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Good morning, Portland! I woke up in a bit of a funk—can we get a Baby Yoda drinking coffee in this blog for motivation?
me watching my life fall apart in front of my very eyes pic.twitter.com/KrXaOfa231
— viv (@vivithao) November 30, 2019
Ah, that's nice. Okay, now we can go through the headlines.
Overturned: A man has spent nine years in prison after being convicted of killing his girlfriend—but he's just been exonerated thanks to DNA evidence that was previously withheld from the Oregon State Police crime lab. The Oregon Innocence Project and the Forensic Justice Project both worked on the case to exonerate.
Test, Prevent, Treat: Sunday was World AIDS Day, and the Oregon Health Authority released its annual progress report on HIV prevention and treatment efforts this week. Read about new progress in 2019—including new syringe exchange programs in rural Oregon counties.
The Never-Ending Story:
The future of the never-used Wapato Jail remains unclear, but one thing is certain: It won't become a HUD-run homeless shelter anytime soon. https://t.co/6PAc74fB8m
— OPB (@OPB) December 3, 2019
What Could Go Wrong? The little town of Cave Junction, Oregon has a police officer shortage, so residents are forming their own nighttime policing operation, complete with surveillance cameras. The residents aren't trained, and don't receive background checks.
Dueling Impeachment Reports: Congressional Republicans released an impeachment report yesterday that matched the simplicity, fierce defensiveness, and childishness of a Donald Trump tweet. Today, Democrats will release their own report making the case to vote for impeachment.
Inhumane:
Border Patrol threw away migrants’ belongings. A janitor saved & photographed them. Among the item: a bible, a baby shoe, a rabbit’s foot keychain, a love letter: “Blanca I want you to know that I have loved you since I met you..I will be yours forever.” https://t.co/uk3GPZey7W
— Esmeralda Bermudez (@LATBermudez) December 3, 2019
Googled: Last week, Google fired four employees, claiming it was because they had violated data security policies. But the four engineers say they were actually let go because they were trying to organize Google employees—and now they're filing an unfair labor practice charge against the company.
Can Concert Films Help Save the Music Industry? From Mercury Copy Chief Robert Ham: "Much like the recently-released Kanye West IMAX film Jesus Is King, the ultimate allure of IRIS is the chance to hear this music pumped through an amazing movie theater sound system. And this way, you can take the same drugs that you would at a music festival."