(AP) The governors of Arizona, Illinois, Maine and North Carolina on Friday joined the growing list of Democratic officials who have signed orders intended to ensure most residents can receive COVID-19 vaccines at pharmacies without individual prescriptions.
Unlike past years, access to COVID-19 vaccines has become complicated in 2025, largely because federal guidance does not recommend them for nearly everyone this year as it had in the past.
Here’s a look at where things stand.
Pharmacy chain says the shots are available in most states without individual prescriptions CVS Health, the biggest pharmacy chain in the U.S., says its stores are offering the shots without an individual prescription in 41 states as of midday Friday.
But the remaining states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia — require individual prescriptions under the company’s interpretation of state policies.
Arizona, Maine and North Carolina are likely to come off that list as the new orders take effect there.
“I will not stand idly by while the Trump Administration makes it harder for Maine people to get a vaccine that protects their health and could very well save their life,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in the statement. “Through this standing order, we are stepping up to knock down the barriers the Trump Administration is putting in the way of the health and welfare of Maine people.”
Democratic governors have been taking action At least 14 states — 12 with Democratic governors, plus Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin is governor — have announced policies this month to ease access.
In some of the states that have expanded access — including Delaware and New Jersey earlier in the week and Illinois on Friday — at least some pharmacies were already providing the shots broadly.
Friday’s orders are expected to change the policy in all three states where they were put into place.
North Carolina’s orders were narrower than most. They apply to everyone age 65 and over and people who are at least 18 and have a risk factor. Other adults would still need prescriptions. Officials said the order takes effect immediately, but that all pharmacies might not have supplies on hand right away.
While most Republican-controlled states have not changed vaccine policy this month, the inoculations are still available there under existing policies.
In addition to the round of orders from governors, boards of pharmacy and other officials, four states — California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — have announced an alliance to make their own vaccine recommendations. Of those, only Oregon doesn’t currently allow the shots in pharmacies without individual prescriptions.
Vaccines have become politically contentious In past years, the federal government has recommended the vaccines to all Americans above the age of 6 months.
This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved them for people age 65 and over but said they should be used only for children and younger adults who have a risk factor such as asthma or obesity.
That change came as U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June, accusing of them of being too closely aligned with the companies that make the vaccines. The replacements include vaccine skeptics.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, framed her order Friday as “protecting the health care freedom” of people in the state.
One state has taken another stance on vaccines Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced this month that the state could become the first to eliminate requirements that children have a list of vaccinations.
Since then, though, the state health department said that the change likely wouldn’t take effect until December and that without legislative action, only some vaccines — including for chickenpox — would become optional. The measles and polio shots would remain mandatory.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Corneilus City Councilor John Colgan resigned from his elected position on Friday afternoon, according to a statement from Mayor Jeffery Dalin.
The councilor has recently come under criticism for a post he shared to Facebook regarding the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday.
In a statement shared to the City of Corneilus website, the mayor said Colgan had submitted his resignation letter to him as well as the city manager, and that he regretted his remarks.
“In his resignation, he expressed that he is deeply sorry for his comments and the harm they caused to our community and staff,” the mayor said.
Colgan’s resignation was accepted and is effective immediately.
“The comments made by Former City Councilor Colgan on social media do not reflect my values or the values of the City of Cornelius,” the mayor’s statement continued.
“I am committed to fostering respectful dialogue and ensuring that every member of our community feels safe to share their views without fear of harm, intimidation, or retaliation,” he said. “Violence is never an acceptable response to differences in opinion or belief. I strongly condemn all acts of political violence and stand firmly against words or actions that could incite it. Moving forward, my focus remains on rebuilding trust, strengthening our community, and ensuring that Cornelius continues to be a safe and welcoming place for all.”
The Forest Grove School District confirmed that Colgan was also placed on paid administrative leave Friday morning from his teaching job at Neil Armstrong Middle School.
Earlier this week, following the news that conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, Kirk posted on his personal Facebook, “Hearing that Charlie Kirk got shot and died really brightened up my day. Nobody deserves it, but some are asking for it.”
He was elected to the Cornelius City Council in January 2023. He served previously from January 2019 to December 2022.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Paul Allen’s estate has formally reached an agreement to sell the Portland Trail Blazers to a group of investors led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon.
Dundon announced a tentative deal last month to buy the team and keep it in Portland. The Allen estate announced Friday that it had “entered a formal sales agreement” with the group. Terms were not disclosed.
Dundon’s group includes Portland-based Sheel Tyle, the co-founder of investment firm Collective Global; Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital; and the Cherng Family Trust, the family office and investment firm of the co-founders of Panda Express.
The NBA Board of Governors has to ratify any final purchase agreement. ESPN previously reported the deal was for $4 billion. In March, the Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion.
The Blazers sale is expected to close by the end of this year.
Dundon, 53, bought a stake in the Hurricanes in 2017 and became the majority owner in 2018. He is chairman and managing partner of the Dallas-based firm Dundon Capital Partners.
Allen’s estate announced in May that it had begun the process of selling the Trail Blazers. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, who died in 2018 at age 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, originally bought the Blazers in 1988 for $70 million.
Allen also owned the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and was a co-owner of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
Since his death, Allen’s sister, Jody Allen, has served as chair of both the Blazers and Seahawks and is a trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. Paul Allen stipulated in his will the eventual sale of his teams, with the proceeds to be given to philanthropic endeavors.
The estate has not announced plans for the sale of the Seahawks or the 25% stake in the Sounders.
John Colgan Cornelius City Council
https://www.corneliusor.gov/directory
CORNELIUS, Ore. — Cornelius City Councilor and Forest Grove School District middle school teacher John Colgan is now on paid administrative leave from his position at Neil Armstrong Middle School.
After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday in Utah, Colgan wrote on his personal Facebook page: “Hearing that Charlie Kirk got shot and died really brightened up my day. Nobody deserves it, but some are asking for it.”
His post was picked up and went viral and both of Cogan’s employers took notice and action. Each put out statements on Thursday, then on Friday the Forest Grove School District put Colgon on paid administrative leave and opened an investigation.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Just one day after health officials cautioned visitors against venturing into the waters of Lincoln County’s Nye Beach, that public health advisory has now been lifted.
The Oregon Health Authority previously warned visitors against contact with the ocean water at the beach, due to the discovery of unsafe levels of fecal bacteria.
But as of Friday morning, results from follow-up tests taken by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality showed lower bacteria levels.
As a result, officials say contact with the ocean water no longer poses a risk for illnesses like diarrhea, stomach cramps, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections and others.
However, officials still recommend staying out of large pools on the beach that are frequented by birds – as well as runoff from those pools – because the water may still contain increased bacteria from fecal matter.
Other recreational activities — like flying kites, picnicking and walking — are still safe.
You can stay up to date on current advisories here.
This past weekend, the Rose City Comic Con—Portland’s biggest annual comics and pop culture show—brought an estimated 65,000 attendees to the Oregon Convention Center for a weekend of “stuff.”
What is “stuff?” It’s everything. It’s comic books—like the name of the event suggests—but it’s also anime, collectables, some Pokemon cards, a room full of old-ass video games, a big convention hall where people watch cultural luminaries have panel discussions (and sign autographs), a DJ in the lobby, demonstrations of tablets designed for drawing, and a massive alley where artists from all over the country peddle their comics, drawings, and other ephemera. In short, every genre, every medium, every form of expression collides in one building, populated by a burbling mass of thousands of people in various states of cosplay, all chatting, browsing, sharing, and hunting for their own personal object of desire in a mass of everything. “Stuff” is the only word vague, yet material, enough to describe it.
The modern comic con is a large and lucrative event appealing to wide swaths of pop culture enthusiasts. This form is a pretty recent development. The comic book convention in its nascent form was much smaller, a gathering of comic book collectors and dealers looking to sell and trade old books and chat about comic storylines, maybe meet some writers and get an autograph—a thing resembling a trading card show more than the massive influx of energetic oddballs who attend Rose City every year.
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Joseph Schmalke, a comics industry veteran from Portland, Maine (“It’s exactly like here but with fewer people”), was promoting Midnight Factory Press, a small comics publishing operation he owns and operates that specializes in “horror, sci-fi, and the bizarre.”
“The first comic book convention I ever went to was Boston Comic-Con,” he said, “which used to be held in, like, the basement of a hotel. There were three guests and a bunch of vendors selling Silver Age comics. I showed up with a stack of [Uncanny X-Men author] Chris Claremont books I wanted him to sign.”
The fundamentals of Schmalke’s experience live on in this new age of conventions. There are still guys on the floor with big-ass boxes of comic books, buying and selling and chatting with customers, there are still panels where creators talk about the industry and their work in front of audiences, and there are still artists at booths, chatting with fans and signing hundreds of books at a time.
Two of those creators, writer Matt Fraction and artist Steve Lieber, were at the show signing copies of Lieber’s variant cover of the first issue of Fraction’s run on DC’s Batman. Fraction and Lieber are two of many comic book professionals who have adopted Portland as their home base, and paid tribute by placing the Caped Crusader atop the marquee of the historic Hollywood Theatre. Fraction, sporting a plastic children’s Batman mask on top of his head, signed books at the Movie Madness booth all weekend.
“My spouse got a job at the Multnomah County Library in 1997 and I followed,” says Lieber. “I had no idea this would be comic book Mecca, it was just dumb luck.”
“I was stalking Steve’s wife at the time, so I moved out here as well,” joked Fraction. “My wife and I moved here from Missouri in 2009, and wanted a place where we weren’t leftist liberal freaks, but boringly mainstream, middle of the road. It’s a great place to raise kids, and there were a million people in our fields. It felt like we were moving to a place with a turn-key social network.”
Actor Bruce Campbell signs autographs for fans. corbin smith
“I love meeting people who read the work,” says Lieber of the comic convention. “You sit in a room by yourself creating these things, and it’s nice to see who’s reading them and getting the buzz of having your best jokes said back to you.”
Variations of Lieber’s sentiment were common when I asked comic creators about attending shows. Writing and drawing are solitary pursuits, and the comics industry in particular—a contract business these days—can be a very lonely place. (Lieber and many other local creators fight that alienation by working out of Helioscope, a big co-operative comics artists’ space in the city.) At conventions, the artist encounters their audience person-to-person and discovers the visceral impact their work has on people.
