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Good Morning, Portland! Today is predicted to be the hottest day of the week, as temps hit 91 degrees. It will cool down to the low 60s at night, but make a plan if you don’t have access to AC.
Let’s fire up this morning’s news rundown.
In Local News:
• Regina Spektor, the singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the early 2000s indie rock scene, will not tolerate your pleas for starving Palestinians. Last Saturday, the musician didn’t hesitate to ask fans to leave her show at Revolution Hall for calling attention to the genocide in Gaza. After a pro-Palestine protester was escorted out by security for rushing toward the stage, another concertgoer addressed Spektor’s reaction toward the situation from her seat in the front row, reminding the musician “there’s a genocide happening.” Spektor, who has been vocal about her political stance on Israel, asked the woman and her spouse to leave, sparking national media coverage. The Mercury’s Taylor Griggs spoke to the couple who was prompted to leave.
• A 28-year-old man suspected of driving under the influence was arrested Sunday afternoon after he eluded police in a stolen vehicle and then crashed near NW Glisan and 6th Avenue, hitting two pedestrians. According to police, “one of the pedestrians struck had minor injuries. The other pedestrian had serious injuries.” The driver, Amin Noor Mohamed, faces charges of second-degree assault, third-degree assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, DUII (drugs), failure to perform duties of a driver, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, attempt to elude, and other felony charges.
• A new thriller from Japanese writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata), Cloud proposes the suspenseful story of a dropshipper named Yoshi (Masaka Sudi) living out a paranoid existence. Are his angry customers hot on his heels? Is that stranger on the bus an actual threat or just some weird guy standing too close? Kurosawa slowly builds up the tension, then releases it in an absurdly hilarious showdown. Read the Mercury’s full review.
A new thriller from Japanese writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Tokyo Sonata), Cloud contains what is likely cinema’s first action-packed dropshipper showdown.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) July 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM
• Nothing encourages Portlanders more than politely asking them not to do something. That will absolutely be the case with the recent spate of (genius?) graffiti marks around sizable potholes in the city. We love to see it.
But PBOT’s Communications Director said the road paintings should not be a fast-pass to getting the city to address potholes and the bureau doesn’t want this to spark a trend. “Please don’t draw on the potholes,” she said. www.oregonlive.com/portland/202… (2/2)
— The Oregonian (@oregonian.com) July 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
• There are (checks calendar) exactly two days left in this month, which means you have a mere 48 hours to get yourself a slushie cocktail at one of the two dozen participating bars before the Summer of Slushies melts away.
In National/World News:
• Five people were killed Monday evening at a busy corner in Manhattan after a gunman opened fire on four people, including a police officer, before turning the gun on himself. It’s unclear what the shooter’s motives were. The shootings took place at a skyscraper building that houses several offices in Midtown Manhattan.
• Trump’s efforts to yank funding from Planned Parenthood remain stalled, at least for now. Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that the government can’t block Medicaid reimbursement to Planned Parenthood. The legal fight arose amid the Trump administration’s attempt to defund the organization using his recent tax legislation, the Associated Press reports. “A provision in Trump’s tax bill instructed the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that also offer medical services like contraception, pregnancy tests and STD testing.”
The official White House account of the United States being used to promote the opening of Trump’s new golf course on day 5 of his golfing vacation.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 3:30 AM
• Pittsburgh-based punk band Anti-Flag’s former frontman was ordered to pay nearly $2 million to a plaintiff who accused him of raping her in 2010, after he never responded to the woman’s lawsuit or showed up in court. Justin Cathal Geever, known professionally as “Justin Sane” was named in a lawsuit in 2023. When he skipped his trial, the judge granted a default judgement against Geever. Anti-Flag broke up in 2023, around the same time as the lawsuit and as other women came forward and alleged they were sexually abused by Geever.
• Artificial intelligence is not your BFF, so don’t go telling ChatGPT your biggest secrets, or asking it how to cover up a crime. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, says anything you tell or ask ChatGPT can be used as evidence in court. On a recent podcast, Altman said there’s no legal confidentiality built in to AI software. “Right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor… there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality,” the CEO said. “And we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.” What’s more, a recent court case involving OpenAI proved that even if you ask chat software to delete your chat history, it could still be preserved by a court order.
Make friends with nature, not bots.
@verycoldnoodle #birding #birdtok #birdsoftiktok #funny #sillybaby #ilovehim #boston ♬ frutiger aero – amirthetrash
