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Good morning, Portland! After days of wretched heat, it's finally set to cool down today...if the mid-80s can be considered "cool." I have my eyes on fall weather, but this is more tolerable than we've experienced in recent days.
Anyway, let's get to the news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) quietly started work on the first phase of its I-5 Rose Quarter project earlier this week. After nearly a decade of preparation for this very moment, it's notable that there was no ribbon-cutting or groundbreaking ceremony for the event. That's probably because ODOT leaders read the room, and the room is a little wary of the state transportation department spending tens of millions of dollars to begin a freeway megaproject while Oregon experiences a massive transportation funding crisis. To be clear, ODOT has only started on a small portion of the Rose Quarter project, set to cost about $75 million and consisting of some kinda boring maintenance work. But the agency wants to complete the project in its entirety, including expanding the freeway and adding caps to reconnect the Albina neighborhood, and that's going to run the state more than $2 billion. State lawmakers are set to return to Salem on Friday for a special legislative session focused on transportation funding (since they didn't pass one during the regular session). While the legislators are unlikely to make any decisions directly pertaining to the Rose Quarter project during the special session, the mood at the Capitol may be indicative of what we can expect in larger negotiations down the line. Stay tuned.
• Former (failed) Oregon representative and current US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is selling her fellow Oregonians out for the possibility of approval from her god Donald Trump. At a cabinet meeting this week, Chavez-DeRemer thanked Trump for "what [he's] doing with [his] agents on ICE" and asked him to "come to Portland, Oregon, and crack down." Chavez-DeRemer, who apparently believes Trump is the "transformational president of the American worker" (because she doesn't actually care about American workers), faced immediate backlash for her request. She doesn't have the authority to command a "crack down" in Portland—and she's from Happy Valley, BTW—but her words could indicate "local support" for deploying the National Guard in our city, against the wishes of everyone who actually lives and governs here. Bad job, Lori, as always.
It’s bad enough to flatter the boss as a requirement for employment. But it’s even worse to sell out your fellow Oregonians along the way.
— Senator Ron Wyden (@wyden.senate.gov) August 26, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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• The Portland Book Festival is coming up in November, and festival host Literary Arts has just released the list of authors who will be in attendance. The Mercury has compiled a list of authors we're excited to see at the fest to help you get hyped and prepare for the event. Among them: Omar El Akkad, the author of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, beloved and prolific writer Susan Orlean, and local legends Lidia Yuknavitch and Jon Raymond. Find out more here.
• And check out the Mercury's music picks of the week, which include Ural Thomas & the Pain and Laura Gibson at Topaz Farms, Bright Eyes at Grand Lodge, and a Fred Cole Birthday Celebration with Toody Cole/Los Hackals/The Reverberations at the Crystal Ballroom.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• A mass shooter at a Minneapolis Catholic school has killed at least two children and injured dozens in a horrific shooting this morning. News from this event is just coming out as I write this, so few details are currently available, but the shooting has apparently been contained and no longer poses an active threat to Minneapolis residents. The children who survived the shooting, and the families of those who did not, will bear the scars of our murderous country and society forever.
• On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order telling the Justice Department to start prosecuting people for burning the American flag, saying those who burn the flag "incite riots at levels we've never seen before." Um, ok, Mr. Insurrection. The Supreme Court has previously ruled—multiple times—that flag burning is protected speech. But will they say something different if asked to weigh in again now? Anything's possible in the kangaroo court. Regardless, this is another frightening overreach from the executive branch, symbolizing our country's rapid descent into authoritarianism. Nobody's going to save us but ourselves.
• In more redistricting news, the Utah Legislature has been ordered to redraw its congressional map to ensure districts don't favor any party—which may give Democrats another seat in the (relatively, compared to the rest of Utah) liberal bastion of Salt Lake City. The new map is supposed to come into play for the 2026 midterms, but Republican appeals could delay adoption until 2028. Still, it's a tiny piece of good news amid everything else.
• More good news from a red state, whose residents seem to be distancing themselves from Trump's Republican Party:
NEW RESULT: Democrats have flipped a state Senate in Iowa.
This was a seat Trump carried by 11%, but Democratic nominee Catherine Drey has just won it by 10.4%.
This is the second legislative flip by Dems in Iowa this year. It also means the GOP loses its supermajority in Iowa’s senate.
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) August 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. 'Nuff said.
