Happy Fourth of July weekend, Weekend Reader readers! 

Hope your holiday weekend thus far has been as pleasant as the one being enjoyed by Florida billionaire David Hoffmann. Hoffman is the new chairman of the board of Lee Enterprises, which owns the Gazette-Times and the Democrat-Herald. You can learn more about Hoffmann in this weekend’s editions of the G-T and the D-H, which feature a very flattering three-story, 4,000-word package about him written by a Lee senior reporter, David McCumber. As Poynter reports, every Lee publication was ordered to run the same package of stories on their front pages over the holiday weekend. 

I spent nearly 40 years working for Lee newspapers, and I can’t recall a similar order coming from Davenport, the Iowa city where Lee is headquartered. With some exceptions, the company gave its newsrooms wide latitude about coverage decisions. Hoffmann is talking a good game about investing in those newsrooms and the importance of newspapers, but so did Jeff Bezos before he began gutting The Washington Post. The track record of billionaires owning newspapers isn’t great, and this bended-knee display from Lee toward the new boss isn’t encouraging.

Speaking of the Gazette-Times: Reporter Cody Mann checks in with a solid story asking what the community should do with the iconic Benton County Courthouse now that all the courts and attendant functions (like the district attorney’s offices, but not the jail) are set to move into a new building by the Hewlett-Packard campus.

Here’s the hard question: It would be unconscionable to have people working in a building that likely will collapse into a deathtrap in the event of a serious earthquake. So, first, what’s the price tag for the required seismic work at the courthouse? And – once again – what do we do with the jail, which (as Mann reports) likely would be crushed if the courthouse collapses? As we have shown repeatedly, we don’t want to pay for a new jail. It would be splendid if someone came up with a courthouse proposal that didn’t bankrupt taxpayers – and also had a jail solution. But I have to be honest: That’s a big ask. 

Kylie Mohr, writing in High Country News, reports how people are using prediction markets like Polymarket to bet on wildfires with questions like “Will my hometown burn from a wildfire this season?” Not only is this reprehensible behavior, Mohr reports how it could encourage arsonists – about the last thing we need in our drought-ridden region this summer.

Whatever else you may be thinking about the Men’s World Cup, it’s giving a boost to Latino-owned businesses in Oregon – and they needed it after detentions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents spread fear among those businesses and their clientele. The Oregon Capital Chronicle’s Mia Maldonado checked out a crowded Gresham flea market and restaurant during a World Cup game featuring Mexico. 

A proposed measure that would effectively ban hunting, fishing and other animal-related activities has moved one big step closer to November’s ballot, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh reports for OregonLive/The Oregonian. Backers of the initiative say they expect it will fail in November, but they’re playing a long game. 

To mark America’s 250th birthday, The Associated Press asked its photojournalists to capture enduring symbols of the United States, both at home and overseas. The resulting collection is impressive – and, for me, it triggered a variety of emotions. 

I rarely tout features from my employer, Lookout Eugene-Springfield, in the Weekend Reader – mostly because, as the name suggests, we focus on Lane County news. But the AP photo project reminded me of a feature we published today in which we bought an American flag, hauled it all over Lane County, and  asked people what they were thinking about America today. We got thoughtful (and often hopeful) responses and our excellent photographer, Isaac Wasserman, got great photos, if I say so myself. 

The New York Times has a list of 10 “definitive” movies about America. Let’s just call it an eclectic list. The Times also let its readers nominate their choices – and their top pick was Mike Judge’s scathing 2006 satire “Idiocracy,” which tells you something about our times. (Actually, though, the top-five list from readers is a good one.) 

The Pac-12 Conference is officially back, but with just two of its former members – Oregon State and Washington State. Jon Wilner, the outstanding Bay Area sportswriter, explains in this article how the two universities managed to rebuild the conference to a point where it could be ready for the next wave of athletic conference realignment. (And here’s hoping that Wilner keeps an eye on the Pac-12, even though the two California schools now in the conference aren’t in the Bay Area.)

In the words of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, this does sound like an episode of “Parks and Recreation”: Members of the Oregon congressional delegation recently collaborated to decide which items representing the state would be appropriate to place in a time capsule to mark the nation’s 250th birthday. The final selection includes sheet music, the state’s gemstone, socks and – in what I thought was an inspired selection – a mailed ballot. Perhaps my most fervent hope for the United States is that, when the congressional time capsule is opened in 2276, people don’t pull out the ballot and wonder what it is. 

The really good news about today is that it should mark the high point for the use of the word “semiquincentennial,” which just is not a word I’m crazy about. Nothing against 250th-year celebrations or the Fourth of July; I just don’t like the word. If I make it another 50 years, I’ll be more comfortable with the word “tricentennial.” 

What I’m reading: “Erasure,” Percival Everett’s pitch-black 2001 satire about books and race in America. (The book was adapted into the recent movie “American Fiction,” and won an Oscar nomination for star Jeffrey Wright.)

What I’m watching: A concert version of Paul Simon’s most recent album, the introspective and moving “Seven Psalms,” on Hulu. Also: “Hoppers,” a charming Pixar offering that may not be first-rate Pixar but still is pretty good. Also: “Disclosure Day,” which is fun but is not – despite what the Times may tell you – one of the 10 most definitive movies about America. Tonight, though, I might see if one of my streamers has “Idiocracy” available.

Let’s keep our pets safe tonight, see if we can win any money betting that our hometowns will (or won’t) burn, and gather here next weekend to spend the proceeds. Have a safe Fourth.