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Good Morning, Portland! It may not mean nothing to y'all, but near-90 is too hot for me. I guess I'll try to write at the mall? Portland, what the hell. Let's hit the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Speaking of hell, if you liked the sound of our review last week about toilet humor, hell, and redemption, you've still got a couple chances to see Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble's Aw, Hell in the masterfully air-conditioned Reed College Performing Arts Building.
• Also air-conditioned: Cinema 21, where Sorry, Baby opens this weekend. Check out our review!
• On Thursday, a jury found former Portland-area reporter Mike Bivins guilty of charges that included arson, criminal mischief, and "bias crime" (AKA hate crime). Bivins rose to notoriety in 2017, as a videographer who would record Patriot Prayer brawls downtown on his smartphone. He climbed around roided-out jackasses like they were jungle gyms, and made it look pretty cool—(I have always objected to the practice of making jackasses look cool). Did that have anything to do with his decline? I'm not a doctor; I'm just letting you know where you know this dude from. According to the Oregonian, evidence presented at the trial showed Bivins "began trafficking in racial and religious hatred" in 2019. In 2022, he smashed windows at Portland synagogues and a Black-owned restaurant before attempting to set a Muslim community center on fire severa;l days later. Interesting note: "The flames fizzled out on their own due to the building’s fire-resistant siding, leaving worshippers inside unaware of the attack until the next day, when the scorch marks were discovered by chance." Bivins was so annoyed that his crimes weren't being reported that he told a KPTV reporter about it and KPTV alerted the police.
• Well-known Portland activist Michael O’Callaghan died on June 18 after he was hit by a MAX train while attempting to cross the tracks at Southeast Division and 8th Avenue on his bike. Many will remember him for his homeless advocacy, which included a mayoral run in 2024. The Mercury's Taylor Griggs remembers O’Callaghan in this touching obituary, ahead of a memorial bike ride in his honor this evening and a potluck over the weekend.
• On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the release of an asylum seeker from Mexico—referred to as Y-Z-L-H—who was arrested in the hallway of Portland Immigration Court on June 5. US District Judge Michael H. Simon wrote that "the government provided no reason – 'let alone a ‘rational basis for its decision’ ' — to terminate the 24-year-old’s temporary status," and also quoted from a 1947 US Supreme Court ruling where Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote: “In a democracy, power implies responsibility. The greater the power that defies law the less tolerant can this Court be of defiance.”
• Oregon US Sen. Ron Wyden has invited the Trump administration's border czar Tom Homan "to take part in the senator’s next Multnomah County public town hall." Yes queen, get him with your understated and knowledgable speech.
• Despite rumors to the contrary, Sen. Jeff Merkely will run for reelection in 2026.
• Hi, this is cute and cool, despite it being about cars. Portland Community College Auto Collision Repair Program student Jackie Nguyen was one of 40 students to be awarded a "distinguished Legends Scholarship by the Women’s Industry Network." A release from the school describes Nguyen as "a kinesthetic learner with a fascination for JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) vehicles inspired by “Initial D” and the “Fast & Furious” series." The scholarship will provide her with "financial assistance and high-value tool kits" to support her schooling and career.
• Have you ever walked by the Electronic Dance Music spot on SW 1st downtown and wondered about all the bass coming out of it? That's Barn Radio, a "werk-in-progress multidisciplinary space and platform for electronic music" founded by Cole Johnson. Local writer Kendall Porter wrote up this glowing recommendation that tells us a little more about the space and intention behind it.
• Eventually we'll find out that this is related to the recession, or our now-even-more-unreliable government, but the Bureau of Land Management of Oregon and Washington says there have been fewer wildfires this year—I'll TAKE IT.
• Expect that to show up soon on Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey's Pop Quiz PDX. This week he got down into Oregon's local MONSTERS and MASCOTS!
• It's Friday morning and concert tickets are about to drop! EverOut put together a list of shows you should know about and others that like... people with other music tastes will want to know about.
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Did Donald Trump break up with Russia's President Vladimir Putin this week? When it suits him and only until it no longer suits him.
Trump finally calls "bullshit" on Putin. But is this a real breakup? "The risk here is in the wishful thinking that Trump has done something other than recognize the embarrassing reality that Putin is not prepared to end the war," writes @sbg1.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt.bsky.social) July 11, 2025 at 4:28 AM
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• Related to the extremely changeable and moody President Trump, or the moment, the US has resumed sending offensive support to Ukraine.
• DOGE is looking to make cuts to "government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the United States." That seems REALLY UNPOPULAR. But we also passed a threshold several years back where the US had more World of Warcraft players than farmers so...
• Globally-beloved pygmy hippo Moo Deng turned ONE year old on July 10, but I figured you would want to know.
Since it's Moo Deng's 1st birthday, and we're still not over how cute she was as a baby, please join us as we do a deep dive on the wonders that are pygmy hippos. 🧵⬇️
— Encyclopaedia Britannica (@britannica.com) July 10, 2025 at 3:40 PM
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• Boomers commence loosing your goddamn minds, 83-year-old Beatles frontman Paul McCartney announced he will embark on a 19-date North American tour this fall.
• And now I'll send y'all into the weekend with some ACTUAL FOOTAGE of me swooping in to help where I'm not needed and wasn't even asked:
