It was deadly

Here's a grim statistic: Forty-five people in Multnomah County died from the record heat last weekend and Monday. The rest of the state saw 18 deaths.

Those preliminary numbers could rise.

It's a really bad showing for Multnomah County. The population here is about a fifth of the state's population. But we had more than 70 percent of the deaths reported in Oregon so far. And it was plenty hot over almost all of the state.

Whatever our local government did to protect people, it obviously wasn't enough.

I wonder how many of the 45 people were living on the street, or in some little shoebox of an apartment that you get when you first get off the street.

Anyway, the political posturing over this has already begun, and before it goes much further, let's take a silent moment for the people who didn't make it. It seems like a horrible way to check out.