First of all, I'm taking over Matt Davis's slot on the KPOJ Morning Show, so you can now hear a condensed audio version of the Mercury news section every Thursday morning at 8 AM on the radio. Today's show is already up online, where you can listen to me discuss pie and drunken sailors in my gruff morning voice.
Anyway, here are this week's headlines:
Sinking Ship: Prisons Try to Improve Mental Health Services; They Cut Them Instead. Oh, the Irony.Heat Week: The Rose Festival isn't all family fun and funnel cake. Crime spikes thanks, in part, to drunken sailors.
In the Shadows: Bike Patrol! Hit the streets with the parole officers who bike around Portland's unsavory areas and cheap hotels, looking for guys who have skipped out on parole.
A Handful of Tickets: A lawyer weighs in on why the TriMet driver who accidentally killed two pedestrians will be receiving only traffic tickets.
Hall Monitor: Respectful Silence. My first City Hall column details times when it's better just to shut up (like when the mayor, thank God, refrained from tweeting during a funeral).