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Good morning, Portland! It’s a beautiful Friday, sunny and in the 60s. Get ready for some cloudy and rainy weather this weekend and into next week. Here’s hoping you have a great weekend, and if it isn’t your weekend, here’s hoping the nine-to-fivers tip well and act like they’ve been to a coffee shop before. Let’s get to the news. 📰
IN LOCAL NEWS:
Multnomah County’s largest employee union, a American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 88 has withdrawn it endorsement of Julia Brim-Edwards, who is running for county chair. The union represents nearly 4,000 Multnomah County employees. In the same meeting, members voted to instead endorse Shannon Singleton for chair. Singleton told the Mercury the endorsement was in line with what she’s hearing from other endorsers and working people. “They believe in my vision for the county and know that I’ll always have their back,” Singleton said. A union member who spoke to the Mercury said members were not happy with the initial endorsement process, and after Basic Rights Oregon ‘s political action committee rescinded its endorsement earlier this month over concerns her former colleagues raised about her views on trans athletes, Local 88 decided to re-vote. Brim-Edwards pushed back. “I’m certainly disappointed with the decision especially since it appears to be based on anonymous discredited hearsay from local school board members’ ongoing false smear that they coordinated with Shannon Singleton’s campaign against me,” Brim-Edwards said in a statement. Read the full story here.
It looks like a bunch of crying losers are at it again, this time with white supremacist literature they delivered to homes in West Linn. The city government condemned discrimination after the white supremacist and anti-semitic literature showed up at people’s homes, related to the overturned conviction of Ian Cranston, a white man who was convicted in 2022 of manslaughter after shooting Barry Washington Jr., a Black man, outside a bar in Bend, Oregon. His conviction was reversed in the Oregon Court of Appeals in November last year. “The City of West Linn strongly condemns antisemitism, racism, religious discrimination, and all forms of hate and bigotry,” the city said. “Messages intended to intimidate, divide, or make members of our community feel unwelcome are contrary to the values we share as a City.” Residents can submit an online report here, and the police will ostensibly look into it. West Linn Tidings has the details.
Read about a new short film, The Elk, at the Mercury dot com.
The Portland Trail Blazers tip off against the Sacramento Kings tonight at 7 pm. If you watched game one on Wednesday, you might be surprised how good these Blazers look so early in the season. Basketball fans deserve more than to hear the constant screaming in their ears about a billionaire’s attempt to raid public funds for luxury seats at the Moda Center, and Damian Lillard’s return alongside Ja Morant’s bridgetown debut brought plenty of reprieve. Taylor Griggs has a breakdown of the game, plus more about the elephant in the arena this season—Portlanders’ disdain for Tom Dundon, which appears to match Dundon’s disdain for the city we love. Anyway, Rip City forever.
And now, for a handful of fun stuff. First off, speaking of basketball, this week’s Pop Quiz PDX is back with a Blazers-themed trivia quiz (plus more)! Plus, for your weekend: Tonight is Goth and Roll night at Oaks Park, a conversation with the stars of Twin Peaks at the Aladdin, and Black Belt Eagle Scout plays in Hillsboro. And that’s just tonight! The Mercury’s Do This, Do That events, curated by our Lindsay Costello, are here. Mercury Music Picks are also back for the aurally fixated—read more here about the legends and the newcomers, here.
Gentle reminder that the Oregon Secretary of State recommends mailing your ballot by this upcoming Tuesday, October 27, or dropping it off directly in a ballot box. The Mercury’s endorsements are here if you need some well-considered thoughts on local races.
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
A new study has found that Europe’s record-breaking heat this summer killed an additional 50,000 people—with nearly two-thirds of those thanks to human-caused climate change. The study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Nature Health, modeled heat deaths for 854 cities across Europe, and found that the deaths were 71 percent higher than the previous deadliest summer in 2022. It turns out, it’s the burning of fossil fuels that is causing global temperatures to rise, according to like, every study you could possibly read. More on this at NPR.
Many people are saying this:
United States President and perpetual stick in the mud Donald Trump on Thursday called on Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar to resign during a campaign rally in Ohio. Trump reportedly referenced an ongoing “investigation” into Omar’s immigration paperwork, saying she did not use her “real” name when she was sworn into Congress. Anyway, Trump seems to believe the only logical next step is for her to resign right before the November 3 midterms in which Republicans are about to get shellacked by voters who don’t enjoy fascism, actually. Omar’s spokesperson said Trump’s claims are false. It’s unclear if she’ll resign, but Kalshi betting app users are probably jumping on this like a kid on a trampoline. Read more from the Iowa Capitol Dispatch.
France is addressing cost-of-living protests this weekend by allocating dollars that could feasibly help with the cost of living to instead deploy 70,000 police around the country to quell the protests. The ongoing protests have turned into a crisis for the government, which admitted it has “lost control” over riots. The protests have led to the Limoges town hall being set on fire and partly destroyed, and extensive looting has taken place. More demonstrations are expected this weekend, but French President Emmanuel Macron said the government will be ready “to be extremely firm and not tolerate anything.” Siphoning money upward from the poorest to the wealthiest in the interest of capital, however? Macron hasn’t mentioned it, but it appears to be perfectly tolerable. More details in the Guardian.
Have a great weekend! Watch this frog get an ultrasound.
