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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! Expect a shower-filled week ahead with highs topping out in the mid-to-upper 50s—but so far, chances of sustained rain are small for Halloween night this Saturday. Oh, and speaking of All Hallows’ Eve, get your tickets now for the Mercury’s super fun “Scream Queen” Halloween dance and costume contest on October 31! YES, we’ll be spinning hot tunes (courtesy of DJ Residual Sugar); YES, we’ll have a costume contest with great prizes; YES, we’ll have specialty cocktails; and YES, there will even be flash art tattoos (from Love Letter Tattoo) for those who want some delightfully creepy body art. It’s the Halloween afterparty of your dreams, so don’t miss it! And now, buckle in for the following afterparty of NEWS, from yours truly.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Today in “suspicious much?”: The Mercury has been trying to get to the bottom of whether or not police officer and District 4 city council candidate Eli Arnold has used force against citizens while on the job. (Fair question, right? If true, it’s something the public has a right to know before election day.) But the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has not made getting this information easy, since our city’s cops have been assigned mysterious numbers (supposedly to protect their identities) instead of listing their names, making it difficult for the average citizen or reporter to identify those who are in the bureau’s “use of force” database. That said, PPB is required by law to release the name of the officer attached to that mysterious number if a member of the public or the media (that’s us) asks for it. However, our pursuit of this information has been hitting a series of brick walls from both the PPB and city—first from the police public information office (who told us to request it from an online city portal, which left us hanging for 10 days, even though they’re supposed to deliver the information “as soon as reasonably possible”). And the city attorney’s office isn’t much help either, saying they can only nudge those in charge of the portal to hurry things up. Though the PPB refused to give the Mercury any real info, they told the city attorney’s office they would try to get us the information by Tuesday, October 27. Unless of course… they don’t. I guess we’ll see on Tuesday, right? Or not. Just another reason to cast a suspicious eye on a bureau who insists they have earned our trust, while holding on tight to information and simultaneously asking for a bottomless bag of our tax money. Check out all the frustrating details from our Jeremiah Hayden.
• And speaking of election news that slides in under the wire: AFSCME Local 88, the union representing 4,000 Multnomah County workers, has yanked back their endorsement of County Chair candidate Julia Brim-Edwards, citing questionable leadership decisions. Their decision came shortly after Basic Rights Oregon rescinded their endorsement of the county commissioner due to reports of her raising “concerns during private [school board] meetings about transgender athletes participating in youth sports.” According to one AFSCME member, the decision was originally made to endorse Brim-Edwards in a meeting that was not well attended by a majority of union members, who “didn’t have much of an opportunity to share our concerns… and then when members heard about it, they were really upset to learn that our union had endorsed [her].” The union subsequently re-voted and switched their endorsement to Brim-Edwards’ chief competitor, County chair candidate Shannon Singleton. Will more organizations who originally endorsed Brim-Edwards follow suit? Keep your eyes on this one, folks, and check out the reporting from our Jeremiah Hayden.
• Haven’t voted yet? Be sure to check out the Mercury’s endorsements and our super easy, handy-dandy voter cheat sheet! (The election is a week from tomorrow!)
• On Sunday, hundreds of friends and family members gathered in Bend, Oregon, to celebrate the life of Megan Lambert, a 25-year-old teacher at Silver Rail Elementary who, along with three children, was killed by a teen shooter on October 15. Lambert is remembered as a devoted, hard-working teacher who was “a spark of joy,” and a source of inspiration for her students and others who were fortunate enough to have her in their lives. And in case you missed it, this OPB interview with Kaylub Giamanco—the man who followed and killed the Silver Rail Elementary shooter—is harrowing, emotional, and a must-watch.
• And congrats to our Portland Trail Blazers, who secured their second win of this new season in an away game against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, defeating them 128-120. While Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 26 points, it was not an easy game for the team, who struggled against the ongoing hustle of the Kings, but rallied in the third quarter to reel in a win. Next the Blazers battle the Lakers for another away game on Tuesday night, starting at 8 pm.
• If you’re looking for new, cool music, the latest edition of Ryan Prado’s Spin Cycle has got you! This week Ryan looks at (and listens to) the cosmic country of Jeffrey Silverstein’s latest LP, the banger beats of Saynave’s new album, and the unique cumbia-punk fusion of Son Rompre Pera, who are coming to Portland to play at The Get Down on October 28. Run, don’t walk!
IN NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS:
• The consistently racist and doddering Donald Trump continued his ongoing Islamaphobic rants against Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed yesterday, labeling him as a “jihadist” who is “on the side of terrorists,” and if elected will have to “go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate.” El-Sayed—who is an amazing, thoughtful speaker if you ever get a chance to listen to him—has repeatedly denied any ties to extremist groups and has rightly called the repeated verbal attacks “shameful.” He went on to deliver a personal message to the racist president (who has repeatedly mispronounced his name), saying “I don’t even care that he remembers my whole name because… after November, I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro.” Ouch! Anybody got some salve for that burn?
• More bad news for Trump: Despicable right-wing cad (and Trump wannabe), Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro of Brazil, has lost his run for the country’s presidency to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. However, because the right are nothing if not sore losers, Bolsonaro—the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro—is contesting the election, though like Trump’s many attempts to overthrow democracy, it is expected to result in something less than a fart in the wind. The election was thrown into a temporary turmoil on Sunday, when both candidates requested for the polls to stay open longer to allow more people to vote—and the move worked in Lula’s favor, helping him in a come-from-behind victory against the right wing douche nozzle.
• Artificial Intelligence company Anthropic—you know, the one who warned us that AI could “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity”—has unveiled its public IPO filing which, thanks to their $2 trillion valuation, is expected to be one of the largest stock debuts in market history. This is happening at the same time Anthropic is reporting an $80.7 billion loss for 2026, largely due to throwing mounds of cash towards cloud servers to help run their AI models. This is particularly worrying to some economists who have been predicting the inevitable “pop!” of the AI bubble. “Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech,” according to Torsten Slok, an economist from Apollo Global Management. But sure, Anthropic… go off, king, and keep hurtling toward the abyss.
• RIP to voice actor Eric Bauza, who was the modern voice of many major Looney Tunes characters (including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the voices from the new Coyote vs. Acme movie), and has died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease at the too-young age of 46.
• And finally: Still looking for inspo for your Halloween costume? Here ya go. (But don’t for a second believe you’ll ever top these, the best costumes of all time.)
