Axios Portland

July 23, 2026
Mornin', Thursday. It's cooling down slightly!
⛅ Today's weather: Partly sunny, high 86, low 61.
Today's newsletter is 1,002 words — a 4-minute read.
1 big thing: 🌡️ Hot summer nights
Broiling high temps like we've had the last few days get the headlines, but when the day is done, overnight summer temperatures are actually rising faster than daytime highs in Oregon.
Why it matters: Hotter nights leave people with less time to recover from daytime heat, experts say, increasing health risks as Oregon's climate continues to warm.
The latest: The low last night in Portland was 66° F, 7° higher than usual, according to the National Weather Service.
By the numbers: The average low temperature for summer nights has gone up by 3.7° F between 1970 and 2024, per Climate Central, a climate research group.
- Rising nighttime temperatures have resulted in the loss of 24 hours of sleep for every Portlander annually, the group reported in a new study, with 15% of that sleep loss directly attributed to climate change.
- Between 1951 and 2020, Portland averaged just under two days per year that saw minimum temps of 65° F or higher, according to a climate assessment from the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute.
- In 2021 and 2022, there were 17.

Threat level: Heat can have a cumulative effect on the body and warming overnight temperatures can have serious health implications, OCCRI director Erica Fleishman told Axios.
- "Extreme night heat has been associated in many cases with additional mortality, with additional hospital admissions, with more cardiovascular problems."
- Fleishman noted that older folks, people with health conditions and people experiencing homelessness are particularly vulnerable.
- If it's safe to do so, opening windows at night can provide some relief, but that's only true if the cool outside air isn't also full of wildfire smoke.
The bottom line: As the Rose City's long, hot summer continues, hotter nights mean Oregon residents may lose one of the body's most important opportunities to recover from that relentless daytime heat.
2. 🔑 Chart du jour: The real homeownership rate


A new way of measuring America's homeownership rate finds that it is far lower than commonly understood, especially for young adults.
- The traditional measure reflects the share of occupied housing units where the owner is a resident.
- The new measure is the share of the adult population who owns their home.
By the numbers: The new measure, calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, finds that only about 53% of American adults own their own homes — not the commonly cited homeownership rate of 65% calculated by the Census Bureau.
- For adults under age 35, it's bleaker: Only 22% are homeowners under the new measure, compared with 37% under the traditional one.
Friction point: The difference has to do with the way the Census Bureau measures homeownership. Basically, it counts homes instead of people, asking: Does the owner live in the house?
- Those who count as homeowners under the new metric: the head of an owner-occupied household, including their spouse or unmarried partner.
- Those who don't: other adults in the house, including adult children, parents, relatives, friends or roommates. (The biggest adjustment comes from accounting for adult children who live at home. )
👀 Zoom in: In Oregon, the difference is about 10 percentage points — shifting from nearly 63% in the traditional calculation to about 53% in the new measure.
The bottom line: The housing affordability crisis is actually worse than it seems.
3. Rose City Rundown
🏟️ Negotiations with the Blazers over funding for Moda Center renovations won't be led by city officials, but instead by a team of consultants who have worked on stadium deals in other cities. (OPB)
⚖️ Nike paid a female employee less and promoted her more slowly than her male counterparts, a federal jury found, granting the woman at least $7.5 million in damages against the athletics giant. (The Oregonian)
💰 Portland city councilors passed an ordinance to restore funding for 30 jobs cut under the previous budget and reverse some cuts planned for the police and fire bureaus. (Willamette Week)
👀 Oregon's state prison system is facing "crumbling facilities, staffing shortages, and obsolete IT systems," according to a new state audit, and has a $900 million backlog of maintenance. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)
🍹 Eldorado — a new bar from the folks behind Panther Club, Jackie's and Nevermind — is taking over the former Lollipop and Dig-a-Pony space at Southeast Morrison and Grand. (Eater Portland)
4. 🤔 Would you ride Waymo?

Waymo's camera-topped vehicles have spent the past few months mapping city streets, but it's still unclear when — or whether — Portlanders will be able to hail a driverless ride.
The prospect is already stirring debate.
- The Bureau of Transportation received more than 220 comments on proposed rules for automated taxis in a survey earlier this spring, with concerns centering on safety, accountability, driver jobs and transit.
Meanwhile, residents have spotted Waymo's human-operated mapping vans in nearly every pocket of the city, according to Reddit threads and social media posts.
🔜 What's next: The City Council's public works committee plans to discuss PBOT's proposed rules for autonomous vehicles during its meeting next Tuesday, spokesperson Shuly Wasserstrom told Axios.
🗣️ Tell us: How do you feel about riding in a Waymo? Have you tried the driverless cars in other cities? What are your biggest concerns and hesitations? Or are you eager to get in one?
Hit reply or email us at [email protected]. We might share your thoughts and experiences in a future story.
5. 😍 1 pic to go: Garden bounty incoming
It feels like I just planted our vegetable garden a month ago and I'm already needing to find new ways to enjoy squash and new people to give them away to.
- Squash: They grow up so fast!
🍅 I'll soon be gladly swimming among waves of tomatoes, according to all the nearly-ripe fruit on the vine. Time to break out the sauce pot.
🦝 Kale has once again looked into getting a raccoon as a pet (thanks, Jimothy!) and once again realized it's not a great idea.
🍏 Meira is thankful to the readers who reminded her of the Portland Fruit Tree Project, an organization we have indeed written about before.
This newsletter was edited by Geoff Ziezulewicz.
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