The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good morning, Portland! A friendly reminder that this week is Burger Week—a glorious week during which 48 local restaurants are offering delicious burgers for just $8! If you’ve been meaning to get out of the house and try one, I suggest you get your butt in gear because the offer ends this Sunday (!!). Okay, I hear you—enough promo! On to the news.

In local news:

• Six Oregon lawmakers and more than 30 environmental organizations submitted a petition to the state attorney general Wednesday, requesting the office investigate claims that NW Natural is misleading the public about the impacts of natural gas. The petition claims that NW Natural uses deceptive marketing—like the tagline “natural gas, your invisible friend”—to greenwash the fact that they distribute a fracked-gas material primarily composed of methane.

• Thanks to a geomagnetic storm, the Northern Lights may be visible from Oregon this week! To see if you can catch a peek, go to a space with minimal light pollution on a clear night and scan the skies.

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

GOOD AFTERNOON, PORTLAND! First of all... WHOOPEE-DOO! The Mercury's BURGER WEEK—featuring 48 (!!) delish burgers from your fave restaurants and only $8 each—is HERE... but it only runs through this Sunday, August 21! So eat 'em up! And if you're still feeling peckish, eat up this NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Expect another hot one tomorrow as the area's heat advisory remains in effect through Thursday as temps are expected to hit 97 degrees.

At least one cooling center will open in downtown Portland Wednesday as the region is placed under yet another heat advisory. https://t.co/mGaFmnfqhy

— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) August 16, 2022

• For the sixth time this year, Portland Police officers have fired their weapons at a member of the public. This time around the cops say they were trying to arrest a man in the Lents neighborhood for multiple warrants (including sexual assault) and the suspect pulled a gun on them. Shots were fired, but no one was injured, and the suspect was taken into custody. Our Alex Zielinski has more!

Multnomah County renewed its effort to ban flavored nicotine products, including flavored vape liquid and menthol cigarettes, this week. Multnomah County commissioners first considered this ban in 2019, but the rollout was delayed by the pandemic.

“This is an industry and addiction that relies on recruiting new users, and flavored tobacco plays a key role there,” tri-county Health Officer Jennifer Vines said in a presentation to the board Tuesday.

The intention of the possible ban is to minimize youth initiation to nicotine addiction. According to a 2015 study—the most recently available data—the majority of Americans between 12 and 17 years old who have ever smoked tobacco or nicotine started with a flavored product, with 81 percent reporting using a flavored e-cigarette and 50 percent reporting using a flavored cigarette, like menthol or cloves.

In August 2021, going to shows still seemed like a risky proposition. But the Dundee Lodge Campout—a small music and art festival located on a farm in Gaston, Oregon—looked like a fairly safe bet. Presented entirely outdoors with plenty of room for art projects, camping, and nearby swimming, Dundee amassed a crowd of 450 casually hip-looking attendees and their free-spirited children.

There was a beer barn with quality local brews, indie vendors slinging a variety of foods (Neo-Neapolitan-style pizza, tacos, empanadas), and a small stage that musicians set up and performed on at a fairly tight clip. One band member carried his bass drum over his head, through the buzzy crowd.

Some groups seemed kind of awkward in the light of day. Others—like Sad Horse—fully committed and rocked the crowd from a foot off the ground. Dundee has a strong Luddite, lo-fi feeling—with a definite lack of cell service—like Pickathon in its early years.

"I think it's fair to compare us to Pickathon," Erik Trexel, the festival's co-founder, told the Mercury. "That's probably the closest to what we're doing. We're a little rougher around the edges—sticking to a more DIY ethic—and we can't grow much bigger than we currently are."

Though Dundee was new to this writer last year, the 2022 incarnation—which takes place Friday August 19 and Saturday August 20—will be its fourth fest and the organizing team's most ambitious one yet.

Let the bells ring and the confetti fall—the Mercury's Burger Week (presented by New Seasons) is NOW UNDERWAY through Sunday, August 21!

By far the Mercury's most popular food week entry, for going on 10 years Burger Week has been thrilling the mouths of Portlanders by showcasing some of the city's best burger makers—each of whom have put their own delicious, creative spin on God's favorite sandwich. (And yep, there are lots of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options too)! And what's this? They're all only $8 each! And you have until the end of this week to try all 48 of 'em! CAN LIFE GET ANY BETTER?!?

(Oh, and thanks and a tip o' the hat to this year's fine Burger Week sponsors: New Seasons Market, Jim Beam, Laurelwood Brewing, Electric Lettuce, DinnerStar, and EverOut. Woot-woot!)

