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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!👋
And good morning, WEATHER! After a cloudy start to the day, expect the sun to say “HOWDY” this afternoon, with a high of 75. I can totally see the sun dreaming of being a cowboy, and then getting despondent after remembering it will never be anything more than a massive, hot ball of plasma made mostly of hydrogen and helium, that heats and illuminates our entire solar system. (Pal… I KNOW THE FEELING.) Anyway, let’s read some news.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Actually, before we get to the news, allow me to toot the Mercury horn… because our annual Fall Arts Guide drops today, online and in print on the streets of Portland in more than 500 spots citywide! 🎺🎉🥳 Edited and expertly curated by our own Suzette Smith, this Fall Arts Guide leaves all others in the dust, with articles including an excellent oral history of classic PDX club Satyricon, the most artistic plates of food in town, interviews with activist/author Stacey Abrams as well as Linda Austin of Performance Works Northwest, the best fall films, a comedy show (that’s also a wrestling match?), and so much more interesting fun! Check it out, biznatch!
• Flags across the state will be flown at half-staff today to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which killed 2,996 people. On Sunday, the flags at Oregon state public facilities will be lowered again—but this time to honor a single person: transphobic/antisemitic/homophobic Trump supporter (and promoter of violence) Charlie Kirk who was killed yesterday by a sniper. While announcing the flag lowerings—which were ordered by President Trump—Gov. Tina Kotek commented on the honor being bestowed to Kirk, saying “This attack is inexcusable. Violence has absolutely no place in our democracy. America is better than this.” No one is lowering flags for the children shot yesterday at a Colorado high school. 🤔
• There are times when I think the Oregonian has lost its mind:
• Surprise, COVID-19 is back and getting a jump on the fall and winter season by infecting lots of kids across the state already, mere days after a new school year started… and just in time for the RFK Jr.’s new and worsened CDC to issue confusing and restrictive COVID vaccine protocols. CVS recently walked back their previous promise to provide vaccines to certain populations, and now requires a doctor’s prescription to get the shot. At this time, no one is lowering their flags to half-staff to honor the 1,226,351 confirmed American deaths from COVID-19 so far.
• Heads up, the well-traveled Broadway Bridge will be closed to motorized traffic for a whopping six months, from October 13 to April 11, 2026, according to county officials. Pedestrians and cyclists will still be able to use the bridge for most of the time, as will the Portland Streetcar which will have a modified schedule. The closure is happening in order to replace the bridge’s deck, which according to officials, is “retaining water and the structural beams have begun to fail.”
• And don’t you dare miss this week’s excellent edition of HEAR IN PORTLAND, Jenni Moore’s regular column that covers the Portland hip-hop scene. This week: The Black and Loud Fest, a hot new release from Alana Rich, queer icon (and Mean Girls: The Musical star) Reneé Rapp, and more!
San Cha’s Inebria me is the Time-Based Art Festival performance we prayed for.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) September 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• As briefly mentioned earlier, yesterday three teenagers were victims of a shooting spree at Evergreen High School in a Denver, Colorado suburb. One of the teens died—the suspected shooter who perished from self-inflicted wounds—while another was critically injured. The third victim is currently in stable condition. This same area was the scene of the infamous Columbine school shooting of 1999, in which 14 people were killed, including one who died earlier this year due to complications from her injuries. So far, no motive has been given for this most recent shooting. Since 2000, at least 515 people have died and 1,161 have been injured as a result of school shootings.
• In other gun violence news, popular (at least among certain segments of the population) MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed yesterday while speaking at Utah Valley University near Salt Lake. The shooter, who fired at Kirk from a rooftop roughly 140 yards away, has not been captured, though authorities say he is of “college age,” and they have found a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle” in a nearby wooded area. Kirk is credited for helping Trump win his most recent election by turning out the youth vote, all the while spouting transphobic, homophobic, as well as racist and antisemitic rhetoric and is famously known for saying that some gun deaths are “worth it” to protect peoples’ second amendment rights. Trump is (as expected) apoplectic over the shooting, and has ordered the nation’s flags to be flown at half-staff. Republicans are unsurprisingly blaming Democrats, as a group, for the increase in political violence, and are far more upset about this than yesterday’s Colorado school shooting—even though a clear line can be drawn between these deaths and the staunch Republican refusal to curb the distribution of guns.
• This tracks:
President Donald Trump began his comments at a ceremony commemorating the deaths on Sept. 11, 2001, by announcing that he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to slain MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk.
— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) September 11, 2025 at 7:30 AM
• Meanwhile the nation’s inflation rate got even WORSE last month—thanks to Trump-onomics—as consumer prices increased 2.9% in August over this time last year. Prices continue to soar for groceries, gas, clothing, and airfares, as the job market is also weakening. This puts federal policymakers are in a verrry sticky position, as short-term borrowing rates are usually cut when the unemployment numbers get too high, and are raised (or stays the same) when inflation hits a dangerous point. So what will they do when both are happening? The next few days will tell.
Inflation moved higher last month as the price of gas, groceries, hotel rooms and airfare rose, along with the cost of clothes and used cars.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) September 11, 2025 at 5:52 AM
• Surprise, surprise: Republicans have blocked a Democratic attempt to force the Trump administration to release the Epstein files–even as two GOP senators broke ranks to vote in favor of it. The Senate voted 51-49 to block the measure, even after the revelation of a birthday card that was given to Epstein (containing a crudely drawn naked female form) and which was allegedly signed by President Trump.
• And finally… what do you say to an ADORABLE RED PANDA timeline cleanse?
@funnypetsoftiktok68 Funny red panda #fun #funny #funnyanimals #redpanda #funnyredpanda #funnytiktok #fyp #fypシ #foryou #redpanda ♬ Lil Boo Thang – Paul Russell
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Wm. Steven Humphrey
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