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Good morning, Portland! It’s starting to feel like summer pulled a French exit on us. It’ll be drizzly and cold today, with a high of just 63 degrees. The sun might drop back in for a visit this weekend, but these days, with August behind us, you can never be too sure.
The only thing certain is the news, so let’s get to it.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland City Council is set to consider renaming Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to Campesinos Boulevard today, after reporting earlier this year revealed allegations that Chavez sexually abused girls and young women in the farm worker activist community. The street, which sits at 39th Avenue, was renamed to honor Chavez in 2009. While some have suggested the roadway should just revert back to its former 39th Avenue name, there appears to be broad support for Campesinos Blvd. You can read more on the proposed ordinance and background here.
• It’s a crappy time to be a parent with a kid in Portland Public Schools right now, and an even worse time to be a student. That’s because the district is contemplating closing up to 20 K-8 and middle schools, largely due to declining enrollment. On top of that, PPS has a projected $65 million budget gap (due in part to that enrollment problem) and the PPS Board is slated to consider extending the employment contract of the district’s superintendent, Kimberlee Armstrong, at a higher rate with added perks.
• Important disclosure: We’re suing a city councilor. Not because we’re mean, or loaded with cash or lawyers, but mostly because we rely on public records to do our job, and litigation is an unfortunate remedy built into Oregon’s public records laws. In an effort to be transparent, we’ve laid out the situation here.
• Portlanders are lucky to live in a city with independent theaters that show old cinema (No offense Cinemark, but your Red Vines and popcorn are breaking the bank.) Whether you’re looking to explore a vintage deep cut, or a nostalgic ’80s lowbrow masterpiece, there’s probably a place showing something that will strike your fancy. This month’s Second Run repertory film column digs into composer Mark Orton’s inaugural live-scored silent film festival, plus a three-hour Japanese horror anthology, two films supporting women’s wrongs, and an early noir masterpiece. Get thee to the movies!
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• It appears any chance at peace with Iran is off. US and Iranian military forces exchanged strikes, with the US military claiming attacks on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps radar systems, marine vessels, aircraft and “mine-laying capabilities,” Reuters reports. Iran claims to have struck US military assets in Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and Jordan, killing US forces, though US officials have denied any casualties (more on that in a second). Iran claims US forces targeted and killed civilians at a wedding. This week’s exchange of attacks marked the first since July. Both Iran and the US are seeing their military weapons stockpiles diminish. The US Army has reportedly used up much of its international stockpile of missiles on the war with Iran, even as President Trump continues picking fights with multiple other nations.
• As we’re fighting needless wars and burning through our weapons, it appears we’re also lying to the American public about the human toll of such conflicts. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also denied the mental health toll on US sailors stuck at sea for nine months near the Strait of Hormuz. The party fueled by patriotism on steroids could not care less about its military, it seems.
• “Humanity is speeding past the limit to avoid climate catastrophe,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said bluntly in a new climate report issued by the UN. During the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, global nations convened and agreed on a temperature threshold for Earth that we’d all try not to exceed by curbing emissions from fossil fuels and finding ways to reduce the rate of global warming. Now, scientists say the planet will soon exceed that safe temperature. Instead of giving up, they say we should all get our collective shit together and do what we can to limit the global temperature.
• Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) now says it has enough body cameras to equip all of its agents, which is notable considering the agency pushed back on requiring agents to wear body cameras for years, and there was debate over whether the cameras could or should be used to record protesters. While organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) note that, absent good policies around policing, the cameras will do little to ensure accountability, ICE now says it at least has enough devices to equip its workforce–leaving little to no excuses for not using them. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin expects every ICE agent will be using body cameras by the end of the month, according to NPR.
• Oh, and:
And finally, here’s your palate cleanser.