“We’re in a weird place with the internet—buying things online, art that may or may not be made by humans—so this is my way of being able to actually interact with people who want to buy art from human beings,” said Hannah Hillam, a cartoonist from San Jose, California, who’s at the show selling books and personalized portraits of people’s pets. “In-person shows are where it’s at right now, because you get to connect with people. I try to push my work online and it just gets lost in the flood of stuff. People come here to buy art from artists, that’s why I love it.”
Is it an economic thing, or a social thing?
“Both. We’re all very isolated. We’re all in our own little places. We can live anywhere and so coming here is like summer camp with a bunch of other artists. We can sell art to people who really appreciate it.”
“[This is] very much why I’m here,” Fraction said. “In those pre-internet days, when it wasn’t quite so easy to find people that shared your interests and hobbies, when comic books were the things that spawned billion dollar film franchises, it was hard to find people who read comics, liked them, and feel about them the way I do.”
corbin smith
So how have conventions changed over the years? Fraction answers immediately.
“More women. There’s more women now, statistically, than men at comic conventions. In comic conventions across the country, women are more than 50 percent of the attendees.”
How did this happen? There are many answers, but the first and most apparent is cosplay. Cosplay was not a feature of the old basement-of-the-Veterans-Memorial-Coliseum comic book show. It was a product of anime culture in Japan, a widespread practice at their equivalent of conventions. Being good at cosplay requires a lot of skills that are feminine coded: skill with a thread and needle, the ability to receive and give compliments freely and without neurosis, the communal spirit it takes to coordinate a group of people who cooperate on a group costume.
It’s also the case that the Japanese comics industry has never relied on a male audience the way the American industry has. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, while the American comics book industry was sinking deeper into the mire of male superhero fantasies, entire genres of elegant looking comics for girls were emerging in Japan. Some series that are ostensibly for boys—like Japanese-ultra-genius Rumiko Takashi’s dog demon/time traveling/romantic comedy/action series InuYasha—attracts female fans with equal ease.
“I remember getting into arguments with retailers, once upon a time, about how women and children weren’t being served by the industry, INSISTING that women and children didn’t read comics,” says Fraction. “Then I’d go to a bookstore and see women and children buying two hundred dollar stacks of manga, and I was like, ‘Oh no, they just don’t want your comics’.”
Mainstream comics in America served two audiences in post-war America: funny page gazers and young men. In Japan, it was different, encompassing different genres and audiences and modes of address. When that culture really hit in the west 20 or so years ago, it served to expand the aperture of what “geek culture” was in America. Once severe, gatekept, and extremely male, it has become enthusiastic, globalized, and a repository for all gender expressions. The power fantasy has shifted: away from Thor, with his bulging muscles and big phallic hammer, and towards Loki, with his androgyny and his playful, chaotic nature.
corbin smith
“I meet a lot of young artists at shows like these,” Lieber said. “I look at their portfolios and offer feedback, and that’s always just the biggest joy in the world for me. I was that young artist a million years ago, and I remember how hard it was to get feedback from people….”
Fraction chimed in. “…especially generous feedback.”
“Yeah,” Lieber continued. “I love being able to talk to them, to tell them ‘This works, this doesn’t, or this is artistically a good choice but will commercially hurt you, so you have to make choices with that.’ When I was a kid, some artists very generously did that for me.”
Portfolio review is an old tradition at comic shows and it lives on at Rose City, who have sought to streamline the process by accepting submissions, free of charge, and giving them to industry editors who can offer constructive criticism on the work. In the shadow of this wild extravaganza, a small industry event is happening, where people pursue the apex of the craft in a small room far away from a DJ. Leslie Fensinger, the senior content manager at Leftfield Media, the events consortium that puts RCCC on, coordinates the convention’s portfolio review program.
“We built this creator pro track with them in mind,” she said, “knowing there are so manypublishers around here. We set them up, we build the schedule, we make sure there are ample breaks in there.”
The process is not always easy. Cat Ferris, another Portland-based artist, got her portfolio reviewed at the big San Diego comic show back in the day. “It was extremely discouraging—although I didn’t have a comics portfolio, I had an animation portfolio. It was a mess, but I was so excited to show people everything I could do. I had life drawing, scenery drawing, cartoons, so much stuff. Most people were like, ‘Kid, this portfolio is a mess, I don’t know what to tell you.’ But I did get one good review that saved my career and god bless them for that.”
Perfecting the craft. corbin smith
Phil Hester, a forty-year veteran of the comics industry, had his portfolio reviewed at a show in the beginning of his career.
“I used to just hang out in that portfolio review room and get eaten alive by these editors,” he remembered. “But it was all really valuable information. Your friends, they want to boost you up, and they know what they like, but they don’t know why.”
“When you’re a kid you have your favorites, the artists you admire,” Hester continued.“ Then there are others who seem boring, staid, and you don’t understand why they’re working and you’re not. An editor can tell you, ‘Look, you don’t draw credible buildings,’ or, ‘This baby looks like a goblin,’ when all you think about is like, ‘I draw cool barbarians.’ That added perspective opened my eyes up to all the stuff I wasn’t good at and needed to get good at. We had a rule of thumb: If you heard a note from more than one editor, it’s probably a good note.”