You can check out full descriptions of all the rules and tips for Burger Week here, but in short: Tip your hard-working kitchen staffs and servers; Pick up some sides and drinks while you're there; If your chosen Burger Week joint is busy (probably will be), be patient or try another participating burger joint nearby; Check out our handy-dandy Burger Week map to plot your course! Oh and most importantly, WE ADORE YOU and wanna say thanks for supporting us (drop us a tip for our hard work here) and the restaurants who need your help right now. (You're cool!)

Now... whaddaya say we take a peek at a few of Burger Week's delectable burgers, just to whet that whistle? (WARNING: Better go grab a drool towel.)

Police officers shot at a man in Portland's Lents Neighborhood Tuesday evening while attempting to arrest him.

The man, identified by the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) as Robert Connelly, was not injured in the shooting. The officers involved were members of the bureau's team that responds to gun crimes, called the Focused Intervention Team (FIT), who were seeking to arrest Connelly on several federal and state warrants related to gun crimes and sexual assault. According to PPB, those officers were attempting to arrest Connelly near SE 82nd Ave. and SE Lambert St. just after 8 pm Tuesday when he pointed a gun at them. This prompted several officers to shoot at Connelly. Connelly then fled to a nearby business, where he barricaded himself. Crisis negotiators allegedly convinced Connelly to "surrender peacefully," according to PPB.  Connelly was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center just after 5 am Wednesday.

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good Morning and Long Live Kate Bush! It used to be that Portland only had one or two weeks of "it's a hot one" temps in August. But now it's a crisis we go through every week, all summer. Here's some hotness related and non-hotness related news.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for Portland and the greater Willamette Valley until tomorrow at 10 pm. Multnomah County announced that it plans to open one, daytime cooling shelter for today—in Old Town. Depending on weather conditions, city and county leaders may open additional centers. 

• A corpse flower on the campus of Washington State University Vancouver is now in bloom. The rare occurrence is expected to continue for 24-48 hours. If you can't make it out, WSU has a corpse flower live cam, trained on the spadix—although, the whole point of a corpse flower is its smell.

• Workers at Portland's Slabtown New Seasons location filed to hold a union vote yesterday, saying they want to have more input on policies, address staffing problems at the store, and advocate for higher wages.

Workers at New Seasons' Slabtown location filed to unionize this week, joining three other New Seasons stores in the Portland metro area that have moved to unionize in the past three months. https://t.co/EOBCnhvR14

— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) August 16, 2022

• Now that the Legislature requires county medical examiners and funeral directors to track data on deaths related to homelessness, we're finally able to look at six months of numbers. The Oregonian's Nicole Hayden reports that "Multnomah County is the site of a greatly disproportionate share of deaths of homeless people in Oregon."

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good afternoon and Long Live Kate Bush! Tomorrow Portland may brush her fingertips against an unholy temperature of 98 degrees. Let's hit some related news!

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• The next two days are looking to be scorchers. The Mercury's Isabella Garcia reports that the county plans to open one, daytime cooling shelter for one day—in Old Town. Depending on weather conditions, city and county leaders may open additional cooling centers or shelters. 

• Workers at Portland's Slabtown New Seasons location filed to hold a union vote yesterday, saying they want to have more input on policies, address staffing problems at the store, and advocate for higher wages. Isabella Garcia reports. 

Johnson's campaign said she would speak to media and supporters when submitting signatures. She did speak — very briefly — and left without taking questions. https://t.co/sPJOfa3NOR

— Dirk VanderHart (@dirquez) August 16, 2022

Employees at New Seasons' Slabtown location on Northwest Raleigh St. and 22nd Ave. filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Monday. The store is the fourth New Seasons location in the Portland metro region to move to unionize in the past three months, and the third to specifically join the effort for an independent union, dubbed the New Seasons Labor Union.

Workers organizing the union effort at the Slabtown location say they want to have more input in company policies, advocate for higher wages, and address staffing problems at the store. 

“If we could push for higher wages, a better work environment, and have more input in how people are trained—or whatever it may be from the worker perspective—we would hope that it would make for a smoother experience that people would want to stick around,” said Steven Weiss, a New Seasons employee for nearly seven years. “It could feel more like it used to feel—like more of a family, more of a cohesive environment where people wanted to be there and wanted to help each other out.”

This is a preview of this week’s Savage Love. The full version is now exclusively available on Dan’s website Savage.Love.

I’m a 40-year-old female, cis-het. I have very discerning tastes in men, and always end up alone. Any way to be more open without sacrificing my standards?

You’ve either had a terrible run of bad luck—assuming you’ve dated more than ten men—or you’ve set your standards impossibly high. Some food for thought: perhaps you think you want a long-term relationship because you were told that’s what you’re supposed to want—you were told that’s what all good people want—but you actually don’t want a long-term relationship. They don’t make you happy. But instead of telling yourself that you’re a good person who prefers short-term relationships and/or being alone, you’ve set your standards so high—you’ve dialed them up to sabotage—because you want to be alone. And instead of owning that about yourself, you find fault in the men you date.

