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Good morning, Portland! Your future’s looking so bright, you’re gonna need shades! 😎Today, we can expect sunshine and a high of 79 degrees. Thursday could be even hotter, with a high of 81, but we could get some reprieve Friday, as temps dip into the low 60s, with possible rain.
That’s what’s up with the atmosphere. Here’s what’s up with the current state of affairs:
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Nine people are missing and one is dead after a chemical explosion at a paper mill in Longview, Washington Tuesday morning. The deadly incident happened early Tuesday at the Nippon Dynaware Kraft paper pulp factory; it injured and hospitalized 10 people, including one firefighter. Authorities said a damaged tank at the mill that was thought to contain 80,000 gallons of white liquor–a chemical solution used to turn wood chips into pulp–actually contained 900,000 gallons. The man who died Tuesday when the tank ruptured was later identified as Gilbert Bernal. Bernal’s son also works at the plant.
• A proposal to let the private US Tennis Association take the reins of Portland’s public tennis courts, including the city’s cherished tennis center, has gained momentum. The plan, which could go into place by the end of this year, comes amid a broader push for Portland’s parks bureau to open its doors to offers from the private sector. Responses to the proposal have been mixed. While some local tennis players are excited, hoping a private benefactor would bring some upgrades to the facility, others fear handing the tennis center over to a private organization would limit access to what is currently an affordable, inclusive space. Describing his feelings about the potential USTA deal, one local tennis advocate said: “No doubt that the city could make money selling off the Rose Garden to 1-800-FLOWERS, allowing Barnes & Noble to take over the library, and handing off the water bureau to Dasani, but that doesn’t make it a good idea for people who live here.” Taylor Griggs has more on the potential transition.
• Jesse Calhoun, the man suspected of killing multiple women in the Portland area in 2023, was indicted for the death of a fifth woman, 22-year-old Ashley Real. Real’s body was found in a pond in Eagle Creek–an unincorporated area north of Estacada in Clackamas County. Real reported Calhoun to police in November 2022 for strangling and assaulting her. She went missing in March 2023 and her body was found in April of that year. Calhoun has already been charged in the deaths of four other women—Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Kristin Smith, 22, JoAnna Speaks, 32; and Bridget Webster, 31.
• Portland Timbers head coach Phil Neville is leaving the club, and the official word is that he and Timbers management mutually agreed to part ways. So what went wrong? Abe Asher has the blunt analysis of Neville’s bumpy two-and-a-half year tenure in this report.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• The Trump administration has mass-deleted press releases and other public-facing news about the January 6, 2021 rioters from government websites. The Department of Justice has acknowledged the move, noting the government sector is “stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda” and reversing the agency’s “weaponization” under the Biden administration. The move comes as Trump is trying to set up a $1.8 billion legal aid fund that would be used to compensate those who were convicted as part of the January 6 Capitol Riots, and anyone else who feels they were persecuted by the Biden administration. Who’s gonna tell ‘em about the Wayback Machine, or remind them that multiple news organizations, including NPR, covered and documented indictments, guilty verdicts and other factual events related to the insurrection?
• After the same guy touting beef fat and raw milk while working out in jeans (seriously, WTF?!) cut resources to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency is now getting a wake up call amid the spread of Ebola. ABC reports the CDC “sent an ‘urgent request’ to its workforce to recruit personnel to help screen passengers coming from Central Africa for any potential signs of Ebola illness.” The CDC temporarily barred non-US citizen travelers who spent time in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, or Uganda in the previous 21 days and has now limited their entry to specific airports where they can be screened. CDC staff of various titles, pay grades and backgrounds are now being recruited to work as screeners at designated airports. International aid groups are warning that the new Ebola variant is spreading faster than health care workers in Central Africa can contain it, and many don’t have the proper personal protective equipment to wear while coming into contact with patients.
• The US Department of Education is re-classifying nursing degrees to exclude them from the professional degree category. The change could limit how much nursing students can borrow for graduate school, and negatively impact the healthcare industry by limiting those who can earn advanced nursing degrees. The American Nurses Association is sounding the alarm, and urging the Education Department to reverse course, noting that in many rural areas, nurses are the only health care providers.
• A tourist in Hawaii who was caught on video chucking a large rock at the head of a monk seal is scheduled to appear in court today on charges related to the incident. An attorney for Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, the man from Washington state who threw the rock, says his client has been threatened, doxed and assaulted since the video circulated nationally. Lytvynchuk’s attorney said his client mistook the endangered monk seal for a sea lion and was trying to chase it off from harming sea turtles. The rock narrowly missed the seal’s head. Prosecutors claim the man, after being confronted, said he didn’t care and was “rich enough to pay the fines.” The man is scheduled to appear in federal court in Honolulu today on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.
That’s it for today’s rundown. If anyone needs me, press 1.
