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Protestors in front of Zenith energy Tuesday morning. Isabella Garcia

In local news:

• Former state Rep. Mike Nearman pled guilty to official misconduct during the Oregon Capitol insurrection. Nearman allowed armed demonstrators to enter the state capitol in December of last year. Nearman is banned from the Capitol grounds for 18-months, must serve 80 hours of community service, and pay $2,900 in fines.

• I haven’t been able to stop thinking about eating sushi ever since I read Janey Wong’s review of Mitate this morning. You’ve been warned:

The new Mitate food cart’s vegan sushi is virtually indistinguishable from its fish-filled counterpart—AND is both fresh tasting and delicious. Our Janey Wong (@janey_san ) has the review.https://t.co/X7z1suEXTu
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) July 27, 2021

• Environmental activists staged both land and water protests this morning in front of Zenith Energy’s oil facility in northwest Portland. The protestors expect the city to greenlight the company’s terminal expansion next month and are preparing to mobilize Portland and Vancouver-based environmental advocacy organizations in response. (Zenith is one of the facilities in Portland’s industrial hub—you know, the one that will cause the largest oil spill in the world when the overdue Cascadia earthquake hits.)

More than 2200 firefighters fight the Bootleg fire in southern Oregon. The largest in the US, the fire has consumed about 410 thousand acreshttps://t.co/56l1acETtv
— OPB (@OPB) July 26, 2021

• While I am shocked and appalled at how quickly this summer is flying by, the Mercury’s Burger Week makes the transition to August a little easier!

Hallelujah! Portland’s fave food event, the Mercury’s BURGER WEEK, returns Aug 16-22! Check out the list of participating burger joints here! 🍔https://t.co/usKCAd7HCr
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) July 26, 2021

In national news:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in parts of the county where COVID-19 cases are surging. CDC officials are concerned about vaccinated peoples’ ability to carry and spread the aggressive and highly-transmissible Delta variant.

OHA releases some comments about today’s big spike; says it is reviewing the latest CDC masking guidance.

The CDC guidance would apply to 25 Oregon counties, based on case rates. https://t.co/yTIX2pDh0M
— Brad Schmidt (@_Brad_Schmidt) July 27, 2021

• Capitol police and other first responders started testifying about their experiences during the January 6 insurrection today. The officers have described being beaten, feeling like they were going to die, and the lasting mental health impacts they are experiencing over six months later.

• In response to a surge in border crossings, the Biden administration is devising a 21-point plan to assess asylum cases more quickly. The plan would allow asylum seekers to bypass immigration courts which currently have a backlog of 1.2 million cases.

Hong Kong has issued its first guilty verdict under a sweeping national security law.

Last year, Tong Ying-kit was arrested after driving a motorcycle into police while bearing a flag that read “Liberate Hong Kong.” Tong was charged with inciting secession and terrorism. pic.twitter.com/jKRPhTmztd
— NPR (@NPR) July 27, 2021

• From the makers of HUMP! and SPLIFF comes a new film fest that features short documentaries made by YOU! It’s called SCOOP! and you can find out more about it here.

• I admittedly have not been closely following the Olympics this year, but I’m going to go out on a limb and declare this as one of my favorite photos from the games.

I am obsessed with the stance on this sharpshooter pic.twitter.com/DagufxorxL
— Zoe! That’s Me! (@Blankzilla) July 26, 2021

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