You knew this was coming: Saying that protesters have “ruined” Portland, President Donald Trump has added the city to the long list of metropolitan areas he’s consider gracing with the presence of National Guard troops. Trump cited continuing protests outside Portland’s federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. “When we go there — if we go to Portland, we’re going to wipe them out. They’re going to be gone,“ Trump said of the protesters. At this point, though, all this feels sort of like President Nixon’s enemy list: If you’re the Democratic mayor of a big city, you almost feel insulted if you’re not on Trump’s list of potential troop deployments.

On the other hand: Some mayors across the nation say they would welcome increased law enforcement partnerships with federal agents — but generally say that invoking the National Guard goes too far. The New York Times has the details.

Remember the case of a former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a Horizon flight over Oregon in 2023 a couple of days after ingesting psychedelic mushrooms with friends? Sure you do. The pilot, Joseph David Emerson, was sentenced Friday to five years of probation and more than 600 hours of community service. He still could see the inside of a jail cell, though: He has pleaded guilty to a felony count of interfering with a flight crew and attendants; prosecutors say they’ll seek a 12-month prison term in that sentencing hearing.

One of the more interesting political stories in Oregon this week was about a Republican legislator, Rep. Cyrus Javadi from Tillamook, who this week announced he would run for reelection as a Democrat. In terms of the Legislature, it’s not a big deal — it’s one more vote to add to the Democratic supermajority in the House, but politically, it’s fascinating. Javadi already had ticked off a number of his more conservative voters with some of his positions — for instance, he was the only House Republican to vote this week in favor of the transportation-funding bill — and he represents a purple district on the coast, as Randy Stapilus notes in this July column from the Oregon Capital Chronicle. You can bet that Javadi will be a top target for the GOP in the 2026 election, so this will be a race to watch.

It’s hard to read between the lines of what’s really going on with the Corvallis City Council’s annual evaluation of City Manager Mark Shepard — but that won’t stop me from speculating. In the wake of the expensive legal fiasco in which Mayor Charles Maughan and some councilors tried to oust Charlyn Ellis, some newer members of the council are pushing for a third-party evaluation of Shepard. (Typically, the council itself does the evaluation of the city manager, the only city employee who it directly supervises.) The Lane Council of Governments, based in Eugene, agreed to perform the evaluation. On the surface, it doesn’t appear to be a bad idea to bring in a third party, in part because the council still appears to be working through the wounds from the Ellis case. Now, though, Maughan and other councilors are expressing doubts about the deal, since the Lane Council of Governments has asked for an extension to Sept. 15 before signing a formal intergovernmental agreement. One could understand the reluctance of the Council of Governments to step into this particular minefield, even for a $10,382 payday — and it will be interesting to see how city councilors align themselves on this issue. Tom Henderson at the Gazette-Times reported on the latest developments.

The Catholic Church on Sunday is set to canonize its first Millennial saint — Carlo Acutis, who was born in London in 1991, raised in Italy and who died of leukemia at age 15. In a fascinating story in The Atlantic, Kate Cray explores how the canonization raises “an urgent question for the Church, about how to reconcile certain of the faith’s teachings with advances in science and technology.”

In this week’s long read, Katherine Wu of The Atlantic examines how Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign against vaccination could play out over the long run. Will people die needlessly? Absolutely. Wu’s story mentions the vaccine alliance announced this week by Oregon, California and Washington: This Oregon Capital Chronicle story has the details.

The Associated Press reports that the battle for the official song of summer is over, and the winner is unusual — it’s “Ordinary,” a ballad by the singer Alex Warren. But before you say something like, “well, that’s nice,” you should know that reporter Bridget Brown reached out to a variety of experts, one of whom tells her that the song’s success suggests that young people today have contempt for the past and little faith in the future — which seems like a heavy burden to lay on a song whose video starts in a laundromat.

Bummed out by the state of the world? I can’t blame you. But sometimes it pays off to take a look beyond Earth’s surly bonds — and this week, you can do that by gazing at this new photo from the James Webb Space Telescope. The photo shows newborn stars some 5,500 light years from Earth. Of course, they were newborn 5,500 years ago. Now they’re probably just adolescents with little faith in the future.

Finally this week, let me suggest a couple of movies that might appeal to, you know, adults. “Splitsville,” the black comedy about marriage, is playing at Darkside Cinema, along with “Twinless,” another black comedy about two young men who meet in a support group for twinless twins — that is to say, twins whose sibling has died. The Corvallis AMC 12 is showing the filmed version of “Hamilton,” which would be a bigger deal if we hadn’t all seen it already on Disney+. But speaking of bigger — bigger boats, to be exact — the 50th anniversary of “Jaws” is showing at the AMC 12. And it’s worth noting how the latest Spike Lee joint, “Highest 2 Lowest,” fresh off a short theatrical run, is playing now on Apple TV+.

As for books, I’m just about finished with Max Boot’s clear-eyed and illuminating “Reagan: His Life and Legend” — and so my apologies to the person next in line to get the book from the library. Soon, my friend, soon.

That’s all for this edition. See you next weekend.