🌱Mayor Utters Salty Language + Hoodlums Use Flamethrowers In Takeover

Hey, everyone, it's another Friday in Portland and that makes me want to do my little Friday dance. Our mayor got a bit testy in the last City Council meeting, flamethrowers are being used at illegal street takeovers and pilots are creating obscene gestures in the sky. Grab a chair, I've got a lot to tell you.

First, today's weather:

Morning clouds clear out giving us a sunny afternoon with a high of 87. Now this is pleasant.

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

1. Mayor Ted Wheeler used some salty language during this week's City Council meeting. This was in response to Police Chief Chuck Lovell's claim that poor police response time was due to critical staffing shortages. Lovell had just presented the Police Bureau's annual report to City Council. In it, the report noted that the bureau began 2021 with not enough officers to achieve the minimal staffing required to respond to 911 calls. (Willamette Week)
2. It's not just the police who have poor response times. Portland Fire & Rescue's (PFR) response times to fires and medical emergencies are lagging behind national standards, placing Portlanders' lives at risk daily, according to an analysis of the department presented to City Council Tuesday morning. Gary attributed PFR's response delays to a variety of problems, including traffic congestion, too much space between fire stations, understaffed stations and 911 operators taking too long to ask a caller critical questions. (Portland Mercury)
3. The arrest of a man accused of killing his former partner has put a spotlight on the Portland Freedom Fund, the nonprofit group that bailed him out of jail one week earlier. Mohamad Osman Adan was being held on charges stemming from repeated incidents of violence and threats towards Racheal Abraham, the mother of his children. This was neither the first time something like this has happened, nor is PFF alone in such missteps. A separate bail fund group called the Northwest Community Bail Fund has been criticized for multiple similar incidents in Washington. (KGW)
4. No wonder the police are having trouble in Portland. We've got people using flamethrowers! Hundreds of individuals took over a Portland intersection at Northeast 72nd and Sandy on Sunday evening for 90 minutes. At least one individual had a flamethrower, and three people were shot, with one person killed. One neighbor stated that she witnessed as many as 500 people in the street as mayhem erupted. “There were cars parked on the median,” the eye-witness recalled. “The entire intersection was completely taken over.” (Daily Wire)
5. Finally! A bit of good news! Oregon’s tax and lottery revenues have been so good that they could push the state’s unique “kicker” tax rebate up by another $500 million, according to the latest quarterly forecast that economists presented to lawmakers on Wednesday. That would bring the total “kicker” rebate to $3.5 billion, which taxpayers would receive as a credit or refund on their 2023 taxes when they file in 2024. Those same economists, however, noted that Oregon's economic future is so unpredictable that they took the unusual step of preparing two economic and revenue forecasts: one based on a future recession and another where it is avoided. (The Oregonian)

Today in Portland:

• Don't Stick Your Fingers Into the Hole! No, seriously, Don't Stick Your Fingers Into the Hole will be performed at 21ten Theater. An original sketch show by two beautiful idiots. You'll laugh, you'll cry (from laughing), you'll scream and flee in terror (from laughing). Showtime is 7:30 p.m.
• It's an evening with The Harp Twins at The Old Church Concert Hall. Identical twin harpists Camille and Kennerly Kitt have achieved extraordinary success by taking Electric Harps and Concert Grand Harps to unprecedented levels and smashing boundaries between different genres of music. 8 - 10 p.m.
• If you want a night of comedy, head to Rogue Eastside Pub for the Dead Comics Society. Join your host Chase Brockett alongside Portland's best comedic talent, including some special guests and national drop-ins! Doors open at 6:45 p.m.
• For some skateboard related art, check out the Summer skate Deck show at ADX. Over 50 artists are participating and will be on hand from 4-5 for an artists reception. Come check out their work, get to know them, meet new people, check out the ever evolving creative space that is ADX and snack on some treats. 2 - 8 p.m.
• For an absolutely fabulous night, go to Galore! Drag in Abundance! at the Clinton Street Theater. GALORE! is a spectacle of maximalism! An evening of queer performance art in excess! Drag in abundance, darling! Prepare to gag! Showtime is 9 p.m.

From my notebook:

• Portland Art Museum: "📣 Mark your calendars for Free Museum Day on Saturday, September 17, organized by “Smithsonian Magazine,” with 450 participating cultural organizations nationwide. Free admission tickets can be reserved online in advance starting Wednes..." (Portland Art Museum via Instagram)
• Travel Portland: "@TheDandyWarhols headline this weekend's @LoseYrMindFest '22, which has a lineup of 23 bands in multiple venues across Portland. This is the 8th year for this annual independent music festival celebrating some of the best artists in rock..." (Travel Portland via Instagram)
• Multnomah County officials are being proactive when it comes to Monkeypox. They're implementing a strategy commonly used during the early AIDS crisis: Partnering with queer community spaces to disseminate public health information. At bars like CC Slaughters and Scandals, Portlanders will find information about preventing the spread of MPV, symptoms, getting tested, and more. (Eater PDX)
• Are you in the mood for some Bundt cake? The popular bake shop, Nothing Bundt Cakes, is celebrating their 25th anniversary with a big giveaway. The five Portland-area locations will be handing out a total of 250 cakes on Thursday. (KOIN)
• Well, tell us how you really feel. One pilot made an aerial comment on their opinion of Washingtom State and made sure it was a big one. A flight monitoring map reveals that on Monday, a pilot flew over Washington state and gave the state the bird. The Bellingham Herald broke the news that this flight chart first appeared on Reddit in a post titled “Looks like a Survey Pilot’s last day today.” (KPTV)
• All the talk lately has been about the summer heat, but what will winter bring? If you're curious, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has released its winter weather predictions for the 2022-2023 season. According to North America’s oldest continuously published periodical, winter will be mild and a little dry for much of the Pacific Northwest. "Not so!" says the competing Farmer’s Almanac publication, which predicts more normal precipitation levels for the Pacific Northwest. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. (KOIN)

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Sounds like it's going to be a wild ride this Friday. Hopefully I've provided some useful intel for your day. If you think so, meet me back here tomorrow and we'll do it all over again.

— Dominic Anaya

About me: Doctor, educator and now a writer/artist, I'm just chillin' in Portland, OR with my wife, our ferrets, our chickens and our goats.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Portland Daily? Contact me at portland@patch.com