It’s comforting, I think, sitting in this vortex of cultural consumption, to know that, somewhere in there, people are helping the next generation of creators keep the craft alive— all for love of the craft.
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(Associated Press) – Boeing workers have rejected another contract proposal, extending their nearly six-week strike at three Midwest plants.
The union representing 3,200 workers announced the decision on Friday.
These workers build fighter jets, weapons systems and the U.S. Navy’s first carrier-based unmanned aircraft.
They’ve been on strike since Aug. 4, shortly after they rejected an earlier proposal that included a 20% wage hike over the life of the contract and $5,000 ratification bonuses.
The company says no further talks are scheduled and it has a contingency plan to continue supporting its customers during the strike.
Counselor Sameer Kanal speaking at Portland’s Welcoming Week kick off event
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland City Councilor Sameer Kanal has introduced legislation aimed at strengthening the city’s sanctuary protections and regulating law enforcement practices.
One ordinance would formally codify Portland’s 2017 resolution declaring itself a sanctuary city, which barred the use of city funds and personnel for federal immigration enforcement but was not binding law. The measure would direct the City Administrator to create policies and training to ensure compliance and provide support for immigrant and other vulnerable communities. It also urges Congress to adopt federal protections for civil rights.
Kanal plans to introduce a second ordinance next week that would prohibit law enforcement officers, including federal agents, from concealing their identities during public interactions and would require badges or other identification to be visible.
Kanal said the proposals are part of a broader effort by the City Council to safeguard Portland residents. Other cities, including Los Angeles and Berkeley, California, have passed similar ordinances in the past year.
“In A Dress” is the last song on Broken Homes and Gardens, the final album Michael Hurley made before he passed away on April 1.
Making that particular track—future posthumous releases notwithstanding—the conclusion of one of the great recording careers of the past century. A strong argument for outsider folk and fierce independence, and the indelible period at the end of Hurley’s endlessly fascinating artistic story.
According to No Quarter Records, which is releasing the album, Hurley set the track order on March 21, then headed east to play what would be his last shows in Tennessee and North Carolina. He died on the way back to his home near Astoria, cementing “In A Dress” as his eternal sign-off.
“In A Dress” wasn’t written by Michael Hurley, a songwriter revered by songwriters far and wide. It was written by a guy named Kenny Roby, who lives in North Carolina. Roby is not a household name—nor was Hurley, to be fair—but he is a well-respected musician who has been making sturdy, soulful roots-rock records since the mid-1990s, sometimes with his band, 6 String Drag. “In A Dress” is the third track on his first solo album Mercury’s Blues, released back in 1999.
Hurley’s version is typically heartfelt and rough-hewn, with Luke Ydstie’s bowed bass lurching back and forth behind his weathered singing voice and imperfectly plucked acoustic guitar. The “solo” is played by Hurley, using his mouth to mimic the sound of a trumpet, and the performance was recorded at “a kegger” years ago, according to No Quarter Records. You can hear what sounds like a half-dozen people clapping politely when it’s over.
Hurley didn’t know he was sequencing his final album, of course, but it feels perfectly fitting for his legendary catalog to come to an end in this head-scratching sort of way. This was a man, after all, respected and renowned for doing things his way, no matter how unconventional his way might’ve seemed.
Sometimes, that meant moving to rural Clatsop County and playing regular gigs at local haunts like The Rosebud Cafe in Scappoose and Laurelthirst Public House in northeast Portland. Often, it meant singing songs about monkeys and potatoes. And in this case, it meant ending his new album with a tossed off live recording of a 25-year-old Kenny Roby song.
The other cover on Broken Homes is a bit less confounding, if only because of Hurley’s career-long predilection for songs about food. It’s a lovely take on “Cherry Pie,” a song released by the doo-wop group Marvin and Johnny in the 1950s. Built around a skeletal guitar part, it draws much of its beauty from its pillow-soft choral vocals, provided by Portland artists Merle Law and Kassi Valazza, among others.
Fittingly, a host of longtime Hurley collaborators show up on Broken Homes, including guitarist Lewi Longmire (who called him “one of my dearest pals” on Instagram) and drummer Rachel Blumberg, who has played in his backing band, The Croakers, in recent years. Ydstie plays bass on all tracks but one, Kati Claborn sings on a couple, Barry Southern plays banjo on “New Orleans 61,” with Nate Lumbard adding bells, saxophone, bass clarinet, and xylophone in all the right places. Besides Longmire, all of them also played on Hurley’s 2021 album, The Time of the Foxgloves.
This cozy familiarity permeates every nook and cranny of Broken Homes. There are laid back blues-folk numbers (“Junebug”), droning reworks of previously released songs (“The Abominable Snowman”), alongside upbeat shuffles (“The Monkey”), and mellow fusions of vintage jazz and pop (“Indian Chiefs and Hula Girls”). In “Fava,” Hurley pairs idiosyncratic guitar-heroism with a silly voice and some silly lyrics about ricotta, ciabatta, and frittata, before asking the question that has surely been on everyone’s mind: “How ‘bout a banana for mañana?”
