Men are shopping more. And they’re being stupid about it.

Men are doing more grocery shopping today than in decades past. And guys? We’re being really stupid about it.

A survey by Men’s Health magazine reportedly found that 84 percent of male respondents consider themselves the primary grocery shoppers for their households, a 19 percent jump compared to just 20 years ago. And although a handful of other polls indicate many women disagree with that assertion, most of the research does say that men are grocery shopping more than they were before, even if their place as “primary” shopper is debatable.

But while women are statistically prone to go in with weeklong cooking plans and lists of specific items in mind, men are more likely to pick up groceries a day at a time and grab whatever shiny thing jumps out at them.

That means we’re easily swayed by colorful displays promising “Everything you need for tonight’s dinner,” even if the selections offered there are more expensive than the ones we’d find if we went up and down the aisles filling up the grocery cart the old fashioned way. And grocery store chains know this, so they’re increasingly selling to the male shoppers this way, the Washington Post recently reported.

Oh, hey: Here’s everything you need to know in today’s Portland news…

What we’re talking about

The City Council approved the land sale for Wex’s new HQ.  Last night, the council voted unanimously to sell a 1.1-acre lot on Thames Street to a developer that is working with the payment processing company to bring its global headquarters and as many as 450 jobs to Portland. The developer will pay the city $3.3 million for the waterfront lot and has proposed constructing a four-story, 100,000-square-foot building that will house Wex’s offices as well as some retail on the first floor.

The Council also moved two referendums closer to the fall ballot Monday. Earlier this summer, it  had appeared that the citizen initiatives, which concern rent controls and development, would not make it onto the November ballot after the city clerk’s office messed up the timing. But soon after discovering that error, city staff unearthed another mistake that conveniently allowed the council to correct it. On Monday, the council moved to do so,  setting Sept. 6 as the date for a public hearing that will allow them to get the questions on the ballot, the Forecaster reports. City Clerk Katherine Jones apologized for her error: “I totally overlooked [a] requirement, and for this, I am truly sorry.”  

A business run out of a Portland condo took Microsoft to court. It lost. In 2012, SurfCast Inc. claimed Microsoft violated its patent for a “system and method for simultaneous display of multiple information sources” with the release of Microsoft’s Windows 8. On Monday, a federal judge dismissed those claims with prejudice, which means that neither side can take up the issue again, BDN’s Darren Fishell reports.

An inmate walked off his work-release job in downtown Portland. Larry Goodwin, 41, walked away from his work-release job on Portland’s eastern waterfront around 9:30 a.m, according to  the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. Goodwin, of Seattle, Washington, is serving a nine-month sentence for cocaine possession, drunk driving and operating a vehicle after having his license suspended.

You can go live next to Stephen King, if you happen to be looking to get away from Portland that is. Up in Bangor five houses nearby the home of the world’s most famous horror writer are for sale, BDN’s Nok-Noi Ricker reports. It might get spooky.

ICYMI: Maine only saw a partial eclipse, but Portlanders thought it was totally awesome.

Tweet of the day

From You Had One Job, not that we’re encouraging deceit.

The Big Idea

This recent article in The New Yorker magazine grapples with the question of when the court system should remove a child from his or her parents. Some cases are clear cut, such as when a child is in obvious danger of physical harm. But there’s a huge amount of gray area, in which parents mean well and are misguided, or when the child is in danger but doesn’t want to leave, or both.

Got any interesting story ideas, suggestions or links to share? Email Jake Bleiberg at jbleiberg@bangordailynews.com, or tweet @JZBleiberg.

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