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Good Morning, Portland! It’s gorgeous out! Here’s hoping you have some time to enjoy the sun and see some friends this long weekend if you’re fortunate to have the extra day off. If you go out, don’t forget to tip your bartenders and baristas. Your long weekend is their long work week.
Let’s see what’s in the news. 📰
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Election headlines this morning: “Local newspaper sided with centrist Dem candidates in Oregon — and seem to have lost.” On Tuesday, about an hour after the Oregon secretary of state’s office dropped its first round of votes, the Oregonian commenced dancing on the graves of Oregon Senate Dem primary candidate Myrna Muños, and Oregon House Dem primary candidates Tammy Carpenter and John Wasielewski—aka “Waz.” By Friday, the O was dancing to a different tune because counties, like they do in every election, counted all the votes and it turned out, “Grassroots organizing beat establishment Democrats.” That’s good news for “far-left” voters (read: voters for candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America), like people who don’t like data centers, want to fund public schools and healthcare for everyone, support public transit and the environment, and yes, abolish ICE. Vote tallies show Muños and Carpenter have won their races, while Wasielewski lost in Lake Oswego. We’ll see how this plays out in November. Dems have six months to choreograph some winning moves (if they want it).
• As of this morning, the statewide gas tax measure has lost by a 66-point margin. But OPB reports that despite the crushing defeat for the new tax at the state level, voters actually passed every measure for new local taxes to fund roads, and funded libraries, schools, and fire or other emergency services. “Across the state, Oregon voters weighed 66 local tax measures in the May 19 primary election,” according to OPB. “Forty-two of them appear to be passing.” The trusty nonprofit media org did a deep dive into how local tax measures faired on the most recent ballot, and the data shows people don’t totally mind paying taxes for social benefits if they think the services will be delivered well. Read more on the story here.
• It’s an extra long weekend for desk job squares (hello, comrade!), which means there are not one, not two, but three nights to go see some things around town. If you need some inspiration, our music editor Nolan Parker has you covered in this week’s Mercury Music Picks. Tonight, Melody’s Echo Chamber—whose new EP is “a beguilingly stripped-back album by an artist intimately familiar with texture”—plays at Revolution Hall. Saturday at the Showdown we have a covers night of 90s country hit, including Sam Girl as Shania Twain, William Surly as Tim McGraw, and Mawlee Jones as Garth Brooks. Sunday—otherwise known as Saturday (dance remix)—heavy (but kinda dancy?) Houston band Juicbox plays High Limit Room. It’s a four-band bill with Juicbox, Wasted Life, Verdant Force, and Child Labor.
• Sending love the Goodies in Old Town, hoping for the best in its “next evolution.” ♥️
• Further, the Mercury‘s Do This, Do That column is out for other recommendations this week, including a sketch comedy show The Aces at Siren Theater tonight, the Dodgeball western regionals at the Expo Center and a community skateboarding block party for the nonprofit Push Movement on Saturday, and Stars on Ice at the Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.
IN NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is upgrading its risk assessment of the Ebola outbreak in Congo to “high,” which is good news for people who like (content warning) fevers, sore throats, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding with a 50% average chance of survival. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that there are some 750 suspected cases in Congo, with 177 suspected deaths. The outbreak comes just months after Elon Musk, at the direction of the Trump administration, “accidentally canceled” funding for Ebola prevention programs through USAID before later restoring them. “This funding freeze led some [USAID-funded] partner organizations doing the surveillance and tracking work to cut staff, or cease operations entirely,” the Josh Michaud of the nonpartisan health policy organization KFF told Newsweek.
• Stephen Colbert’s run at the Late Show has come to an end. The final show on Thursday featured celebrity guests like Paul McCartney, Paul Rudd, Ryan Reynolds, and Bryan Cranston. CBS canceled the quite popular show after President Donald Trump got mad about Colbert repeatedly criticizing him for be an easy-to-criticize wombat (no offense to the wombat). It’s the latest in a string of Trump sycophant’s hostile takeover of the media, but Colbert has already moved on to TikTok, which is also owned by Trump sycophant Larry Ellison. Anyway, welcome to the Late Show with Hologram Joseph Goebbels! Read more about the final show and context of Colbert’s departure, here.
• On Thursday, House Republicans canceled a vote on a war powers resolution which would restrict Trump’s military operations in Iran. Republicans were reportedly concerned that if they took a vote on the resolution forcing Trump to remove forces from Iran. The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, not the president, and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 says Congress must authorize military actions at the 60-day mark of a conflict. Cancelation of the vote comes as Russia is threatening Latvia and other states in the Baltic region, something US Secretary of State and wedding DJ (derogatory) Marco Rubio worries could “spark into something bigger.” NATO and US relations are strained as the US threatens to pull more troops from Europe, and around and around we go. The real worry, obviously, is that local “far-left” candidates will effectively deliver health care and public school funding while opposing the centrist worldview that keeps losing to these fools on policy.
• See you around!
