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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! It's going to get hot again after a few rather cool days (there's a cheeky little heat advisory in place for tomorrow), so prepare for that in whatever way you know how. Also, it's the last day of July, meaning the Mercury's Summer of Slushies is over tomorrow! You know what to do. 🍹

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• It's fair to think Portland Commissioner Rene Gonzalez's identity as a proud "registered Democrat" and Kamala Harris supporter is becoming increasingly strange, especially after he praised far-right agitator Andy Ngo last week (though he hasn't really shied away from making public his conservative beliefs in the past, even before he was elected). Evidently, attendees at the Multnomah County Democratic's annual picnic earlier this month are also suspicious of Gonzalez, as several audience members apparently booed when he was introduced at the event. (I love local politics.) Read the rest of the juicy details in Abe Asher's latest story.

• Wildfires have burned over one million acres in Oregon so far this summer 🙁. As of yesterday, there have been over 100 active fires reported in Oregon, with five "megafires" (100,000 acres or more) currently burning. Firefighters are making some progress, and were especially aided by the recent cooler temperatures and slight rain, but with temps set to get hotter again, the road ahead does not look easy. 

• Albina Vision Trust, the nonprofit dedicated to restoration of Portland's historically Black lower Albina neighborhood (which was bisected in the 1960s by I-5 construction), has a new partner: The Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers, which obviously have a stake in the neighborhood as Rose Quarter residents, will elevate and amplify the cause of Albina revitalization. But it's not 100 percent clear what the team's role will be in these efforts. Regardless, I love to see the marriage of sports and urban planning, which honestly go hand-in-hand more than you might think. 

• In an astute (and quite possibly "based") statement yesterday, Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said she won't use county jails to penalize homeless people under Portland's new time and place camping ban. Morrissey O'Donnell said she believes "we need to utilize the corrections system as a place for people who pose a genuine danger to the public, and that does not include individuals whose only offense is living unsheltered." 

"Arresting and booking our way out of the housing crisis is not a constructive solution," she continued. 

Damn! What does it say when a sheriff has some of the better politics about homelessness than the majority of other local officials? I guess that the bar is low. Nonetheless, good for her. (Even if her stance has caused some contention with Mayor Ted Wheeler.) 

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Ismail Haniyeh, one of the senior leaders of Hamas, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Iran after he "participated in the inauguration of Iran's new president" yesterday. A statement from Hamas declared "brother leader Ismail Ismail Haniyeh a martyr,” while Israeli leaders have not commented on the killing. Also yesterday, an Israeli airstrike in Beirut apparently killing a top Hezbollah commander (according to Israel). The strike in Beirut also killed at least one woman and two children and wounded dozens of civilians. 

• Kamala Harris, who will almost certainly be the Democratic nominee for president this fall, apparently plans to host her first rally with a running mate on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Who will that running mate be? Well, we don't know yet, but will find out sooner than we thought! The choice of Philadelphia as a place to host the debut rally (ahead of a tour in several swing states) has some people thinking/worrying she might be picking Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. But one Harris campaign aide "cautioned against reading too much into the first city chosen for the tour," per Politico, so perhaps us Tim Walz/Andy Beshear fans still stand a chance. 

• Team USA, led by superstar Simone Biles, took home the gold at the gymnastics all-around final at the Olympic Games yesterday. This is a particularly momentous occasion because Biles had to take a step back from the sport after suffering from the "twisties" at the Tokyo games three years ago, rendering her incapable of performing the magical feats she can usually do with ease. Luckily, most people were very understanding back then (I mean, come on, Biles has me beat 100-fold in the "walking down the street" challenge. She's amazing.), but it still makes sense that this would be an especially exciting moment for her and the rest of the American gymnastics team. GTG watch the highlights now! 

• Bad news, boars. Like, really, though. Boar's Head, the deli meat company, is recalling an additional seven million pounds of deli meat due to a deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning. This is on top of an earlier recall of more than 200,000 pounds of meat, and includes 71 products made between May 10 and July 29, including liverwurst, ham, bologna, and more. The ongoing listeria poisoning outbreak has killed two people in the United States, and caused more than 30 people to become hospitalized. Moral of the story: Stay away from Boar's Head products for the foreseeable future. 

• Finally, your required (or at least heavily recommended) dose of cute animals, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo. BYE BYE!