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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋
Gird your loins for a hazy, sunny day in Portland with the high reaching 90 degrees! And while you’re “girding” things, might as well gird your loins for today’s NEWS.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Let’s kick off with some good news: A 68-year-old military veteran will stay in his home after previously facing eviction for verrrrry dubious reasons. Dan McLean got an eviction notice at his apartment last week, instructing him to be out in less than five days. But McLean, who lives at a property owned by Home Forward—and is severely visually impaired—didn’t know he’d been served previous eviction papers or that he was behind on rent. He says the housing voucher he receives wasn’t covering his full rent, but no one at The Yards at Union Station apartments bothered to tell him, and he started racking up back rent and fees. To make things worse, court summons were being sent to a mailbox he didn’t have access to. BUT! (And here’s where the good news comes in.) McLean’s neighbors and the tenant union at his apartment complex immediately stepped in to help, as did City Councilor Mitch Green’s office. After sternly-worded letters from the tenant union and Councilor Green, the eviction case was dismissed and the property management company has now agreed to work with the tenant to get him caught up on payments. (Phew! But it’s insane that we need this many people to convince a landlord they’re in the wrong.) Our Courtney Vaughn has the details.
• Mayor Keith Wilson pulled the unusual move yesterday of sending out an email blast asking citizens to donate their time and money to area houseless shelters and support agencies, warning that if the city doesn’t do more to fix our situation, Trump could deploy “bulldozers” and order “mass arrests by masked agents.” When Trump decided to militarize Washington, DC on August 11, he wrongly linked crime and houselessness to justify his authoritarian move. Wilson reasons that if Portlanders volunteer and donate their services, it will “prove the administration’s heavy-handed tactics are not needed in our city.” (I think we all know that Trump will never listen to reason, and that if he sets his beady eyes on our city, he will justify his actions with any lie that pops from his bloated, cracked lips.) Despite the flawed reasoning, Wilson’s plan happily appears to be working, with the city’s houseless support services reporting a substantial uptick in donations. Here’s where you can donate time and help.
• The governors of Oregon, Washington, and California are forming a super team to combat the misinformation being spewed by Robert Kennedy Jr.’s takeover of the CDC, by coming up with their own vaccine and immunization recommendations for their respective states. “The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences,” read the statement signed by Oregon’s Tina Kotek, Washington’s Bob Ferguson and California’s Gavin Newsom. The three say they will pull information from “scientific experts in trusted medical professional organizations,” as opposed to the musings of a brain worm-addled, dead baby bear kidnapper, who swims in sewage contaminated creeks… IN JEANS.
The democratic governors of Oregon, Washington and California are forming a new public health partnership aimed at preserving access to vaccines.
— KUOW Public Radio (@kuow.org) September 3, 2025 at 9:05 AM
• In case you didn’t know, Portland’s high school band directors are workers too, and most in the area are refusing to allow their musicians to play at area sports events until they are fairly compensated for their time. Band nerds already know that their directors spend A LOT of time outside of school hours practicing with their students, performing at parades and pep rallies, and going on road trips to football games… and should be fairly paid for their efforts. The directors have been negotiating with Portland Public Schools for two years, and have little to show for their efforts—hence the walk off (or “march off,” if you prefer).
• Bird lovers are anxiously waiting to see if the Chapman Swifts will return to the famed elementary school’s chimney, where their swooping antics have entertained viewers for years. The worry? While the number of swifts peaked in 2023, when 11,440 of the tiny, acrobatic birds were counted, that number crashed to a mere 1,000 in 2024. Bird watchers noted that, for reasons unknown, the swifts changed their migratory patterns and have been taking up residence across the city—in particular the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral on NE Glisan.
• Aaaaaand here’s your last reminder:
LAST CALL! The Mercury is hiring an additional news reporter to beef up our excellent staff—could that person be YOU or someone you know? Let’s find out! 🔍 Applications are due this Friday!
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) September 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• The aforementioned Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (AKA the brain worm guy, dead bear cub kidnapper, jeans in sewage swimmer, etc) is currently being grilled by lawmakers after throwing the CDC and the nation’s vaccine program into turmoil. Oregon’s own Sen. Ron Wyden has been spitting fire during the hearings, correctly noting that Kennedy has “elevated conspiracy theories, crackpots and grifters,” and is putting America’s children in danger. Kennedy, for his part, is thus far unsuccessfully defending his baffling views on vaccines, and his ridiculous firing of the CDC’s top scientist.
Epstein survivors speak out. www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol…
— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.com) September 2, 2025 at 5:07 PM
• After a federal judge put a stop to Trump’s economy-wrecking tariffs, King Fool is taking the predicted next step: asking his mostly hand-picked Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. If they decide to take the case, the Supremes will be rendering a judgement that could have sweeping, negative ramifications for the nation and world’s economy, and the consumer (that’s you). Trump’s legal team is asking (ordering?) the court to issue a ruling by September 10.
• And the cascade of Trump court losses just keep on cascadin’: A federal judge has reversed King Fool’s evil plan to cut more than $2.6 billion in research funding to Harvard University. The judge noted that Trump’s cuts were obvious retaliation for the school’s refusal to go along with the president’s outrageous demands to change their programs and directives, such as campus protests, academics, and admissions.
You know that boat the administration blew up? A former law enforcement official told the NYT the boat seemed to be carrying not drugs but *’migrants *
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u…— Eric Umansky (@ericumansky.bsky.social) September 3, 2025 at 5:32 PM
• Setting up yet another potential loss for the Trump administration, the city of Washington, DC, is FINALLY suing King Fool for deploying the National Guard and militarizing the city to allegedly help “control crime” that has been on the steady decline for years. (And just in time, because now Trump is musing about sending his federal goon squad into the blue city of New Orleans as well.)
• RIP to famed designer Georgio Armani—the mastermind behind the power suit and the refined, urban silhouette favored by celebs and fashionistas for decades—who has died at the age of 91.
• And finally… LOOK. I know I’m giving free advertising to the Gap, and yet? I cannot stop watching this dance, and that includes anyone or anything that participates in it! LEAVE ME BEEEEEEE!
@jayc_04 collab of the year @KATSEYE @Gap #fypシ #katseye #gap #milkshake #cat ♬ original sound – Gap
