It’s another hot weekend, Weekend Reader readers, and I mean that literally, with high temperatures Sunday forecast for just shy of triple digits. But no one hydrates like my readers, and you know the rest of the drill as well — stay inside, wear loose-fitting clothing, check up on relatives and neighbors, etc. etc. etc. One of the notable things about the National Weather Service’s extreme heat advisory, in effect from noon Sunday to 5 a.m. Tuesday, is that it’s calling for nighttime lows in the 60s and 70s in Corvallis — warmer than average August overnight lows here. Relatively warm nights can make it harder to recover from the heat of the day. So be sure to hydrate during the evening hours as well — responsibly, of course.

This year’s Point in Time count of people who are unsheltered in Benton County tallied 550, a 31% increase over last year, according to Tom Henderson’s story in the Gazette-Times. (Linn County’s number actually dropped by 76 to 454, a drop of about 17%. But here are a couple of things to consider with this story: First, the Point in Time count almost certainly is an undercount. Second, expect the number of unsheltered people in the region (and the nation) to grow dramatically over the next few years.

You might recall the battles over the state of Oregon’s failed effort to create a map showing the wildfire risk for every property in the state — a tool that could have been useful to help homeowners assess the steps they might consider to better defend their properties against fire. This year’s Legislature approved a measure to kill the map, and Gov. Tina Kotek signed the measure. Now, ProPublica’s Rob Davis builds a compelling case that misinformation helped doom the wildfire map — and the state’s lackluster efforts to combat the misinformation didn’t help.

A measure passed by the 2023 Legislature to help ensure that governmental bodies make governing decisions only in public meetings has sowed confusion among some public officials, Shaanth Nanguneri reports for the Oregon Capital Chronicle. In general, the rules are clear: Government bodies can make these decisions only in official meetings, which must involve a quorum and are (generally) open to the public. But the 2023 law — now being implemented by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission — aimed to crack down on what’s called “serial communications,” in which a majority of members essentially decide an issue outside of the public eye, in one-on-one meetings, emails or text messages. Situations in which boards make decisions via serial communications aren’t unheard-of. But there are gray areas here: Do city councilors break the law when they ask other councilors or city officials for background information? Do they stop elected officials from speaking to the media or citizens? Probably not, but the Ethics Commission has agreed to try to offer clarification. It’s worth noting that the Ethics Commission has not in the past been particularly aggressive about pursuing ethics violations, so this issue will be worth following for those of us interested in open government.

Oregon’s senior U.S. senator, Ron Wyden, says he plans to run for another six-year term in 2028, when he’ll be 79 years old. Wyden says he still has the energy to do the job, and voters can judge for themselves over the next few years as he continues to fulfill his promise to visit every county in Oregon at least once a year for a town hall-style meeting. Claire Rush of The Associated Press visited a Wyden town hall in Wasco and talked to the senator.

Here’s Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic, explaining the reasons why Republicans seem so anxious to dismantle the American health care system. It’s not a pretty picture — even if you’re among those who thought it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that the United States had the best health care in the world.

President Trump’s lawsuits against various media operations serve as a reminder that he’s not a fan of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that made it more difficult for public officials to sue for libel. The high court ruled that public officials must prove “actual malice,” meaning a reporter or press outlet knew a story was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. This new piece by Boise State University Stephanie A. “Sam” Martin outlines the history of the Sullivan case and describes what’s at risk.

These next few days will offer prime opportunities to view the Perseid Meteor Shower, one of the best celestial events of the year, and Jamie Hale — The Oregonian’s hard-working travel writer — reports that Oregon is one of the best places to see the show. The only downside is that this year’s peak days (Aug. 9-13) correspond with a nearly full moon, which will provide enough light to block out some of the show — but not all of it.

Is your search to “find your purpose” in life making you anxious? If so, you may be suffering from what ‘s known as “purpose anxiety.” Reporter Alina Tugend of The Associated Press — who may be suffering from some purpose anxiety because, well, she works in journalism — offers advice from experts which, in some ways, boils down to this: Cut yourself some slack.

If you haven’t seen the Liam Neeson reboot of “The Naked Gun” yet, I can recommend it — it’s not as good as the original, but it’s definitely a worthy effort. But if you haven’t seen it yet, avoid this link to a New York Times story about an elaborate joke in the movie — and how the filmmakers made it work.

That’s it for this weekend. Get that hydration ready and launder your loose-fitting clothing and we’ll gather here next weekend to share stories of survival.