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Good morning, Portland, and welcome to the last full day of Donald Trump’s presidency (probably). Rather than press our luck by making a big old deal out of this, let’s just move onto the news, shall we?
Here are the headlines.
• In Washington DC, President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees start their Senate confirmation hearings today. This is happening against the backdrop of an impeachment of Trump in limbo—the Senate isn’t expected to take that one up until after Biden is sworn in tomorrow.
• Here in Oregon, Clackamas County Commissioner Mark Shull—the one currently under fire for making horribly racist and Islamaphobic comments on his Facebook page in recent years—offered a weak-ass “apology” yesterday, flanked by faith leaders. When asked at this apology theater to say “Black lives matter,” Shull responded with “All lives matter,” which pretty much tells you all you need to know. Local elected leaders and Mulism faith leaders are still calling for Shull’s resignation or removal from office.
• Kyle Brewster—a man who was involved in the brutal, infamous hate killing of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw in 1988—has been recently spotted at pro-Trump rallies at the Oregon Capitol in Salem. But, you know, fine people on both sides.
• Four major health networks in Oregon—OHSU, Kaiser Permanente, Providence, and Legacy—are all set to start vaccinating people against COVID-19 this week at the Oregon Convention Center. It joins the state fairgrounds in Salem as another major vaccination site in the state.
• The latest surge of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Los Angeles County particularly hard—so much so that officials have paused environmental limits on the number of cremations permitted to happen each day, in order to accommodate the increase in deaths.
• Among this survey’s findings: More than half of students in the US are currently attending school in an entirely remote way.
Nearly halfway through the 2020–21 school year, we remain in the dark about how American schools have adapted amid the pandemic—and what American families are experiencing as a result. A new survey set out to close that gap. Learn more: https://t.co/QFCtWUqMua
— Education Next (@EducationNext) January 19, 2021
• Among Biden’s recent nominees to serve in his administration is Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine, who Biden has picked to be assistant health secretary. Levine is believed to be the first openly transgender person to be a federal official confirmed by the US Senate.
• After the January 6 attack on the Capitol, major web companies finally began purging the Trump and Q-anon set from their platforms. And yet, shirts commemorating the attempted insurrection are still available on major online sellers like Etsy and Amazon.
• Tomorrow is Inauguration Day (probably)! Obviously this one is going to look a little different from previous ones—both because of the pandemic and because of security threats. But there will still be a televised concert! Here’s a look at what you can expect from the day.
• It’s gonna be a weird week (probably!). So, we’ll end things today with this message from a legend—may we all carry this self-hyping energy into the week:
Was thinking of doing virtual Concert.. Some Of My favorites that were Never Hits & Some that were….only Problem …
BEEN SINGING 50+ YRS
TOO MANY SONGS😳— Cher (@cher) January 18, 2021
