorrow is a federal holiday, which means a lot of us have the day off, (including this fine newsletter) but don't feel bad if you skip America's birthday bash this year. She's been a real nasty troll.
Grab your iced coffee, matcha, bourbon, or whatever gets you through the morning and scroll with us to catch up on the latest headlines.
In LOCAL NEWS:
• Police have identified the man arrested Tuesday for allegedly shooting and killing another man Tuesday afternoon in a central area of downtown. The suspect, 26-year-old Hassan M. Muse, was arrested just minutes after police arrived on scene. The shooting took place around 3:30 pm near SW 10th and Yamhill–right near the Multnomah County Central Library and roughly a block from Director Park. The central downtown area where the shooting occurred typically sees a fair amount of foot traffic. On Thursday, the Central Library announced it would remain closed until Saturday, July 5, in light of the shooting, which library employees witnessed.
The Portland Police Bureau doesn’t have much info yet. Police say they responded to a report of a shooting and found an injured man who was transported to a hospital, but died. They also found a suspect just minutes later, chased him on foot, and within 10 minutes, they confronted Muse and arrested him near SW 4th and Alder (near Pioneer Place Mall, for those tracking). The victim hasn’t been identified yet.
• A well-known vineyard management company owner in Newberg who was whisked away by ICE agents last month without cause was moved out of Oregon to two different holding facilities without notice to his family or attorneys, according to reporting in Street Roots. The practice is apparently common- the federal agency claims it has no obligation to notify a detainee’s family or legal counsel when a person has been arrested, or even when they get moved to another state, as was the case with Moisés Sotelo, who ICE says has a years-old DUI conviction, despite no records of that in Oregon’s court systems.
Note: a previous version of this newsletter incorrectly identified Sotelo as a winemaker. He owns a vineyard management company called Novo Start. The Mercury regrets the error.
• From our 2025 Queer Guide: Portland dancer Allie Hankins on manipulating her audience and why haunting belongs to lesbians.
Portland dancer Allie Hankins on how she manipulates her audience and why haunting belongs to lesbians.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
[image or embed]
• If you were thinking about cooling off with a movie this weekend, maybe read Dom Sinacola’s hilarious and sobering review of Jurassic World Rebirth before choosing which flick to watch. The movie franchise that started with 1993’s Jurassic Park is still going, unfortunately. And if you came of age in the ‘90s and were hoping for a summer blockbuster that conjured up some warm, fuzzy nostalgia, this ain't it. Instead, it’s an overwrought attempt to keep sucking marrow from a bone. As Sinacola writes: “In the place of discerning taste and nuanced discourse, there is only the knowledge that there will always be another Jurassic movie, another summer blockbuster overrun by more immense and scarier monsters than the last one, motivated by one more fictional rich asshole ignoring history to spit in God’s face, accompanied by one more A-list actor with an eight-figure price attached to their dignity. At the end of my screening for Rebirth, a movie that sucked shit, the audience clapped.”
Up for a cathartic screed about the execrable vestiges of the film industry? Because Mercury critic @sinacolad.bsky.social did not like Jurassic World Rebirth.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 1, 2025 at 4:46 PM
[image or embed]
Here's a brief intention setter before we jump into national news:
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Republican House members have set a self-imposed deadline to approve President Trump's "big beautiful bill," which passed the Senate earlier this week. In an attempt to deliver the bill to Trump's desk for a July 4 signing, the House engaged in its own dramatic, late-night vote, which included phone calls from Trump to Republican holdouts, group prayer sessions on the floor, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson taking photos of the bill's remaining Republican critics. Supporters of the "botched BBL" finally had the votes to begin debate of the bill early Thursday morning.
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries deployed his "magic minute," delivering an hourslong speech to delay the bill. As we write this, he's passed into the seven hour mark. It's not a filibuster; it's a "magic minute." Anyway, this is largely ceremonial—an attempt to deny Trump the pomp of an Independence Day-themed signing.
• Love these exhausted scenes from the Senate's Tuesday vote-a-rama (actually called that?!), captured by your friend and mine, photojournalist Nathan Howard.
• The endless classy behavior from the Trump administration continues with a pause on deliveries of air defense missiles and other weapons that were intended for Ukraine, Associated Press reports. Officials told AP that the "pause" was due to concerns that US stockpiles might be too low. Uh, are we about to missiles someone? Because the Supreme Court has been pretty u go girl and there are no checks other than cheques for the Trump administration.
• New details came to light this week, regarding the treatment of Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia in the El Salvador "megaprison" the government unlawfully sent him to in March. Updates to the lawsuit filed by his family describe beatings, sleep deprivation, and other cruel torture. Abrego Garcia returned to the US last month—under the theater of charging him with federal human smuggling charges—but has remained imprisoned because his own attorneys say they fear he would be immediately deported again.
• Sorry about all this crime'n news. Washington State University grad student Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the crimes he is accused of—stabbing and killing four University of Idaho students after he broke into their home in November 2022. At the time of the murders Kohberger was studying criminal justice, and the killings appeared to have been meticulously planned for months. Kohberger's plea allowed him to bypass a possible death penalty sentence.
• Sean Combs (who performs as/is known as Puff Daddy) received a mixed verdict from a Manhattan jury yesterday. While he has been convicted of two counts of transporting people for prostitution, the jury acquitted Combs of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He remains imprisoned as he awaits sentencing, after a judge denied his bond request. The judge said he hadn't proven that he isn't a danger to any person or the community.
• Today in no fate but what we make, wonderful music wonks turned rockstars Deerhoof announced they are taking their music off Spotify! See Deerhoof live when you can, and at all other times listen to the wind.
• Sending you into the three-day weekend with this warm weather pep talk. "Photoshop is a capitalist lie, like trickle down economics. Ignore both. Your body is tool, not a decoration."
