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Good morning, Portland! And prepare for a couple rough weather days. There’s a heat advisory in effect from today at noon until tomorrow night, with highs expected to hit the low 90s today and near 100 degrees tomorrow. HOWEVER…the concurrent wildfire smoke will probably be more obvious than the heat. The air quality took a serious nosedive yesterday afternoon and is expected to stay quite poor through at least Wednesday. This is what summer is like now.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• So, about those smoky skies. More than two million acres have burned in Oregon wildfires so far this year, and it’s only August. It is likely the state will set a new record for acres burned this year, breaking the previous record set in 2024. With much of the state experiencing critical fire danger, more fires could spread. The Grasshopper Fire near Mt. Hood remains uncontained, and has now spread to burn across more than 32,000 acres. It’s a very dangerous situation across the state.
• The Thorns and the Fire, Portland’s women’s soccer and basketball teams, recently announced they were partnering with a company called Treasure AI for some reason. (The official, vague reason the Fire gave: providing a new way to “build stronger connections with every fan.”) Obviously, Portlanders were mad. (There’s no official data on the Venn diagram between AI haters and fans of women’s sports, but I’m willing to guess there’s a major overlap there. Because they’re smart.) Many are concerned about privacy issues and how the company is going to use customer data. Find out more about the situation here.
• Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield is, once again, at the forefront of a lawsuit against Trump’s tariffs. Oregon, along with 24 other states, is suing in International Trade Court, slamming the Trump administration’s latest legal rationale for introducing 10-12% tariffs on goods from most major trading partners. Rayfield has led two additional lawsuits against Trump’s tariffs, and one proved successful in the Supreme Court earlier this year. But the president’s horrible tariff idea is constantly coming back from the dead in different forms, despite the fact that it’s extremely politically toxic. Thanks, AG Rayfield, for keeping things in check.
• Oops! (Thanks, investigative journalists.)
• The Mercury‘s Do This, Do That has returned, of course, and we’ve got some great event suggestions for you this week (hopefully the wildfire smoke will alleviate a bit so you can get out and enjoy them). On this week’s roster: a production of Bimbo Tennis in the park (it’s a Chekhov adaptation about pickleball), the PDX Pop Now! festival, and the Lloyd Center’s last day. Find out more here.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• The horrible stomach bug (officially called cyclosporiasis) currently running rampant around the United States has officially turned deadly. Two people in Michigan have died as a result of the illness, with the state’s health department saying that “both individuals had significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration.” Cyclosporiasis isn’t usually fatal (which I say to soothe those with health anxiety in the audience, not to diminish the fact that two people did die after contracting it), but it always sucks. And while diarrhea-causing illnesses may spread under any presidential administration, let’s not forget that Trump and Heath Secretary RFK Jr.’s negligent decisions bear some of the burden here.
• Speaking of RFK Jr., the health secretary finally changed his message about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which he’d previously come out against and spread misinformation about. The US is seeing a huge spike in measles cases—more in the last two years than in the rest of the 21st century combined. This year, there have been more than 2,300 cases confirmed. The illness can leave people with lifelong impacts or even kill them. But it’s not like Kennedy came to the light on his own—his statement about the MMR vaccine came after a tough line of questioning from a CNN reporter, and was essentially pulled out of him. It doesn’t mean much considering all the dangerous misinformation he’s amplified over the years, and especially from his extremely influential current position as US health secretary.
• A reminder not to get scammed by food labels:
• Today is another big day for primary elections, with voters in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia, and Washington all heading to the polls. The most high-profile national race to watch is probably in Michigan, where progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is running against moderate Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the Democratic Senate race. Polls show El-Sayed with a significant lead over Stevens, who has been heavily criticized for her pro-Israel stance that has earned her the support of AIPAC. Another noteworthy race is playing out in Missouri, where former progressive Rep. Cori Bush is back, trying to oust Rep. Wesley Bell, who successfully beat her in the 2024 primaries. Bell has also received substantial support from AIPAC, which is something voters aren’t super into anymore. We’ll see how it plays out.
• Speaking of issues impacting primary elections this year:
• Finally, look at this crazy dog! Stay safe out there, y’all. Happy Tuesday.