If there is some sort of surrealist symbolism or whimsical wisdom within that question is something only Hurley knows, and he’s not going to fill us in anytime soon. For a more straightforward sentiment, let’s fast forward to “I’ll Walk With You,” a spare duet co-written with Sarah Illingworth—providing a small measure of assurance and comfort in a world that feels a lot less weird and wonderful since Hurley exited it back on (of course) April Fool’s Day.
“I’ll walk with you till the morning slows me down / I’ll walk with you till it’s over, my friend,” he and Illingworth sing tenderly against the unfussy plink and plunk of acoustic guitar strings. “And if it proves that in the end I can’t be found / Keep on rolling and I’ll find you ‘round the bend.”
Rest easy, Mike. And thank you.
Doc Snock by Patrick Bunch
Michael Hurley’s Broken Homes and Gardens is out Sept. 12 on No Quarter Records and can be found on Bandcamp as a digital download, CD, or vinyl LP.
Gresham Police are asking for help from the public identifying a person who burglarized Gresham City Hall.
GRESHAM, OR – Gresham Police are asking for help from the public to identify a person who burglarized Gresham City Hall on Saturday, September 6th. Surveillance video shows the suspect breaking into several offices early in the morning. The thief focused on laptops, small electronics, and City-issued credit cards.
Investigators say most of the electronics were obsolete devices that were going to thrown away. They add that staff had already removed the hard drives from several laptops as part of the disposal process, and the data on the remaining devices is encrypted. Officials insist no critical City systems or data were accessed or affected.
Gresham Police are asking for help from the public identifying a person who burglarized Gresham City Hall.
The majority of the stolen property was recovered a few blocks from City Hall, apparently having been abandoned by the thief.
Anyone who recognizes the suspect is asked to call the GPD tip line at 503-618-2719 or toll-free at 1-888-989-3505.
Good Morning, Portland! This weekend has EVerYthInG. Reasonable 74-degree Friday, warmish 82-degree Saturday, and rainy Sunday. If you were thinking that it might be the last we’ll see of summer weather, think again! Next weekend looks nice too! It all comes around again. Time is a flat circle; let’s hit the news!
IN LOCAL NEWS: In 2002, when the city of Portland initially granted Zenith Energy permission to continue operating its fuel transport and storage facility in Northwest Portland, it did so with a number of conditions—in an attempt to limit further potential for local pollution. Environmental advocates who disagreed with the permit subsequently sued, and now a city attorney has admitted that the city does not believe it can enforce those compromise conditions at all. For the Mercury, Abe Asher has more.
Yippee! It’s time for another super fun edition of POP QUIZ PDX. In this week’s brainy trivia quiz: a Powell’s Books controversy, the spider that’s watching you as you sleep, and what chores should we give the invading National Guard? 🤔 See how well YOU score!
• For the first-ever installment of the Fresh Cuts, Mercury music editor Nolan Parker went big, scoring weird pop star Rico Nasty for an intimate performance. The idea: a mashup of florwer arranging class and smol show is pricey: with two tiers, topping out at $178. But that ticket includes both the show and the class—where Rico Nasty is the inspiration for a bouquet attendees get to take home.
IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS: • Law enforcement in Utah announced this morning that they believe they’ve arrested the person who killed conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. President Trump traced the details lightly on the morning show Fox and Friends—continuing a practice of allowing the President to break news about this particular political assassination. The President announced Kirk’s death via his social media platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday. It’s good TV, folks. It’s crocodile tears all the way down.
• Charlie Kirk was wrong about a great many things. It is unfortunate that shrieking dark clouds of his frenemy conservative pundits have descended to feast at the site of his violent murder, falling over themselves for attention. The President of the United States literally took two news exclusives. This is all for attention, and it’s sad.
• Authorities say they believe that Kirk’s shooter is 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. At a press conference Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said bullet casings recovered by police were engraved with messages like “if you read this you are gay LMAO,” and “hey fascist. catch.” Cox said that Robinson was turned in by someone close to him. Since there have been at least two widely-doxxed suspects at this point who turned out to be innocent, we should all reserve judgement for the foreseeable future.
• Sometimes I imagine the people who now have to explain to their loved ones that they were at that Charlie Kirk rally, from which they are now traumatized. This involves explaining who Kirk was—since he was actually not very known or liked on any widespread level. And then presumably this leads to a family investigation of one’s Youtube-watching history 😬.
• MSNBC announced Thursday that political commentator Matthew Dowd was no longer working with their network, following a comment Dowd made about Kirk’s “hateful words” leading to “hateful actions.” Dowd, a former strategist under President George W. Bush had been a political analyst for the network for over two decades.
• Actual American icons beloved eagle couple Jackie and Shadow face interlopers to their unsmirched wilderness, according to activists who watch the bird’s California nesting grounds. San Bernardino County supervisors voted to approve the development of a a gated 50-home community with a marina on the north shore of Big Bear Lake, LA Times reports. This is actually the same development that conservation non-profit Friends of Big Bear Valley was created to resist 25 years ago, they sued to stop it in the past and it appears they’re suiting up for another round.
