Alert readers will recall that last week’s edition of Your Weekend Reader offered a link to The Athletic’s series about realignment among college athletic conferences. One of the key points of the series thus far is that controversy over realignment has been going on since colleges gathered themselves into conferences more than a century ago.

That controversy picked up a fresh chapter this week, with the bombshell announcement Thursday that the University of Colorado, complete with new football coach Deion Sanders, was bolting from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big 12 beginning in 2024. That’s the same year that the USC and UCLA will leave the Pac-12.

Indications are that Colorado’s move caught the Pac-12 by surprise, even though whispers about this have been floating around for a year. As of this weekend, as this Associated Press story notes, the only Pac-12 school that had commented on Colorado’s departure was Oregon State University — and that statement didn’t say much. (The AP story also noted, somewhat cheekily, that “Oregon State is considered one of the least likely schools to be poached by another conference.”)

Here’s a take on all of this from The Athletic, which argues that the Pac-12 and Commissioner George Kliavkoff bungled an opportunity in 2021, after Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 for the SEC, to take their pick among the Big 12’s remaining schools. Instead, Kliavkoff and the conference have been outmaneuvered by Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark — and now it’s the Pac-12 that appears to be fighting for survival.

Here’s another piece from The Athletic, which argues that the loss of Colorado isn’t necessarily a fatal blow to the Pac-12 — and that adding a school like San Diego State could actually improve the action on the field. But this piece argues that the schools to watch are Arizona and Arizona State — and the presidents there are waiting for the Pac-12’s media deal to determine their next moves. (These Athletic stories, sadly, are available only to subscribers.)

It could be that Kliavkoff still has an ace up his sleeve when he finally announces that media deal — but the loss of Colorado and its star coach won’t do anything to bolster the value of those rights. Now, to be completely fair, it’s worth remembering that Kliavkoff is playing in part with cards dealt to him by former Commissioner Larry Scott, who will justifiably take much of the blame if the Pac-12 collapses — an outcome that sadly seems more likely than it did a week ago.

Speaking of survival: Michael Corkery of The New York Times has a powerful, heartbreaking story about how fentanyl has exacerbated Portland’s struggle with homelessness — and has created not just a deadly crisis, but “a challenge to the city’s progressive identity.” I was about to write the story off as another burst of bad publicity for Portland — which has received its share of that over the last year — but the story goes deep into the challenges facing the Rose City, challenges that are playing out in smaller scale all across Oregon. This link, one of the “gift” articles I get each month from the Times, should take you straight to the story.

The Atlantic has a related story this week, about how Measure 110, the Oregon initiative that eliminated criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of any drug, including cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, hasn’t gone the way that supporters thought it would. For one example, as Jim Hinch reports for The Atlantic, In the two years after the law took effect, the number of annual overdoses in the state rose by 61 percent, compared with a 13 percent increase nationwide. The 2023 Legislature passed a couple of measures meant to fine-tune and assess Measure 110. To be fair, though, it’s not as if the 50-year-long War on Drugs racked up a big string of successes. (Atlantic stories are available only to subscribers.)

It looks as if Oregon will clear the way for self-serve gasoline: Gov. Tina Kotek has suggested that she intends to allow House Bill 2426 to go into law. Although she might not sign the bill, it wasn’t included on a list of bills she’s considering to veto, and the bill becomes law on Aug. 4 unless she specifically vetoes it. The bill does require gas stations to staff at least half their pumps for people who can’t, or don’t want to, pump their own gas. Kotek asked Oregonians to comment on the bill, and she got about 5,000 comments — just about evenly split — on the bill. New Jersey is the only other state with a ban on self-serve gas. Here’s a story on the matter from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Ever wonder what happened to Marc Thielman, the controversial former school superintendent in Alsea, who resigned that post to run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022? (He got about 8% of the vote in that crowded primary, losing to Christine Drazan.) Thielman now is one of three finalists for the interim superintendent job in Crook County. He told the Bend Bulletin newspaper that he’s working now doing fleet service for a friend and also is working to to get two potential measures onto the ballot to publicly fund private schools and allow parents to choose any public school in the state for their children regardless of where they live. The Oregonian picked up a story about Thielman from the Bend Bulletin.

It turns out, by the way, that about a third of all school superintendents in Oregon are in either their first or second year on the job. OPB’s Elizabeth Miller has a good story about the reasons for the high turnover (increasingly politicized school boards are near the top of the list) and why, in the long run, the turnover isn’t a good thing for schools.

Last week’s Weekend Reader included a link to a New York Times piece about the hard times facing theater companies in the United States. Here’s a follow-up piece, also from the Times. This story doesn’t mention the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the way that last weekend’s story did, but it’s clear that the Ashland company isn’t alone in facing big challenges.

As promised last week, I have finished my “Barbenheimer” double feature, but I didn’t see both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on the same day. I did see both films in New York City, where I was visiting a daughter. That allowed me to see “Oppenheimer” on an IMAX screen, but I’m here to risk director Christopher Nolan’s wrath by telling you that even if you can’t see it on an IMAX screen, you should still see it. It’s a riveting experience, even at three hours long, and even though it jumps back and forth in time, it’s much easier to follow than, say, “Tenet.” I also suspect that many of you will be racing out to a bookstore to buy a copy of the magisterial biography the movie is based on, “American Prometheus.” The book is just as riveting as the movie — and even if you read just the five-page preface, most of the events depicted in the movie will click into place.

As for “Barbie,” I’m not the only one who thinks that America Ferrera’s exasperated (and brilliantly performed) monologue near the end is the heart and soul of that film. Here’s a Los Angeles Times story about how the monologue came to be, but be warned: The story contains “Barbie” spoilers.

That’s it for next week. Let’s plan on meeting again next weekend as we move into the dog days of August.