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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Good news: It’s going to be in the mid-to-low 80s today—so, practically the North Pole compared to Wednesday’s ungodly heat. Even better news? It might rain on Monday, which we desperately need as Oregon enters the season of peak wildfire risk.
Now, let’s get to the other good (and not so good) news of the day.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• SILENCE, HATERS. Portland is literally sooo back. We have never been more back. And we owe it all to the Portland paladin, the Rose City royal, the Stumptown superstar, Bridge City’s beau idéal: Damian Lillard himself. That’s right, Dame is coming back to the Blazers, folks! After two years with the Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard is set to return to Portland. Starry-eyed Portlanders don’t even care that Dame is currently recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and might not even be able to play basketball for another year. Just get him back here, and we’ll figure out the rest.
I don’t really care if Dame being back on the Blazers makes a ton of sense. It is just rad in an emotional sense, and thus, in my view, very good. [bangs gavel]
— Dan Devine (@yourmandevine.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The news comes at an interesting time for the Portland Trail Blazers. When the team went up for sale a couple months ago, many fans feared an out-of-towner would want to buy the franchise and move it somewhere else. Earlier this week, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league wants the Blazers to stay in Portland, but indicated there’s some talk about the team needing a new stadium??? The Moda Center may be old, but the city of Portland (which purchased the arena last year) is working on a plan to renovate it. I implore the National Basketball Association to let the Blazers stay in Portland’s Rose Quarter. Hopefully, Dame’s return is a sign of more good things to come for our beloved Portland Trail Blazers.
• Portland Councilor Dan Ryan recently hired Andy Chandler, a controversial local media personality, to work on his team. According to Ryan’s team, Chandler started work on Monday, and stopped work yesterday after Ryan’s office discovered his “past expressions of personal views…that are not in alignment with [their] office values.” It’s unclear which “personal views” were deemed unacceptable to Ryan and his team. Chandler hosts a podcast, NW Fresh, where he has hosted many questionable guests, including right-wing agitator Andy Ngo. In recent months, Chandler has spent a lot of time publicly railing against the left flank of Portland City Council, which I’m sure made him an awkward colleague in City Hall. Interestingly enough, Dan Ryan and Ryan’s Chief of Staff Kezia Wanner have both been guests on NW Fresh. Given their familiarity with him and the podcast, it’s unclear why Chandler’s personal views would’ve been a mystery until this point. Either way, his time in City Hall was brief. Oops!
• There’s a new wildfire in Clackamas County, near Timothy Lake on Mount Hood. As of yesterday afternoon, people in the area (including hikers in the remote area) were issued Level 3 evacuation orders, and firefighters were scooping water from the lake in an attempt to suppress the fire.
• A new Italian/Jewish deli is set to open in Southeast Portland, headed by the chef at the well-regarded Ava Gene’s. Dream Deli, which has a spot on SE Division near Ava Gene’s, will offer your standard Jewish deli fare, like pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, as well as some more novel dishes (perhaps a hybrid of Italian wedding and matzo ball soup?). The owners, Jessie Levine and John Bissell, hope to open up this fall. When they do, it’ll be a step in the right direction for a city that has lost two amazing Jewish delis in the past couple years. Here’s to Dream Deli filling the void!
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Ummm…so, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein? There’s a lot going on there, and more seems to be dropping every day. Yesterday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump wrote an extremely weird and creepy letter to Epstein in 2003, as part of a book of birthday letters to the New York financier/sex offender. The letter details an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, with the text placed inside a sketch of a naked woman. In it, Trump says “there’s more to life than having everything,” and explains both he and Epstein know what that “more” is but neither will say it. Trump goes on to tell Epstein they “have certain things in common,” calls him a “pal,” and, after wishing him happy birthday, offers this final line: “May every day be another wonderful secret.” Uhhhhh, what?
Immediately after the WSJ published the article, Trump went on the defensive, claiming the letter was a “scam” and threatening to sue the newspaper and its owner, Fox News’ very own Rupert Murdoch. (I guess the horrendous state of global media conglomerates can sometimes work out in funny ways.) The prez subsequently posted that he has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to unseal “all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subsequent to Court approval.” It’s unclear if any new information will actually be released, however, or if Trump even told Bondi to do anything new.
While the letter is obviously very disturbing and strange, it is encouraging to see the Trump haze finally snapping in some people. It’s unclear if it will last, but I think it would serve Democrats well to keep talking about it indefinitely. LIKE THIS (thank you, Oregon’s own Ron Wyden):
New bombshell from my investigators on Epstein’s sex trafficking operation: the Trump administration has an Epstein file detailing 4,725 wire transfers and almost $1.1 billion flowing through just one of his banks. Hundreds of millions more through others.
— Senator Ron Wyden (@wyden.senate.gov) July 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM
• Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert has been cancelled. Well, his show has, anyway. While taping The Late Show yesterday, Colbert announced that not only is he leaving, it’s the end of the entire show on CBS. This news would normally come as a letdown to Colbert’s many fans, but considering the current political and media environment, it has been viewed as far more than that. Colbert recently criticized Paramount Global, which owns CBS, for paying $16 million to settle a bullshit lawsuit filed by Trump. The network claims The Late Show’s cancellation isn’t related to the settlement or Paramount’s forthcoming merger with Skydance Media, but many are dubious.
• And, in a huge blow to local news, the House approved Trump’s plan to rescind more than $1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which cuts all federal support for NPR, PBS, and their local member stations across the country. Many of those member stations are the only source of reliable news and information in rural places across the US, including in many tribal communities. The services these stations provide go beyond keeping people informed about local and national politics (an important service they do provide!). They offer emergency broadcasting and weather alerts, allowing people to make lifesaving decisions during natural disasters and other emergencies.
The smaller stations across the US rely heavily on federal funding for their operations, and without it, many will not survive. This will have horrible impacts on communities across the country during a time when access to reliable information is more important than ever. It is truly a dark day in America, and that’s saying something, as we live in an age of constant dark days. NPR CEO Katherine Maher said it well, calling the cut an “irreversible loss” and an “act of Congress that disregards the public will.” Maher said the result will be “an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions.”
The bill also officially strips billions from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), dismantling the now-vital systems of international aid the US has set up over the years. USAID was already raided by DOGE earlier this year, but Congress has now formalized the department’s death.
• Well, that was all a lot. Maybe these opossum babies will help you decompress. Hope everyone has a restful weekend (or a really wild and fun one at Portland Pride!!!).