• Ladies and gentlemen, they got him Brazilian Justices sentenced Jair Bolsonaro to over 27 years for plotting a military coup in 2022. It was Bolsonaro’s attempt to forcibly cling to power after losing the election.
Brazil’s supreme court finds Bolsonaro guilty of plotting military coup
Vancouver school staff authorize strike. A union bargaining team would determine timing of a strike, if needed.
VANCOUVER, WA – Leaders of the Vancouver Association of Educational Support Professionals say 80 percent of union members on Thursday night voted to authorize a strike if Vancouver Public Schools management and their union’s bargaining team are unable to reach agreement on a new contract. However, a strike date has yet to be determined.
“We remain hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement,” said VAESP President Chipo Sowards, who is a Media Clerk at Hudson Bay High School and Lincoln Elementary School. “What’s most important to us is the safety and well-being of our students and school staff and we hope district management will work with us on solutions.”
Mediation is expected to continue between union members and district representatives. The union said a session had been scheduled for Friday, September 12th.
VAESP reportedly represents more than 800 classified staff, including paraeducators, clerks, secretaries, technology support specialist, Braillists, and American Sign Language interpreters.
As authorities continue to remember lives lost on 9/11, two of Portland’s emergency services organizations will play a soccer match tonight at Providence Park in their memory, fielding former collegiate players who work for those departments.
Rick Graves with Portland Fire said why this annual gathering is important for the community.
“We recognized about a decade ago how great it would be if we came together on the soccer field to try and improve the communities that we serve,” Graves said.
Graves also said that while this is just one of many annual gatherings for competition, but there’s only one stat that matters in this game.
“We do have other opportunities throughout the year where police and fire are directly competing against one other,” Graves said. “So we do have moments like that where we do have a tally.”
“But the only tally taken is how many balls hit the net in the (back of) the opposing team’s goal,” Grave continued.
Entry into Providence Park is a donation of an unwrapped small toy or a can of non-perishable food. Gates on the corner of 20th and Morrison will open at 6pm and the ninth annual match starts at 7.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Crews battled a fire at a Southwest Portland home that had been converted into a church early Friday morning, authorities said.
According to Portland Fire & Rescue, crews responded to the church on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway just before 5:30 a.m., where flames were shooting from the roof.
As crews worked to douse the flames, officials said the fire spread to shrubs in front of the building.
Officials later said that visibility was good inside the building, so the fire was primarily on the outside.
One person was found in the building and made it safely outside. Authorities said they also rescued a cat from inside.
A cat was rescued from a SW Portland church during a fire (PF&R)
By 5:45 a.m., PF&R said the flames had been extinguished and crews remained on the scene to clean up.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Students in the La Center School District will likely be heading back to class on Monday.
The district announced Thursday night that it had reached a tentative agreement with the La Center Education Association, which has scheduled a ratification vote for Friday.
If the union approves the contract, class will begin on Sept. 15.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding during this process. We are looking forward to welcoming students back to their classrooms,” La Center Superintendent Peter Rosenkranz.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — It’s shaping up to be a huge weekend in downtown Portland.
The Timbers play at home Saturday, and the city’s first-ever Staycation is pulling locals back into the heart of the city.
But with MAX service shut down west of Providence Park, TriMet is scrambling to keep people moving.
The weeklong shutdown stretches from Providence Park to Sunset Transit Center, affecting both the Blue and Red MAX lines.
Crews are replacing 1,000 feet of overhead wire and repairing nearly 900 feet of track through the Robertson Tunnel.
Shuttle buses are replacing trains and are scheduled to run every five minutes on weekdays.
But packed buses are leaving some riders behind.
“I don’t think there’s any more room — I think that bus was full,” said Kelisha Williams, who was left waiting after the shuttle doors closed in her face. “Maybe it’s not going that great.”
With just 30 minutes to make an appointment in Beaverton, Williams called a rideshare and paid the price.
She’s not alone. Jaylen Ware, who lives in Hillsboro, says he left home 90 minutes early for his shift in Portland, and still arrived 30 minutes late.
“MAX has been my best friend for a long time,” he said. “Plan earlier, use the TriMet app, make sure that you are at least an hour out.”
TriMet says the project was planned months ago and remains on track to wrap up by Sunday. That includes final work through the Robertson Tunnel and nearby stops.
Still, Saturday’s Timbers fans will face disruptions.
TriMet says it will run express shuttles every seven minutes starting at 5 p.m., running nonstop between Sunset Transit Center and Providence Park.
After the game, return shuttles will pick up at SW 18th and Taylor.
The shutdown also overlaps with Portland Staycation, a three-day event designed to draw locals downtown for concerts, art, and food.
Events like the No Vacancies art walk are still happening, and organizers say there are no changes to the weekend schedule.
“Yeah, that would help a lot if they could go back to normal,” Williams added with a laugh.
MAX trains are expected to resume regular service Sunday morning.
OREM, Utah (AP) — The shooter who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk and then vanished off a roof and into the woods remained at large more than 24 hours later Thursday as federal investigators appealed for the public’s help by releasing photos of the person they believe is responsible.
