Credit: Doug Brown

Good morning, Portland. Find somewhere with AC and read these links.

It’s one of the best weekends of the year for music lovers in the Portland area. Click here for everything you need to know about PICKATHON!

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Doug Brown

The Portland Police Bureau argued that it’s within policy for officers to punch suspects they think are noncompliant in the face, we reported yesterday: “punching a suspect is allowed under certain circumstances…. Punching a suspect who is resisting and displaying other behaviors is on the range of acceptable techniques under training,” a lieutenant said.

An update to Dirk VanderHart’s news story about police cracking down on homeless advocates passing out food in East Portland:

Paul Underwood, executive director of the homeless outreach organization Operation Nightwatch, tells the Mercury city officials reached out today with an offer: The city would allow the group to set up shop in Ed Benedict Park today and tomorrow, and donate hundreds of bottles of water, if the group wanted to serve homeless residents.

“They’re offering to pull some strings,” Underwood says. “We don’t know where this goes,” he says, but the group hopes the gesture can be a start of a better partnership with the city.

The offer comes after the Mercury reported this week that Operation Nightwatch and other groups have stirred up resentments in the Lents neighborhood recently, after increasing the frequency of meals they serve to the homeless. That activity is partly in response to a July 3 fire that shut down the Clackamas Service Center, a central resource for the homeless in the area, but it angers residents who’ve seen their neighborhood swell with homeless encampments and feel the meal services are detrimental.

“Triple-digit temperatures and stubborn smoke from wildfires raging in British Columbia and parts of Oregon are joining forces to make Portland’s air quality among the worst in the country this week,” the Oregonian writes. “Portland’s Air Quality Index, the national standard used to measure the health effects of various pollutants, hovered in the high 170s throughout Thursday, according to the state’s environmental quality department. Those levels exceeded air pollution in Beijing, according to a website that compiles air quality in dozens of countries.”

KGW’s meteorologist says some “westerly winds” will blow some of that BC wildfire smoke out of town, which will be good. I love westerly winds.

After a couple days of letting people ride for free because of its shitty computer system, TriMet is back to collecting fares today.

Some asshole is accused of stealing a bunch of packages from outside of people’s apartments. Story by KOIN: “The thefts occurred in March and April in the 1900 block of Southeast Morrison Street and near East Burnside and Southeast 13th Avenue, according to court documents. When interviewed, Phillips admitted he was the person stealing packages, according to court documents.”

Now for some national news.

Some big developments…

Don’t watch cable news…

And because our president is a child who needs constant supervision…