PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🌴Just another manic Monday. Sunny and warm, high near 79. Portland goes quiet at 5pm as the USMNT faces Belgium in the World Cup Round of 16, with Providence Park hosting a sold-out watch party for 20,000. Also today: a deadly boating crash on the Willamette, and Woodstock's flower thief strikes again.

Woodstock's serial flower bandit is apparently back on her beat. Neighbors say a viral photo shows the same woman who's been swiping blooms around the neighborhood for months, this time cutting flowers outside Woodstock Elementary. Wayne Jiang recognized her instantly: same car, same dog. He caught her cutting his peonies about a month ago and found three laundry baskets full of stolen flowers in her car. His wife filed a police report, and posts in the Woodstock Facebook group turned up more victims, including someone whose pumpkins and Mother's Day flowers vanished too. Portland Police want tips. One neighbor's proposed sentence: invasive plant removal duty. Feels fair. KATU

Gov. Tina Kotek says Oregon has been a cheap date for data centers, and she wants that to change. Portland General Electric has proposed a 29% rate hike for data centers paired with a small cut for residential customers, the first real test of the state's new POWER Act. Data centers now use about 5.6% of PGE's power and are projected to hit 15%, meaning your bill has quietly been subsidizing server farms. Kotek says this is just the opening move. A state advisory group is expected to recommend broader data center policy this fall, with legislation likely in 2027. Regulators are due to finalize PGE's new rates July 7. There could end up being a savings up to 1.6% for residential customers. KPIC

A Fourth of July weekend boat trip on the Willamette turned deadly late Saturday near Sauvie Island. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office says a 33-foot cabin cruiser struck a dock's aluminum walkway around 11:24pm, killing a woman at the scene. Four others, including the boat's operator, were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. All aboard are believed to be adults. Crews from Sauvie Island Fire and American Medical Response responded near the 14900 block of Northwest Gillihan Road. Investigators haven't released the identities of those involved, and the cause remains under investigation. A grim coda to a holiday weekend that, until then, had gone mostly smoothly on Portland's waterways. KATU

St. Johns Heritage Association posted this on Facebook HERE. A photo from August 1933 shows the first and only time that the USS Constitution “Old Ironisides” visited Portland. You guys know I love ships!

July 6, 1967: Gov. Tom McCall signed the Oregon Beach Bill, guaranteeing public access to every mile of Oregon's coastline. Strong work, Governor!

If you’re going to steal my flowers, take the ones I don’t like please.

by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]