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DOUG BROWN

Good morning, Portland! Alert: The Mercury's shot and beer week is already halfway over!

Here are the headlines.

• The ACLU of Washington and the NAACP of Vancouver are calling on the US Department of Justice to investigate the Vancouver Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for racial profiling and discriminatory policing. The agencies have killed eight people in the last two years, five of whom were people of color. The three white people were experiencing homelessness and mental health crises.

• Last night's Portland City Council meeting was a doozy. After four long hours of impassioned public testimony, the council went ahead and adopted $60 million in budget amendments—including one that gives $10 million to the Portland Police Bureau. The amendments will be finalized in a vote next week.

Alex was faithfully watching the meeting:

• Time to batten down the hatches: a major storm is hitting the Portland area, and could cause flooding. (By the way, does anyone know what "batten" or "hatches" means??)

• The residents of Flint, Michigan are finally getting some tiny measure of justice. A judge approved a $626 million settlement from the state of Michigan, with funds available for anyone who was impacted by the water lead crisis. Some believe that settlement is far too small a price to pay for a disaster that started seven years ago.

• Could labor organizing be the thing that finally smashes the urban-rural political divide?

• Kyle Rittenhouse is on trial for killing two people at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year. The baby-faced pig-faced 18-year-old who's claiming self-defense testified in his own trial yesterday, spilling plenty of tears in the process. Some trial experts believe his testimony could prompt the jury to sympathize with him and let him off the hook.

• A new AP analysis shows that the world's exposure to extreme heat has tripled in the last 40 years. Get ready for more heat domes, baby!

• And finally—take a peep to see which Portland spots made their way onto this coveted list: