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Good morning, Portland! Get ready for another glorious, mild, sunny day with a high of 72 and a low of 51.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Curious what happened in yesterday’s primary election? Fear not, beloved reader. The Mercury Election Strike Force tracked the results, which, for the most part were unremarkable except for just a couple of races. Most notably, Oregon voters resoundingly rejected a transportation measure that would’ve raised the gas tax by about 6 cents and increased vehicle registration fees to bring in badly needed transportation system revenue. In the race between Adrian Brown and Peter Klym for a Multnomah County Circuit Court position—the only judicial race to see an incumbent challenged—it appears DA Nathan Vasquez emerged the winner. Brown, who became embroiled in a conflict with DA Nathan Vasquez that effectively prevented her from presiding over certain serious cases, got a slew of bad press leading up to the election. She then got an unexpected political challenger at the last minute (Klym) and failed to meet the deadline to get her information in the voters pamphlet (many candidates don’t bother with a voters pamphlet statement if they’re running uncontested). Also worth noting: In the race for the democratic gubernatorial nominee, write-in candidates got more votes than any of Kotek’s challengers. Be honest, how many of you wrote in “Pencil” for governor??
• The Portland Police Association (the union that represents Portland’s rank-and-file officers) has a bone to pick with the city’s budding Community Board for Police Accountability. The PPA is alleging a city councilor “interfered” in the police oversight board’s independent judgement, running afoul of city charter. According to a complaint filed with the city’s administrators, Councilor Sameer Kanal, who previously worked for the city as a project manager for the Police Accountability Commission before he got elected, allegedly interfered with the Police Accountability Board by showing up and giving a presentation after being invited by the board members. Kanal also offered to use part of his office budget to help the CBPA hire staff. The union and its president say he went too far. Worth noting: the PPA has been pushing back on Portland’s voter-approved, independent police oversight system since its inception.
• In other news, the city is in the process of trying to pass a budget that accounts for a $160 million general fund gap. This week, Portland city councilors are dissecting Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed budget with a heavy hand. Councilors put forward a bevy of budget amendments that could impact core city services. If budget documents make your eyes glaze over, consider checking out the handy, diligent work of Jeremiah Hayden and Taylor Griggs, who provided a live play-by-play of budget talks Tuesday and are back at it today.
• The Portland Trail Blazers, under new (notoriously penny-pinching) ownership, have reportedly laid off a sizable chunk of the team’s employees, “including roughly a quarter of the team’s business staff,” The Oregonian reports.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• As my colleague mentioned in Monday’s morning newsletter, Donald Trump is offering to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, but for reasons far more dark and nefarious than the incident that led to Trump’s lawsuit in the first place. For context, Trump sued the IRS after an independent contractor working for the government agency leaked his tax documents. The agency settled with the president by agreeing not to investigate him or any of his family members (we’re way past the smell test, guys) and agreed to set up a $1.8 billion legal settlement fund—but not for him. The account would be a slush fund for his political allies—including those who were arrested for storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021—to seek reparations for “weaponization” of the Justice Department against them. We now know a little more about that fund, and it’s even more nauseating. According to the Washington Post, “Trump won’t get the money, but he will have ultimate authority over appointing a five-member panel deciding how much to dole out and to whom, and there is no requirement this information be released to the public.” It’s getting warmer out there. Might be time for some peach-mint ice tea.
• The US Senate is angling to block Trump from carrying out any more strikes in Iran with a war powers resolution that marked the eighth time the governing branch has tried to pass war powers legislation. The resolution would force Trump to end the war in Iran unless he receives approval from Congress to take further military action. The Guardian reports the resolution got a boost from Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary race after Trump endorsed his opponent.
• RIP to trailblazing LGBTQ former Rep. Barney Frank, who has died at the age of 86. Among his near-endless list of accomplishments, Frank stuck it to Wall Street crooks by overhauling financial regulations, supported abortion rights and employment anti-discrimination measures, and pushed for the repeal of homophobic “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies in the military. Pour one out for a real one.
• Here’s something to chew on: is artificial intelligence reducing human intelligence? New studies into the cognitive effects of relying on chatbots show exactly what we should expect: Using bots to do the thinking for us makes it easier to not have to think. Recent research found that “when people spent just 10 or so minutes using AI to help them solve math or reading-comprehension problems, their own unaided performance on the same types of problems diminished.” No shit.
I leave you with a few hump day hot takes from the legendary John Waters.
