The Cottonwood Reservoir in Lakeview, Oregon, almost completely dried out due to drought this summer. Credit: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / getty images

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The Cottonwood Reservoir in Lakeview, Oregon, almost completely dried out due to drought this summer.
The Cottonwood Reservoir in Lakeview, Oregon, almost completely dried out due to drought this summer. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / getty images

Good morning, Portland! Please take a moment to watch this important update from one Britney Spears:

Okay, here are the headlines.

• Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve Mayor Ted Wheeler’s mid-year budget adjustment proposal, which included a $44 million investment into an array of city programs. The one-time funds, which are largely fueled by the unexpected revenue from local business taxes, are meant to address “Portland’s greatest concerns,” according to Wheeler. That includes more funding for cops—read Alex Zielinski’s report for more details.

• Right now, unvaccinated kids in Oregon schools must quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19. That requirement could end later this month, and be replaced with a “test to stay” policy, meaning kids could stay at school if they test negatively for COVID.

• Read this excellent editorial from Street Roots:

• Get ready for a rainy night tonight—meaning it’ll be difficult to see the lunar eclipse.

• Speaking of fall rains: It’s nice to be getting more water after a brutal summer, but the rainfall isn’t enough to fix problems caused by the drought. Crops are still withering, and some are still forced to live in homes without running water in Oregon.

• As the Rittenhouse jury goes into another day of deliberations, consider this:

• Checking in on another trial—this one for the three men who killed Ahmaud Arbery—with this AP dispatch: “The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery testified Thursday that the 25-year-old Black man’s demeanor struck as him as suspicious when he pulled up beside him in his pickup truck to ask him what he was doing in a coastal Georgia neighborhood… Testifying under cross-examination, he acknowledged that Arbery didn’t pull out a weapon or threaten him in anyway and indicated several times that he didn’t want to talk to him.”

• Julius Jones has spent over 20 years on Oklahoma’s death row, despite maintaining his own innocence and the giant holes in the case that cast doubt on his conviction. The state plans to kill Jones this afternoon, though many activists are urging the governor to spare Jones’ life.

• And finally, go check this out:

Blair Stenvick is a former news reporter and culture writer for the Portland Mercury.

One reply on “Good Morning, News: City Council Approves Wheeler’s Budget Adjustment, Fall Rains Can’t Fix the Drought, and Two Tense Trial Updates”

  1. Thankfully Julius Jones’ life has been spared.

    Given that there is no verdict yet in the Rittenhouse trial proves that people in this country believe it is perfectly acceptable for a young white male to have a weapon he has no legal right to have, to cross state lines, to hunt people, to murder two and almost murder a third and suffer no consequences. Remember that the next time there’s a school shooting. Or a mall shooting. Or a workplace shooting. Or a church/synagogue/mosque shooting. Or a mass shooting at a concert or in a Wal*Mart or wherever any white male with a fucking automatic rifle commits mass murder. This country literally does not give a fuck. The fact that the jury is pretending to give careful consideration to whether or not Rittenhouse is guilty is sick. And the judge presiding over the case, sitting on his declaring a mistrial should the jury decide to hold Rittenhouse acccountable? He’s even more reprehensible, especially since he took the gun charge off the table. Angry, racist, hate filled, stupid white males with guns are the single biggest threat to the safety, health and well being of everyone else in this country. The only person more dangerous is Donald Trump.

    Donald Trump is the most successful bio-terrorist in human history. This is not an accident.

    https://www.salon.com/2021/11/18/and-his-regime-committed–or-at-least-condoned–mass-murder-america-just-doesnt-care/

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