NA shards came down at 8am PST for 1.7 Hotfix #9. Estimated downtime is 30 minutes. Here are the patch notes:

RIFT 1.7 Hotfix #9 - 03.09.12

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue causing ability tooltips viewed on the Soul Tree to show incorrect looking numbers for abilities other than rank 1.

CARNIVAL OF THE ASCENDED

• Fixed an issue that was causing ‘Take Out the Garbage’ to get stuck on rare occasions.
• Aenycha and Icatian can no longer be attacked by players.
• All Parade NPCs will now flag players for PvP when attacked
• Tales of the Ascended Raid Rifts now have a secondary NPC to turn the quest in to when a rift is open
• The parades are now back on schedule – you should see up to four active at any time throughout Telara!