PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🍦Wednesday. I have melted. I am goo. Heat advisory holds through tonight- expect a sunny 97°. Multnomah County ran a cooling center at Bud Clark Commons (650 NW Irving) yesterday; check multco.us/hot for today's status. Also today: Southeast Portland's Black Futures Farm, a knife-throwing arrest near NE Brazee, and a Portland couple's frozen pretzel business. The Timbers are still set to play tonight, but with a heat advisory and fans are allowed to bring their own sealed drinks inside tonight.

Judith and Dan Rich left New York burned out and swore they'd never move to Portland , then they visited Mississippi Avenue one summer and changed their minds. Twelve years later, Dan's turned his "pizza DNA" and an Ooni oven into D's Knots, a frozen pretzel business run out of their house. The name's a wink at a decade-old meme, and yes, it's intentional. Four varieties: salted, plain, everything, vegan sold frozen, reheated at home. Dan's pie-in-the-sky dream is landing a spot at the Moda Center, "but only if the Blazers stay." They've been popping up at Steeplejack Brewing and partnering with Leikam Brewing and Besties. Portland Tribune

Tucked into the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood in Southeast Portland, Black Futures Farm turns 1.15 acres of former city land into rows of kale, collards, figs and sunflowers — and a gathering space built specifically for Black community. Mirabai Collins and Malcolm Hoover started the project in 2019 out of a smaller effort called We Grow PDX, then broke ground on the farm itself on MLK Day 2020 with more than 150 volunteers. It's now part of the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, a Metro Community Placemaking grantee, and the mission goes beyond growing vegetables: it's about food sovereignty, land access, and giving Black Portlanders a place to gather that's entirely their own. Oregon Metro

A 33-year-old man is facing a stack of felony charges after Tuesday's incident near Northeast Brazee Street and 122nd Avenue went sideways fast. Police say Stephen Scazzafavo assaulted a work crew, hitting one employee with a bicycle pump and smashing their vehicle, before officers arrived and things escalated further. He allegedly threw a knife at responding officers — it missed them but cracked a patrol car's windshield — then fled on foot, waving a metal hiking stick and a flashlight rigged as a stun gun. He was eventually caught. One officer suffered a minor injury. Scazzafavo now faces charges including attempted assault of a police officer, menacing, and unlawful use of a stun gun. Portland Tribune

Fry Baby: I read about this Korean/American food cart the other day in the list I shared of Portland Mercury’s top 20 food carts and had to see for myself. The owner Sunny Hatch told me his most popular dishes were the Snow Cheese chicken, the Gochujang chicken, and Kimchi mac- so I tried them all! Absolutely amazing dishes- I especially liked the Snow Cheese- it’s so crunchy and flavorful. I made a little video about it HERE and their website is HERE. You can find them at the Heist on Woodstock.

On July 22, 1926, the Astoria Column opened to the public, 125 feet of hand-painted history on Coxcomb Hill, still standing watch over the mouth of the Columbia.

The World Cup is over and we get our teams back - RCTID!

by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]