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Good Morning, Portland! It looks like we have a sunny weekend ahead of us with temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s. Enjoy! Let’s get to the news. 📰
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Pressure continues to mount over recent complaints alleging the “Safer Portland” initiative—which would move 25 percent of new funding from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to hire sworn police officers—may have systemically misled Portlanders to get them to sign the petition. The Oregonian on Thursday covered a new complaint that includes video evidence of signature gatherers failing to follow state laws around ballot initiatives. While there appears to be some controversy over how the videos were obtained, and whether or not the workers knew they were being filmed, the O points out that plenty of other evidence was submitted as well. For another angle on this story (also covered by the Mercury earlier this week) check out the O‘s story here.
• The Portland-based nonprofit Innovation Law Lab is suing the federal government over its failure to provide public records regarding plans for detention facilities in Oregon. Isa Peña, the director of strategy at Innovation Law Lab, said the government had ignored its requests, but said community members “deserve to know what’s being planned in our own backyards.” The filing came after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appeared poised to open an overnight detention facility in Newport, Oregon last year. While the state technically has no official overnight detention centers, the lawsuit says there may be plans to build across the state, and the people should know about it. The lawsuit comes as immigration enforcement and intimidation actions are surging in many US states. Much more to this story in the Statesman Journal.
• Oral arguments begin this morning in Pasadena, California in two cases before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Both cases have gone back and forth in court, trying to determine when federal agents can use crowd control weapons at the Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. One case was brought by protestors who argue that using chemical weapons on a citizenry violated the First Amendment to the US Constitution, and another brought by a neighboring affordable housing building argues that tear gas seeping into their building violated civil liberties like trying to go to sleep or eat dinner at their home without being tear gassed by their government. OPB has a breakdown of the oral arguments, which are set to begin at 10 am today.
• Metro President Juan Carlos González on Thursday called to abolish ICE. After viewing a video of a speech from the son of Houstonian Lorenzo Salgado Araujo—who was killed by ICE agents while driving to work on July 7 (more below)—Gonzalez said he refuses to normalize the federal government’s raids and murders of immigrants. He also had a word for fellow elected officials: “Every Democrat that voted to support the billions of dollars that went to ICE should be ashamed of themselves,” González said. He ended his video saying he doesn’t want to see them in his city or state, and “we need to abolish ICE.”
• The local advocacy group Rip City, Not Rip Off yesterday published new information found through public records, revealing elected officials’ process that could ultimately send hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to renovate the Moda Center. The thread is worth a read for anyone curious about how the city, county, and state got to where they are in the negotiations. For more context, check out this clear-headed story from the Mercury‘s Courtney Vaughn, “Moneyball: The Moda Center Controversy Explained,” online here or in print now all around the city.
IN NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• This morning, DHS, which oversees ICE, said the man agents shot in Houston on Tuesday was not the intended target, according to the BBC. Agents shot Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo around 7 am on July 7 as he was on his way to work at a construction site. Officials initially said Araujo had “attempted to evade arrest” and rammed their vehicle, but that story is falling apart as more video evidence becomes available, as is common with DHS’ boilerplate narratives. Meanwhile, the four Houston-based US congress members are speaking out amid protests and vigils held in the city, by issuing a letter demanding an immediate, independent investigation. Last year, when federal agents killed US citizens and legal observers Renee Good and Alex Pretti, it sparked mass protests across the country. It remains to be seen if the murder of an undocumented immigrant who made the US his home for 30 years, will spark similar protests.
• Earlier this week, police in London arrested an 84-year-old, retired Anglican priest after she and others invited officers to join the banned direct action network Palestine Action. The group was arrested for violating the Terrorism Act, which could carry up to 14 years in prison. Sunday was the one-year anniversary of Palestine Action being denounced in the UK, and protestors have been speaking out. Demonstrators also gathered outside Edinburgh, Scotland’s high court this week, arguing that speaking out against the genocide of the Palestinian people is not, in fact, terrorism.
• President Donald Trump on Thursday evening fired the last of the commissioners on the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a federal independent body that assists election officials in elections and help Americans vote. It should be clear that state and local governments run elections, not the federal government, but the services the EAC provides can help through grant funding for certification and election security. So-called opponents of Trump, like Senate Minority Leader (and decidedly not the leader of Antifa) Chuck Schumer called it a “brazen attempt to seize control,” in his vow to fight Trump’s move. What Schumer will actually do remains to be seen. More in the Guardian, here.
• Have a good weekend, everyone. Here are a few recommendations, in case you need them. See you next week!
