Not the most hopeful news morning we've ever seen, but let's press on anyway.
The 20-year-old who was allegedly driving recklessly when he ran down a 15-year-old girl on SE Hawthorne last week is from Saudi Arabia, and has been in the US for two years. He attended Portland Community College, but now he's in jail on a $1 million bond, facing manslaughter and reckless driving charges. The whole thing is terrible.
More in traffic deaths: A man who (allegedly) purposefully ran down a black teen in Gresham earlier this month has ties to a white supremacist prison gang. The Merc's Doug Brown has that story.
Here's a new twist in the whole Terminal 1 thing: After a Portland attorney followed through Monday with a threat to sue over the decision to (maybe) make the city-owned plot a homeless camp, City Commissioner Nick Fish is reportedly weighing whether to simply refuse to lease the land to the Portland Housing Bureau. “I’m in no hurry to authorize the lease and have asked for legal guidance on it.”
Park sweeps: The City of Portland is planning to push homeless campers out of both Laurelhurst Park and Delta Park in coming days. The big sweep of the Springwater Corridor has been scheduled for September 1.
Today in Taxes! Oregon hauled in more than $25 million from recreational pot taxes in the first seven months of 2016. We're on pace to hit more than $44 million for the year.
But also in taxes, the Trib interviewed Powell's Books owner Emily Powell, who's one of the loudest local voices speaking out against Measure 97, a $3 billion tax hike on some large businesses. She can't say exactly what the tax would do to Powell's, but she's theorizing bleakness. Count on hearing more from Powell as the vote on that approaches.
By the way, a 20-person citizen panel that spent days hashing over Measure 97 very narrowly voted to support the tax hike, 11 members to nine. It's going to be that kind of race.
Two recent drownings have prompted parks officials to close Kelley Point Park until they can install a bunch of signs to warn people against swimming.
“It’s gouging parents about their children’s lives. It’s not like letting them sniffle. It’s life or death.” The company that makes EpiPens—which are crucial for people with serious allergies—has ratcheted up the price six-fold in the last seven years.
Whoops. Turns out there are 15,000 more emails that have been plucked from Hillary Clinton's account, and they're probably going to be released—at least in part—before the November 8 election.
Those aren't the only e-mails either. A conservative group released a bunch more Monday, provided through a lawsuit, that show how people angled to use the Clinton Foundation to win favors in the State Department. For instance: "A sports executive who was a major donor to the Clinton Foundation and whose firm paid Bill Clinton millions of dollars in consulting fees wanted help getting a visa for a British soccer player with a criminal past."
Also, Clinton and Trump are more shady about their health records than most presidential nominees. Particularly Trump, who got a doctor to say he "“will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” Yup.
Lastly, the subject line of an email that JUST hit my inbox: "Research reveals porcupines prominent in many South Central Texas caves." You've been warned, Texans.
I can deal with this.
