Fourteen years later, 9/11 is no longer draped atop every web page on its anniversary. But people will mourn as they do each year, and this time there’s a new monument to the fallen—at the crash site of United Flight 93, in Shanksville, PA.

In case you missed it, newly announced mayoral candidate Ted Wheeler wasted no time flashing big-time money. Since September 1, Wheeler reports, he’s raised more than $25,000—a little less than a quarter of what Mayor Charlie Hales has raised in recent months.

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Oh, and that cart in St. Johns that sold containers, then “gave away” pot? It was robbed yesterday, as everyone assumed it would be. Most people didn’t see the stick fight coming, though.

It’s been common knowledge for a while now that Oregon’s property tax structure creates weird inequities in who’s footing the bill for public services. The O takes a close look at the issue.

Campaign season is upon us in earnest, so expect hot and heavy announcements of who’s running for what. Yesterday saw a flurry of filings, including a state representative and a Gresham city councilwoman who have designs on running Multnomah County.

Hey, University of Oregon football fan! Your team is going to lose tomorrow in crushing fashion to a better opponent. Prepare yourself for psychic anguish. Prepare for those quacks to die in wailing-enflamed throats.

Sure, there’s that knee-jerk thing with California transplants, but as the US prepares to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees, how’s Oregon stack up in welcoming the less fortunate? Middle of the road, says the Washington Post.

When Seattle cops shoot body cam video, it goes onto YouTube. Portland is preparing for a similar program, but don’t hold your breath for a PPB Body Cam channel online.

The feds have given Multnomah County $2 million to cut into its backlog of nearly 2,000 untested rape kits.

And, ugh, okay: A West Linn cop has a cat that likes to pick up objects and bring them back to the house. “Kleptokitty,” etc.

Turns out when you slam a Harvard-educated tennis star to the ground with absolutely no provocation, your policing tactics suddenly get a lot more scrutiny. The NYPD’s finding this out. Bummer for all the non-Harvard-educated tennis stars the agency is presumably slamming to the ground without provocation.

Stephen Colbert really wants Joe Biden to run for president. Joe Biden has some very understandable qualms with doing so.

And finally, President Obama has become something of a master when it comes to sneaking policies through despite universal GOP howling. The latest example: that Iran deal that the right—and some very rich Israeli boosters—have been fighting for months.

Thought we were done with this nonsense? Nope.

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No, of course I didn’t forget Karaoke Friday. This one goes out to U of O football fans. Give it your all.

I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters...