A statewide measure that could roll out ranked choice voting around Oregon is on the November ballot. I’m a fan of ranked choice voting, but I have concerns about the measure.

In his new column for the Oregon Capital Chronicle, Randy Stapilus outlines some of the issues surrounding Measure 117, which would expand ranked choice voting to federal and state elections. (Legislative races would still be decided by plurality; cities, counties or school districts could choose to adopt ranked choice voting. Corvallis already uses ranked choice voting; as I’ve written before, that’s a big reason why Charles Maughan is mayor. Maughan is listed as a supporter of Measure 117.)

You’ll recall that ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate gets a majority of the first-choice votes, that candidate wins. If nobody gets a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and the second-choice votes for that candidate are distributed to the remaining candidates; the process continues until a candidate gets a majority of the votes. In theory, the system gives an advantage to candidate who have the broadest appeal — which is why I’m a fan.

But I have a big concern about rolling this out statewide: The system puts added pressure on county election clerks, who already are under strain. The legislative bill that put Measure 117 on the ballot asks only that the secretary of state and county clerks prepare a report outlining the costs of implementing ranked choice voting — which is a step forward, but it’s no guarantee that the necessary resources will be allocated. So it’s not surprising that the Oregon Association of County Clerks is among Measure 117’s opponents. This will be an interesting race to watch this fall.

Speaking of the Oregon Capital Chronicle: Reporter Alex Baumhardt got her hands on a report concluding that drought in the Pacific Northwest has reduced the amount of hydropower that regional dams generated over the past two decades — and has cost the region roughly $28 billion.

It may not be the full-throated revival of print media that many of us (still) are hoping for, but it’s a start: The Onion, once a satirical print publication that then evolved into a satirical website, is reviving its print edition. It’ll be a monthly print publication mailed to all of the subscribers to its, ahem, website. This New York Times story has video of the print edition rolling off the press for those of us who miss that sight — or for those of you who never have seen it before.

More good news for legacy media: A new study finds that the more readers tapped into traditional media — you know, outlets that pay for professional reporters and editors — were less likely to fall prey to election misinformation. And as I type those words, I’m thinking, “Yeah, duh,” but, you know, any port in a storm. Nieman Lab had this summary of the research.

Here’s a story that caught the eye of the lonely souls on the Weekend Reader’s Grammar & Style Desk: The Associated Press, which you usually want on your side in any battle over, well, AP style, has this feature about the brewing battle among grammar “nerds” (a label I resent, but grudgingly concede its accuracy) about where to place the apostrophe in possessive phrases involving Vice President Kamala Harris or Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Is it correct to say “Harris’ nomination” or “Harris’s nomination?” AP style, in this case, is an outlier: It calls for “Harris’ nomination.” But The New York Times and other newspapers call for “Harris’s nomination.” Fortunately, there is agreement that Walz requires an apostrophe “s” — Walz’s record, and so forth. The AP says it has no plans to change its style on apostrophes on possessives that end in “s,” which is exactly what you’d expect the AP to say. This should be easy to settle, though: Just figure out what the AP style was when John Adams or John Quincy Adams or Rutherford Hayes were president and follow that.

I can’t believe I missed this story last week from The Oregonian/OregonLive, but anyone who’s spent any time at Portland International Airport will appreciate it: The paper’s Lizzy Acker interviews Laura Hill, one of the designers of the iconic carpet at the airport — still, as far as our research staff can determine, the only carpet to be the grand marshal of a civic parade.

Here’s a fun interactive feature from The New York Times that caught my eye: It’s a quiz to see how much you know about your dreams. Even if you don’t do well on the quiz, you’ll learn something about dreams that you likely didn’t know before. For example, during REM sleep, the muscles in your arms and legs are partially paralyzed so you don’t act out your dreams. (Actually — wait — that’s a little bit creepy.)

Burning Man, the annual weeklong festival held in the Nevada desert, is experiencing unusually sluggish ticket sales — so much so that the festival is offering last-minute tickets. (To be fair, Burning Man officials say the “spontaneous” ticket sale was planned all along.) Other festivals, such as Coachella and Lollapalooza, have experienced slow ticket sales this year. With Burning Man, cost could be an issue — a standard ticket will set you back $575, and that doesn’t start to cover other expenses. It also could be that the weather the last two festivals — brutal heat in 2022, followed by torrential rain in 2023 — has cooled the enthusiasm of potential attendees. Or maybe it’s how the festival increasingly attracts well-to-do burners who aren’t in sync with the guiding spirit of the event.

A team of engineering students at Oregon State University and their instructor has set a land-speed record for motorcycles with 50cc engines. When their motorcycle hit a speed of 85.158 mph during Speed Week, held this month at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the OSU team broke of 21-year-old record of 83.891 mph. I can see where this would be a terrific capstone project for engineering students, but this otherwise fine story by the G-T’s Hans Boyle leaves this question unanswered: What’s the market for a 50cc-engine motorcycle that can break speed records? Maybe that’s a topic for an OSU marketing class.

Ellen Waterston of Bend is Oregon’s 11th Poet Laureate, succeeding Portland’s Anis Mojgani, who has served in the role since 2020. Give yourself a big pat on the back if you can name the person who served the longest as the state’s Poet Laureate. Give up? Here’s the answer, although it may be wrong:

Oregon’s first Poet Laureate, Edwin Charles Markham, served from 1921 to 1940, according to a news release from the Oregon Cultural Trust. His best-known poem is “The Man with the Hoe,” a protest against exploitative labor.

But there’s a potential problem here: The Wikipedia article on Markham says he only served as Oregon Poet Laureate from 1923 to 1931; if that’s true, than Oregon’s longest-serving Poet Laureate would be William Stafford, from 1974 to 1989. Other Oregon Poets Laureate, according to the Cultural Trust, have been Ben Hur Lampman (1951–1954); Ethel Romig Fuller (1957–1965); Lawson Inada (2006–2010); Paulann Petersen (2010-2014); Peter Sears (2014-2016); Elizabeth Woody (2016-2018); Kim Stafford (2018-2020); and Anis Mojgani (2020-2024). (There apparently have been many years when the position was dark, probably as a cost-saving measure.)

And that’s it for this edition of the Weekend Reader, although you can rest assured I won’t rest until I crack this Poet Laureate mystery. Actually, that’s not true: I will rest — maybe I’ll dream as well — but I also will send an email to the Cultural Trust seeking clarification. See you next weekend.