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Good morning, Portland! We’re back to more typical summer weather today with overcast skies, a high of 87 degrees, and a chance of rain later tonight. Now, onto the news!
In local news:
• The kids aren’t okay: 16.1 percent of Oregon youth reported experiencing anxiety and depression in 2020, a 40 percent increase since 2016, according to a new wellness report. That’s more than the 26 percent increase in children reporting mental health issues nationally. The U.S Office of the Surgeon General is calling the increase a “mental health pandemic.” Overall, the report ranked Oregon 26th in children’s wellness.
• TriMet is ramping up its efforts to fill empty transit police positions, citing an increase in drug use on the transit system and other TriMet violations. A TriMet spokesperson told the Mercury that a more highly visible presences of security personnel “helps put riders at ease”—a position rider advocates and a TriMet operator dispute.
Staff at Multnomah County jails may have released the personal information of hundreds of incarcerated people. https://t.co/YLXMLhOFiK
— OPB (@OPB) August 9, 2022
• Oregon software company Puppet was purchased by a Perforce Software, a larger company based out of Minnesota, in May. Last week, the new owner started laying off 15 percent of company staff—approximately 75 workers. Perforce said it’s laying people off to “balance operational efficiencies with continued innovation and position the company for continued growth.”
• The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s office has identified at least one person who is suspected to have died due to the heat Sunday, August 7, in Portland. The week-long heat wave in July is suspected to have killed seven people in Portland.
BREAKING: A car crashed into the FedEx Office building off SE 96nd and Washington, across the street from Mall 205. No word yet on injuries. Portland police tell KGW no charges are pending against the driver. pic.twitter.com/wf8oHbWpNB
— KGW News (@KGWNews) August 8, 2022
In national news:
• FBI agents raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Logo estate Monday in search of documents that Trump took from the White House, according to Trump. The FBI raid is an unprecedented escalation in the investigation into the former president’s removal of presidential documents from the Oval Office. According to the Washington Post, some of the documents recovered in the raid were so strictly classified that only a handful of government officials were able to view them.
• A worsening drought in Nevada has lowered the water levels in Lake Mead, leading to the discovery of four sets of human remains in the lake since May. None of the remains have been identified and are of varying vintage—one set of remains is believed to be from a homicide in the 1970s or 1980s. Lake Mead is at its lowest water level since 1937 due to a climate change-caused drought.
An Alabama town temporarily disbanded its entire police department after an officer sent a racist message.https://t.co/sJcAOWLzn6
— NPR (@NPR) August 9, 2022
• One in five Americans with serious illnesses in the past year had trouble accessing care during the pandemic, according to a new poll from NPR and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The poll had similar results as other studies, which found significant delays in cancer screenings, mental health care, and other routine doctor appointments due to restrictions placed on medical facilities during COVID surges.
• Serena Williams announced that she will retire from tennis after the 2022 US Open at the end of August. Williams, known as one of the greatest athletes of all time, said she is moving on to other business ventures, like dedicating more time in her venture capital firm that heavily invests in women-owned and POC-owned companies.
• SPEAK ON IT:
Portland has a lot of great qualities but having readable, visible, existing street signs is not one of them.
— Lizzy Acker (@lizzzyacker) August 8, 2022