Investigators obtained clues, including a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered hunting rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they had yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing they were treating as the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States across the ideological spectrum.
The photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeve black shirt, with a backpack, as well as a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest suggested that law enforcement thought tips from the public might be needed to crack the case. Two people who were taken into custody shortly after Wednesday’s shooting at Utah Valley University were later released, forcing officials to chase new leads on a separate person of interest they pursued Thursday.
During a news conference Thursday with FBI Director Kash Patel, authorities showed a video of the suspected shooter racing across the roof of the building where the shot was fired, dropping down to the ground and fleeing into the woods. In the process, officials say, the shooter left behind imprints, including a palm print, that investigators hope can yield clues to their identity.
Courtesy Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox pleaded for the public’s help in the search for the shooter.
“We have people all over the country trying to bring this perpetrator to justice,” he said, adding that the FBI had received more than 7,000 leads and tips.
He said they’re getting everything in order to pursue the death penalty.
Courtesy Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The direct appeals for public support at the nighttime news conference, including new and enhanced photos, appeared to signal law enforcement’s continued struggles a day and a half into the search to identify the shooter and pinpoint the person’s whereabouts.
Authorities didn’t take questions, and Patel did not speak at the news conference.
One clue in the investigation was a Mauser .30-caliber, bolt-action rifle found in a towel in the woods. A spent cartridge was recovered from the chamber, and three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition were being analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab.
The attack, carried out in a broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues from a university courtyard, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.
The videos show Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.
The shooter, who investigators believe blended into the campus crowd because of a “college-age” appearance, fired a single shot from the rooftop where they were perched before jumping off.
“I can tell you this was a targeted event,” said Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Salt Lake City.
Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., while Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, arrived Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City to visit with Kirk’s family. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and the 2024 election.
“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
Kirk’s casket was flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Phoenix, where his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based. Trump told reporters he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral. Details have not been announced.
Kirk was taking questions about gun violence Kirk was a conservative provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes-vehement debate on social issues.
He was shot while attending one such event Wednesday, a debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Center on campus in what was billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.”
The event generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue.”
Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”
One such provocative exchange played out immediately before the shooting, as he was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence when the shot was heard.
Some attendees who bolted after the gunshot rushed into two classrooms full of students. They used tables to barricade the door and to shield themselves in the corners. Someone grabbed an electric pencil sharpener and wrapped the cord tightly around the door handle, then tied the sharpener to a chair leg.
Madison Lattin was watching a few dozen feet from Kirk’s left when she heard the bullet hit him.
“Blood is falling and dripping down, and you’re just like so scared, not just for him but your own safety,” she said.
On campus Thursday, the canopy stamped with the slogan Kirk commonly used at his events “PROVE ME WRONG” stood, disheveled.
Kathleen Murphy, a longtime resident who lives near the campus, said she has been staying inside with her door locked.
“With the shooter not being caught yet, it was a worry,” Murphy said.
Meanwhile, the shooting continued to draw swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the attack, which unfolded during a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends,” said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A few Oregon locations have seen drought improvements this week thanks to thunderstorm activity.
The severe drought has started to peel away from the northeast coastal regions of Oregon with Thursday’s latest drought update. Lincoln City to Astoria is now under moderate drought conditions after much of the coast was under severe drought conditions this summer.
KOIN 6 Chief Meteorologist Josh Cozart shares Oregon’s latest drought situation as of September 11, 2025
Severe drought remains along the Willamette Valley as rain starts to become increasingly more frequent in Portland’s extended weather outlook.
Drought-free conditions have become more expansive for the southeastern sections of the Beaver State this week. Frequent thunderstorms and heavy downpours have helped clear much of the southeastern regions of the state of any drought.
The worst of the drought still remains in Oregon’s northeast corner. The state has nearly flip-flopped from the drought situation it was under in September of 2024. That’s when much of the western half of the state was under no drought or abnormally dry conditions.
Much of Portland’s current drought isn’t from September’s nearly 0.4″ rain deficit, but rather the over three-inch rain deficit seen since January 1, 2025.
Weekend rain is expected for the western half of the state as seasonal temperatures remain through the end of next week.
9/11/25 about 6:30pm There is a squirrel trapped in the empty groundfloor lobby of the building on the NW corner of 11th and Lovejoy. It’s empty inside, and the poor dear is franticly running back and forth in front of the windows trying to get out. I called the number on the front door and left a message (actually 2, got the address wrong the first time), but it’s unlikely they’ll get it before tomorrow. Worried they’ll think it’s a prank and won’t find the squirrel until it’s too late, a ghost. Can anyone please help this sweet rodent out? Security?
When the city of Portland permitted Zenith Energy to continue operating its fuel transport and storage facility in Northwest Portland three years ago, it did so on several conditions designed to limit potential harms to the environment.
The land use compatibility statement issued by the city requires Zenith to phase out its use of crude oil, reduce its storage tank capacity, and reduce other potentially toxic emissions. The company is also required to cease operations at its local asphalt refinery.
When the city initially granted Zenith the land use credential in 2022, a number of environmental groups argued the conditions did not go far enough in curtailing Zenith’s operations in Portland, which pose a major risk in the event of an earthquake. They did, at least in theory, provide a set of guardrails the company would have to abide by.
