Things Got Rowdy at Portland's #ShellNo Actions: After 13 activists suspended themselves from a bridge in Portland, temporarily preventing the passage of a Shell ship needed for Arctic drilling, Shell went to the courts. Then, the Coast Guard and Portland police dragged kayaktivists off the water and cut enough of the suspended protesters down from the bridge to make way for Shell's ship to pass. Oh yeah, and a guy locked himself BY THE NECK to a railroad bridge and was arrested. All in 100-degree weather. Eventually, Shell's ship made its very anti-climatic escape and is now on its way to Alaska.
Howdy from the rail bridge. #YouShellNotPass #ShellNo #PDXvsShell .@Shelby_king pic.twitter.com/6qoPXO6F0y
â Portland Rising Tide (@pdxrisingtide) July 30, 2015
Apparently there's no money in Oregon State Police budget for megaphones. Photo via @Oregonian #ShellNo #ShellNoPDX pic.twitter.com/IZ2DPBnkUz
â Jarrod Lyman (@jarrodlyman) July 30, 2015
Two law enforcement officers now hanging off bridge in between activists. #LiveOnK2 pic.twitter.com/xzRElB2vpO
â Hillary Lake, KATU (@hillarylake) July 30, 2015
Multnomah Co Sheriff boat running over kayaker #ShellNo https://t.co/HYqLdx00Qn
â GetOffMyLawn (@bishopwsu) July 31, 2015
Talked to 2 people detained but arrested. Apparently very few got booked. A lot of stories about dangerous behavior by cops #ShellNo
â Shelby King (@shelby_king) July 31, 2015
Oh, and One More Thing: Shell's profits are falling.
New Federal Funding Gets Us One Step Closer to an Earthquake Early Warning System: Even though the big one is on everyone's minds because of that New Yorker article, the Seattle Times' megaquake expert Sandi Doughton reports that the funding was in the pipeline before that story came out. "Early warning works by detecting the initial seismic waves from an earthquake, then beaming an alert before the strongest shaking begins," Doughton explains. "For quakes that originate nearby, the warning time may be only a few seconds. But in the case of a Cascadia megaquake, Seattle, Portland and other inland cities could get several minutesâ warning before the shaking starts."
It Is So Goddamn Hot: Record-breaking hot, KOMO reports. I tried to find you some advice from Dan about how to feel sexy when you're overheated and sticky and being trapped next to another human's body heat sounds nothing short of excruciating. But I couldn't. So you're just going to have to figure it out yourself.
Even the Water in the Sound Is Warmer Than Usual: Can we blame it on climate change? Not quite yet, Sydney reports: "It's mostly natural variability. But what we're seeing this year is a preview of climate change for years to come."
The Edith Macefield House Won't Be Demolished: The famous holdout's house will be moved instead.
Outside Special Interest Money Continues to Pour into City Council Races: More than $275,000 at last count.
Guys, Seriously? Just 11 percent voter turnout in the primary statewide so far?
WA Primary ballot return still lagging, to put it mildly. Now 11.3%, w/ 382k returned. Dropbox/postmark deadline (8/4) just days away.
â Secretary of State (@secstatewa) July 29, 2015
I Know Stamps Are Annoying, but Otherwise Voting in This Election Could Not Be Easier: Step 1: Your ballot arrives. Directly to your house. Step 2: You do what we tell you. Step 3: You mail it back or drop it in one of these drop boxes. Come on already.
As a Reward, Mac and Cheese Pizza Is Coming: I repeat: Mac. And. Cheese. Pizza. And it's coming courtesy of some business owners who are totally into the $15-an-hour minimum wage, Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reports. A dream come true.