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. Today is set to be the nicest day of the week, weather-wise, and possibly the nicest day for quite a long time. In other words, it's going to be in the low 70s with clouds in the sky. If you're mad at me for thinking a cloudy day constitutes nice weather, fear not. It's going to be sunny and hot for the foreseeable future. 

(One silver lining of July: Slushies. I know, I know, the slushies available during the Summer of Slushies used to cost less than $10. But honestly, it's still a good deal. Sometimes, a slushy at a bar costs, like, $12. Or even $15! Plus, you're supporting local businesses and local journalism by drinking frozen alcoholic beverages. Your support in this regard helps us keep our website nice and clean and not completely filled with ads.) 

Okay. Time for the news.

IN LOCAL NEWS: 

• President Trump's "border czar" (scare quotes to indicate my lack of respect for him and his position) and right-wing extremist Tom Homan said the administration will be "doubling down, tripling down" on immigration enforcement in sanctuary cities—and he specifically mentioned Portland as a city he plans to target. Portlanders, like people across the US, have rightfully come out strong against the unmasked vigilantes who call themselves ICE and their current crusade to round up anyone at their discretion, imprisoning or deporting them without due process. Homan said anti-ICE protesters are "bullying" and engaging in "hurtful rhetoric," and said he was personally going to come to Portland to "do the job." Whether he's really going to come out here personally or not, his sentiment is clear: He wants us scared. Well, many people are scared. But for those who don't want to see an American Gestapo, fear isn't a deterrent—it's a call to action. 

• Hundreds of layoffs are underway at Intel, which is among Oregon's largest private employers and a load-bearing company for the state's economy. The company plans to lay off more than 500 employees from its Oregon campus, and that may be only the beginning of the cuts. As Oregon state economist Carl Riccadonna put it, “this is obviously not good news for the state of Oregon and certainly not for the workforce in Oregon." It's not good news for Intel and its mission either, but I don't really know what a "chip" is and at this point I'm too afraid to ask, so I can't speak to the broader implications of that. 

• Last year, Deg, one of the victims of the 2022 Normandale Park shooting, died after living for more than two years paralyzed from a gunshot wound to the neck. In a moving opinion piece for the Mercury, Pete Forsyth offers reflections on the Normandale shooting and the Portland Police Bureau's response to it. 

Guest opinion: "Three years after the Normandale Park shooting, I have the uneasy feeling that my city has moved on, failing to absorb important lessons about its most expensive bureau."

[image or embed]

— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 8, 2025 at 6:07 PM

• The trial of Mike Bivins, a former local freelance reporter who allegedly committed antisemitic, Islamophobic, and racist hate crimes in 2022, began today in Multnomah County. Bivins faces 11 charges, including first-degree arson and criminal mischief and second-degree bias crime. Prosecutors say Bivins drew antisemitic graffiti at Congregation Beth Israel and set fire to the Muslim Community Center of Portland, among other similar crimes, during a weeklong spree in the spring of 2022. The case is particularly notable because Bivins used to be a well-regarded source for news about right-wing extremism. His alleged crimes troubled many people who knew and worked with him. Obviously, they were also deeply troubling to members of the communities targeted by the attacks. 

Mercury Music Picks pulling up quick with all the best concerts happening this week in the Portland area! MMP's got you covered with hardcore, ambient, folk, and electronic music this and every week 😎

• Be sure to check out the Mercury's music picks this week (and every week!):

Scoot on down to the link below for all the juicy details 🔗

[image or embed]

— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 8, 2025 at 11:58 AM

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• The Supreme Court has done something good! Just kidding. Yesterday, the court decided to rule against a lower court order that blocked President Trump's executive orders laying off hundreds of thousands of government employees. In other words, the Supreme Court said Trump could go ahead with the mass layoffs of the civil servants who keep this country functioning. News articles on the subject include the caveat that the order is just "for now," as the issue could return to the court at a later date. To me, that just makes them seem even more spineless and morally bankrupt. The court's recent decisions make the justices' frightening allegiance to President Trump very clear. 

• The IRS will now allow churches to endorse political candidates without risking their tax-exempt status. That's right—churches were technically not supposed to do this in the past, though they definitely got away with pushing the boundaries of that particular policy. So...we were already a Christian nationalist state. But now it's even more official. 

• The Trump administration is trying to take credit for a "new" TSA policy that passengers can keep their shoes on while they move through airport security. I will not to let this administration have anything, so let me just say that PDX has BEEN letting people keep their shoes on. I will say that if this rule is uniformly followed, that'll be cool. But as everyone who has been to more than one airport in the United States knows, TSA agents like to fuck with people. Do I need to take my laptop out of my bag or not??? That is a question that has a million different answers, but one thing's for sure—whatever the response, the TSA agent WILL be mad at you for asking it. 

• SMH. (There's more I could say about the situation outlined below, but I'll leave it at that for now.) 

 

The governor and top emergency official in Texas are both members of a council advising the Trump administration on options for eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

[image or embed]

— NPR (@npr.org) July 9, 2025 at 5:11 AM

 

• WELL, then. At that, I bid you adieu. Don't be like Linda Yaccarino. 

 

[image or embed]

— Gillian Branstetter (@gbbranstetter.bsky.social) July 9, 2025 at 8:25 AM

 

• I guess I'll actually leave you with this—some good news, for real. As a Portlander, the sun is my on-again, off-again lover. (I'm currently tired of her.) But I love to see this.

 

Among all the big bad things happening on our planet, there's one Big Good Thing, the sudden, startling rise of solar energy. 
It changes the power dynamic, in every sense of the word 'power.'
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

[image or embed]

— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben.bsky.social) July 9, 2025 at 6:36 AM