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Multnomah county

Good morning, Portland! Have you bought yourself a super-sexy Mercury T-shirt yet?

Here are the headlines.

• Head's up: TODAY IS ELECTION DAY! You have until 8 pm tonight to do your research on school board candidates and a smattering of other races, fill out your ballot, and drop it in a ballot drop box (it's too late to mail it!). Got questions? We're here to help.

• Palestinian workers in Israel and Gaza went on strike Tuesday, in protest of Israel's terrible violence and mistreatment of Palestinians. One independent Palestinian politician said the strike "reflects how Palestinians now have a unified struggle against the same system of apartheid."

• No words for this one:

• A new study bolsters the case that access to preschool and pre-K increases a kid's chance of graduating high school and enrolling in college, and makes them less likely to get suspended from school or routed into the criminal court system. President Joe Biden is currently fighting to get $200 billion in funding for free preschool. (Multnomah County passed its own preschool access ballot measure last year.)

• After reports of a "gang fight" at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, dozens of Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers responded to the scene last night. There had reportedly been a gang shooting in Portland Monday night before the call.

• A former aide in the Oregon Senate is suing the Oregon State Legislature for discrimination, alleging that she was punished for taking protected medical leave to deal with her post-traumatic stress disorder. Laura Hanson, the plaintiff, served as chief of staff for Democratic Sen. Sara Gelser of Corvallis.

• 🍄 👀

• The small Cascades mountain town of Detroit, Oregon was hit especially hard by wildfires last year. Now, the town is preparing for summer, which will likely bring tourists from Portland and elsewhere—but it's unclear how many visitors Detroit will see this year, or whether it will be able to accommodate them.

• A queer, Latinx Portland filmmaker is currently fundraising to create Mother of Color, a film about the difficulties single mothers of color face in our society, and how wisdom from one's ancestors can help. “I haven’t seen a film about that very thing, and I think that speaks to, who are the people who are making films?” writer and director Dawn Jones Redstone told the Mercury. “Mostly white men.”

• And finally: Let's all take a moment today to remember where we were and who we were with when we first watched Shrek.