P.S. There’s no settling down without settling for.

At least one cooling center will open in Portland on Wednesday as the region enters into another heat advisory period. 

The National Weather Service issued a heat warning for Multnomah County starting Wednesday, August 17, at noon until Thursday, August 18, at 10 pm. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 90s—and possibly surge into the triple digits—with overnight lows in the 70s. 

All county libraries will be open normal hours on Wednesday, except for the Central Library in downtown, which is closed due to pre-planned construction. One cooling center will open in Old Town to serve people who would normally seek refuge from the heat at the downtown library. 

Are you ready? New Seasons Presents The Mercury's Portland Burger Week is here! There are a total of 48 different burgers you'll be able to try this week (through Sunday August 21) for just $8.

If you're pressed for time—or perhaps you're trying to get in as many burgers as possible to increase your chances of winning our Burger Week giveaway?—then you should bookmark our list of Burger Week takeout options!

Nearly half of all the burgers are available for takeout or delivery. How's that for efficiency? 

Check out all the takeout options here, and check out ALL of the delicious burgers you can eat this week—for just $8 each!—HERE!

Who's ready to see some shows? Well, the Mercury is here to help with FREE TICKETS to see some of Portland's best concerts—our way of saying thanks to our great readers and spread the word about some fantastic upcoming performances! (Psst... if you want to say thanks to the Mercury, please consider making a small monthly contribution to keep us alive and kickin'!) And oh boy, do we have A LOT of great shows coming at ya this week! CHECK IT OUT!

• ENTER TO WIN TIX to see THE SHINS at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Sept 15 & 16!

The Shins play Pioneer Courthouse Square on September 15th and 16th, with special guest JOSEPH! Indie-rock mainstays for over two decades, The Shins are hitting the road to celebrate the 21st birthday of their debut album, Oh, Inverted World. Note: The September 16 show is already SOLD OUT—tickets for 9/15 are on sale now or enter to win tickets for either the 9/15 or 9/16 shows!

Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th, Thurs Sept 15 & Fri Sept 16, 6:30 pm, $53-$152.50, all ages

• ENTER TO WIN TIX to see MODEST MOUSE at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Aug 19 & 20!

Modest Mouse visits Pioneer Courthouse Square on August 19th and 20th! These energetic indie-rockers play back-to-back evenings in Portland’s living room, joined first by Blitzen Trapper, then by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Tickets are on sale now or enter to win tickets for either the 8/19 or 8/20 shows!

Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th, Fri Aug 19 & Sat Aug 20, 6 pm, $45-$160, all ages

• ENTER TO WIN TIX to see CELESTE BARBER at the Keller Auditorium on Aug 17!

Hailed as the “Australian Queen of Comedy,” Celeste’s original celebrity parody Instagram account has attracted over 8.1 million followers. She is currently shooting her Netflix Comedy Wellmania, a new comedic drama series based on the novel Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness. Don't miss your chance to see her live on the "Fine, Thanks" tour. Ticket on sale now, or enter to win!

Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay, Wed Aug 17, 7 pm, $44.50-$64, all ages

• ENTER TO WIN TIX to see CRASH TEST DUMMIES at the Aladdin on Aug 19!

Get ready, Portland: Crash Test Dummies plays Aladdin Theater on August 19th, with special guest Carleton Stone! Join the Juno Award-winning band as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, The Ghosts That Haunt Me. Tickets are on sale now, or enter to win!

Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, Fri Aug 19, 7 pm, $39.50, all ages

• ENTER TO WIN TIX to see FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH at RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater on Aug 19!

Las Vegas heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch return in support of their upcoming new album AfterLife alongside metal legends Megadeth. Enter to win or get your tickets now!

RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater, 17200 NE Delfel Rd, Ridgefield, WA, Fri Aug 19, 6:30 pm, $22-$149, all ages

GOOD LUCK, and all winners will be notified by this Thursday. And check back next week for more FREE TIX from the Mercury!

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good morning, Portland! And an extra good morning to the person on a bike placing hexes on all of the cars parked along the walkway into Mt. Tabor park last night—I really like your energy. 

A bit of housekeeping before we move into the headlines: This week is the one and only BURGER WEEK. With nearly 50 participating locations, you’re sure to find a burger that suits your fancy for the low low price of $8 (truly a steal during these inflation times, so make sure to tip well!) Alright, now on to the news!

In local news:

• A new IT system at Providence Health and Services has led to approximately 90,000 employee complaints of inaccurate paychecks. Some employees say they were short a few pennies, while others say they didn’t receive a paycheck at all. Nurses in the system filled a class-action lawsuit Monday, alleging widespread wage-theft. Providence leaders say the problem is being address and they are issuing back pay paychecks daily.