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Good Morning, Portland: Expect some perfectly reasonable summer weather today—perhaps the only thing reasonable we’ll see all day. We’ll have a high of 83-degrees, and tomorrow Portland touches (caresses?) a hottie-randomly-showing-up-at-your -party high of 90, so you may find yourself fucking off for the river. Tell your boss the Mercury says river trips give you a competitive edge. Let’s hit the news!
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• The state continues to investigate nearly 100 complaints from the public, regarding potential procedural missteps and violations in a signature gathering campaign for an upcoming ballot initiative—dubbed “Safer Portland”—that aims to use Portland Clean Energy Funds to hire more police officers. HOWEVER, NOW that Multnomah County Elections is in the process of verifying those signatures nearly half of an initial selected sample failed verification. WHICH LED the people behind the initiative to request the Oregon Secretary of State’s office take over signature verification. SO THEN Secretary of State Tobias Reed issued a blistering letter to Portland Auditor Simone Rede (the Portland Auditor’s Office oversees the city’s Elections Division) saying that “the signature verification process reflects poorly on our state’s entire election system.” DAMN. OKAY. The Auditor’s Office issued a statement expressing surprise and stating that they hadn’t done anything differently than they usually do, writing: “…we are awaiting a call from the Secretary. We look forward to informing him of the facts that dispel Chief Petitioners’ false and politically motivated claims.” To paraphrase: Call a brother before you put them on blast. The Mercury‘s Courtney Vaughn and Jeremiah Hayden have been following who is sternly issuing a statement at whom this week, so you don’t have to.
• Several former school board colleagues of Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards signed an open letter Wednesday announcing their concerns about Brim-Edwards’ readiness to serve in the role of Multnomah County Chair. This really kicks off the historical revilement of any who hold the post. The seven signatories say that the commissioner’s tenure, on Portland Public School board was marked by secrecy, unclear vision, and challenges with collaboration. Another shocking development: Brim-Edwards’ supporters say they disagree. Mercury reporter Jeremiah Hayden has more.
• Oregon Health Authority just wants to put out there that if you were at Legacy GoHealth Urgent Care in Gresham, between 3 pm and 7 pm, on Sunday July 26 you may have been exposed to measles and should double check your immunity status. 😑
• Today in if you didn’t think we were getting a Trump administration nominee you haven’t been paying attention:
• Today in recession indicators: Nordstrom Rack announced it will open 25 new stores between the fall 2026 and early 2027. Nothing in Oregon is on the slate, but two stores will be added in Washington, the Seattle-based retailer’s home state.
• Seven months after the Oregonian reported that the city had nearly 1,900 affordable apartments sitting empty across the city… the number remains essentially unchanged.
IN NATIONAL /INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• NPR reports that the US military says it launched a “heavy wave” of airstrikes in Iran this morning. The New York Times is trying to make sense of the US-Iran cycle of ceasefires and negotiations.
• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed airstrikes in Iraq on Wednesday, claiming retaliation for attacks on Saudi oil facilities by Iran-backed militias in Iraq. This is the kingdom’s first foray into the current US-Iran war.
• Government investigators say that Iranian hackers are likely responsible for dozens of cyberattacks on municipal water systems in Minnesota.
• The New York Times reports that President Trump says he is considering withdrawing Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general. The question in that situation would seem to be… whether Blanche will continue as acting attorney general?
• Today in the government has always been weird, the Justice Department plans to use the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport the 47-year-old mother of a man who (along with his brother-in-law) tried attack US elections, in 2024, on behalf of the Islamic State. NPR reports that Congress created the court in 1996 to make it easier for the Justice Department to use classified evidence to deport people from American soil, but had never actually used the thing. If you are thinking, damn that name sounds like something inspired by Independence Day … that movie was also created in 1996.
• Elon Musk’s legal team settled a lawsuit this week with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), a group of brands that briefly formed the short-lived Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and sought to leverage combined ad revenue to encourage platforms to improve content safeguards around what was happening on their sites. Musk sued WFA in 2024, claiming that the advertisers were violating antitrust laws and that boycotting his site should be criminally prosecuted. In March, a US district court found in favor of the advertisers, ruling that the boycott was legal, so it wasn’t immediately clear why the parties chose to settle. Musk himself commented that GARM’s dissolution will remain his biggest win in the case.
• Now get out there and battle Thursday!