But a lawsuit has called the city’s ability to enforce those conditions into question.
Earlier this year, a coalition of environmental groups and Portland residents sued the city over its decision to grant Zenith a land use compatibility statement (LUCS)—arguing the city improperly failed to include opportunities for public involvement during the approval process.
The lawsuit is still in its preliminary stages, with the plaintiffs and the city currently battling over the venue in which the suit will be heard. But during a hearing in August, an attorney for the city turned heads by telling a judge that the city does not believe it can enforce the conditions in the LUCS at all.
Protesters rally against Zenith’s operations in Portland in February 2025. Environmental groups are suing the city of Portland over a land use credential they say the city shouldn’t have granted to Zenith. Taylor griggs
Environmental groups say the city shouldn’t have issued its stamp of approval with updated conditions if city staff knew they had limited capability to enforce the requirements listed in the LUCS.
“To me, it feels kind of like an admission that it was all bullshit the whole time,” Nick Caleb, an attorney with Breach Collective said of the inclusion of the conditions in the LUCS.
The city attorney’s office, led by Robert L. Taylor, has a different take: His office says that while the city itself cannot enforce the conditions in the LUCS, the state Department of Environmental Quality can.
The city can also, according to the city attorney’s office, enforce the conditions through its franchise agreement with Zenith, which enables the company to access the public right-of-way.
“It was important to the City to include its own ability to enforce the requirements,” the city attorney’s office wrote in a statement to the Mercury. “Therefore, the City captured the LUCS limitations as a requirement in its franchise agreement with Zenith. That is, if Zenith ever deviates from the limitations described in the LUCS, the City would be able to enforce those deviations via its franchise authority.”
Mary Stites, a staff attorney at the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, one of the organizations involved in the lawsuit, told the Mercury that the limitations in the LUCS—repeated in the franchise agreement—are the “only thing creating any semblance of an obligation” on the company.
Nevertheless, if the city believes it cannot enforce the conditions in the LUCS itself, it raises broader questions about why the city granted the LUCS in the first place.
In 2021, when Zenith first applied for the LUCS, the city denied it—explaining that the company’s continued operation in Portland would harm the environment and historically marginalized groups.
At that point, the city said its decision to deny the LUCS “reaffirms the City’s commitment to pursuing a clean energy future, addressing climate change and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.”
The next year, however, the city reversed course—conditionally granting Zenith the LUCS with the requirements included as a means of ensuring Zenith’s activities align with the comprehensive plan. The city auditor later found that Zenith violated the city’s lobbying code in pursuit of that LUCS. Following a new requirement from the Oregon DEQ, the city granted Zenith another LUCS earlier this year.
“If those conditions are what makes it compatible [with the comprehensive plan], claiming that those conditions are not enforceable—does that make this not compatible with the comprehensive plan?” Kate Murphy, senior community organizer at Columbia Riverkeeper, said. “Because you can’t have both, right?”
Caleb said that even though the conditions in the LUCS were framed as concessions from Zenith to the city’s environmental aims, it was never clear how they would be enforced.
The practice of including conditions in land use compatibility statements is relatively new and legally murky, and the city has thus far been unwilling to take action on Zenith’s franchise agreement—much to the dismay of City Council, which voted 11-1 in March in favor of a resolution demanding that Mayor Keith Wilson look into potential violations of the agreement.
The city attorney’s office, for its part, says it is keeping close tabs on Zenith.
“The City has been actively tracking and monitoring Zenith’s compliance with the franchise agreement requirements that parallel the requirements in the LUCS,” the city attorney’s office wrote. “At City Council’s request, the City has also hired an outside law firm to conduct a review of Zenith’s franchise agreement and enforcement measures available to the City.”
Zenith Energy did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Activists believe the city attorney’s position on the enforceability of the conditions in the LUCS may be driven by questions over which court will hear the current lawsuit.
The plaintiffs want the suit heard by the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), an appellate review body they believe is best equipped to understand and adjudicate a case like theirs. The city attorney’s office, on the other hand, contends that LUBA does not have jurisdiction and that the suit should be heard in county circuit court.
Caleb believes the city’s desire to get the case to circuit court, which does not have the same specialization in land use issues that LUBA does, is influencing how the city attorney has presented the situation with the conditions so far. If the conditions are a key part of the reason the LUCS was granted, he said, then the case would more likely stay at LUBA.
“The way to get to circuit court is to say the conditions don’t matter—but stepping back, I would hope that there is tension with the other parts of the city to say, ‘We’re relying on these conditions to justify to the public as to why we’re allowing Zenith to continue to operate’,” Stites said.
The city attorney’s office, meanwhile, is still arguing the LUCS it has granted—along with the parallel franchise—were the best case scenario for those concerned about Zenith’s presence in the city.
“Had the City not accepted the LUCS limitations in 2022 (or again in 2025) and simply denied the LUCS, LUBA and the courts would have almost certainly concluded that Zenith’s use is allowed outright without a single limitation,” the city attorney’s office wrote. “Including limitations in the LUCS—and the franchise—was a way for the City to put some limitations on Zenith’s operations.”
