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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! As summer withers away, you can expect another cool, dreary day with a high of 71 or 75, depending on your weather forecast source, and a chance of showers. 

In Local News:

  • Workers at the five unionized Burgerville locations in Portland say the company is illegally retaliating against union organizers. Employees reported they were locked out of their building after a strike last month over alleged unfair labor practices, and noted Burgerville used sites like Poached to hire temporary workers that were paid more than regular, full-time employees. Abe Asher has more in today's story.
  • ODOT workers have successfully removed two semi trucks that crashed into the Columbia River near Biggs Junction, east of The Dalles, off I-84. A portion of I-84 was closed Monday during the removal. ODOT says it's unclear how much diesel fuel may have spilled into the river after two trucks both left the roadway sometime late Friday night.

  • Summer may be ending in a few weeks, but there are still cool things to look forward to, like a supermoon this Wednesday. This week’s moon will be the closest and brightest so far this year, aaaaannnd, it will be a blue moon. Ooohh, ahhhh!

  • It's only Tuesday, but you're probably planning your Labor Day weekend. Our Everout team is here to help, with a day-by-day guide to the Portland metro area's live shows, cinema, good eats, and other notable events. Check out Lan Su Chinese Garden's Moonlight Market this Friday, or catch Janelle MonĂĄe Saturday in the Couve.

In National/World news:

  • Rapper Eminem wants millennial Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his music on the campaign trail. Despite a licensing agreement with Ramaswamy’s team, BMI recently issued a cease & desist letter, saying the rapper’s music was off limits. The candidate caught massive attention after rapping along to “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State Fair. (How many people in the crowd do you think chimed in for the “mom’s spaghetti” line?!) and recently noted in an interview that he used to perform as “Da Vek the Rapper” when he was at Harvard University. Whew, that’s a lot to chew on. Anyway, Ramaswamy is also in hot water for recently comparing Ayanna Pressley, a Black Democrat lawmaker from Massachusetts, to “a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan,” after dredging up comments she made in 2019. 

  • Hawaii’s power company recently owned up and took responsibility for the first fire that broke out in Maui, noting its power lines fell during high winds. The acknowledgement came after Maui County officials filed a lawsuit blaming Hawaiian Electric Company for not shutting off power soon enough. The company noted its poles had been de-energized for six hours prior to the second fire breaking out, and is now blaming firefighters for declaring the first blaze contained and leaving the scene before a second fire broke out nearby, causing catastrophic damage and killing at least 115 people. 

  • A school district in Southern California run by assholes is facing a lawsuit from the state over a policy that outs transgender children to their parents. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing the Chino Valley Unified School District in Chino, arguing its policy on transgender and nonbinary students puts kids in danger and discriminates against them. The recently enacted policy requires parental notification if a student asks to use pronouns or school facilities that don’t align with what’s on their official record. Other school districts in Southern California have enacted similar policies.

  • If you’ve ever wondered how ultra conservative religious zealots use the Bible to justify prejudice and hate, you’re not alone. Pope Francis recently blasted the “backwardness” of conservatives in the U.S. Catholic church, noting they’ve let ideology overshadow their faith. The remarks came during a private meeting with Portuguese members of his Jesuit religious order, PBS reports, while Francis was acknowledging division within the U.S. Catholic church.

     

    That's it for today's news roundup. If you're missing the heat today, I leave you with this:

 

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