Is our current bout of above-average temperatures a mere heat wave? Or is it a dreaded “heat dome,” like the one of June 2021, in which temperatures in Corvallis hit a record 110 — and which killed 123 Oregonians? Ted Sickinger of The Oregonian/OregonLive explains the high-pressure system that’s driving our weather now — and also illuminates the still-unsettled debate about what qualifies as a “heat dome.”

There may be no better symbol of Oregon’s urban-rural divide than the gray wolf. At the risk of oversimplification, folks west of the Cascades see the wolf as a potent symbol of wild places. On the east, people tend to view the wolf as that creature that’s eating and terrorizing your sheep, cattle and — occasionally — your dog. Now, Oregon State University’s William Ripple has a new study that seems likely to throw more fuel onto this particular fire: The study found that gray wolves played an important role in keeping deer and elk populations at bay and helped to maintain healthy environments before they were nearly wiped out in the Northwest. Alex Baumhardt of the Oregon Capital Chronicle wrote about Ripple’s study.

Here’s a fun story from OPB: The blazers that will be worn in the Summer Olympics by U.S. athletes will be made with wool from Oregon’s Shaniko Wool Co. My very first reaction to this news: That’s really cool (and it is). My second reaction: Wearing those garments could get kind of toasty in a Parisian summer.

By the way, this is the fifth time Ralph Lauren has designed the outfits for U.S. athletes at the Summer Olympics — and the fifth time the designer has opted for blue blazers. It’s a missed opportunity, the chief fashion critic for The New York Times writes in this somewhat snarky piece. As for me, I don’t mind a nice blue blazer, but the red-and-white trim reminds me of the rowing blazer that Patrick McGoohan wore in the terrific 1960s series “The Prisoner.”

Robert Towne, the screenwriter whose masterpiece was 1974’s “Chinatown,” died this week at his home in Los Angeles. Here’s an obituary from The New York Times. And here’s an Atlantic piece from just a couple of weeks ago, explaining how Towne built his Oscar-winning screenplay around an actual historical scandal: how Los Angeles stole its water from a valley more than 250 miles away. As California (along with the rest of the West) continues to grapple with water issues, the heart of “Chinatown” — and its bleak view of how evil often triumphs — seems just as timely today as it did in 1974.

Here’s this week’s long read: It’s a story from InvestigateWest that examines the growing obstacles facing citizens trying to access public records — and how legislative efforts aren’t helping. The story was posted on the Oregon Capital Chronicle site.

Finally, this week, as we speak of summer heat: I don’t want to belabor this, but Corvallis (and, frankly, much of Oregon) is under some sort of heat warning, and we’re now all pretty much old people, who are particularly susceptible to heat-related conditions. So be careful for the next few days and remember: Hydrate early and often.

We’ll gather back here next week — assuming we all stay properly hydrated.