The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Chief Chuck Lovell stands behind a podium, speaking into microphones.
Portland Police Bureau Chief Chuck Lovell talks to members of the media following Friday morning's shooting. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland

A lot of things happened today, so let’s catch up on the headlines!

In local news:

• One person is dead following a shootout with Portland police and federal agents in North Portland Friday morning. Shots were exchanged after federal agents tried to serve a warrant to a person in an apartment building. It’s still unclear which agency fired the shots that killed the person. Side note: If you want to read the most convoluted, vague, grammar-defying jumble of words you’ve ever seen, I recommend reading PPB’s original press release for the shooting.

• Portland city officials decided Zenith Energy’s oil transportation operations are in conflict with the city’s climate goals Friday, a finding that could force Zenith’s Portland facility to shut down entirely. Environmental activists and local leaders are celebrating the decision as a bold step forward in the city’s climate action.

• A jury has found David Bogdanov guilty of second-degree murder and malicious harassment for killing 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen in 2019. Bogdanov killed the Vancouver teen after learning she was transgender and his defense hinged on the “LGBTQ+ panic defense”—a legal strategy that argues learning someone is trans or queer during a social or sexual encounter excuses enacting violence against them. In early 2020, Washington legislators passed “The Nikki Kuhnhausen Act,” which prevents the “gay panic” defense from being used in criminal cases. Blair Stenvick spoke to Kuhnhausen’s family in 2019 about how she fiercely protected the people around her, and the ways the community is carrying on her legacy.

• Rural communities in Eastern Oregon have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state, meaning the recent vaccine mandates for healthcare workers and teachers could shutter hospitals and schools. In an exclusive with the Malheur Enterprise—located in Malheur County where vaccination rates hover at 40 percent—Governor Brown broke her usual calm and collected tone to criticize rural county leaders who aren’t doing enough to encourage vaccinations and mask-wearing. “They’re playing politics with people’s lives,” she said. “I am not playing politics. I am not trying to get votes. I am trying to keep Oregonians alive.” 

• On that note:

In national and international news:

• Congressional aides are fielding thousands of calls from constituents who are desperate to get their friends and family out of Afghanistan before US military forces withdraw from the region of Tuesday. The aides reportedly take “crying breaks” between bouts of calls, overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. While the US has already evacuated over 100,000 people from the country since the Taliban’s takeover, Biden said evacuating all of the people who want to leave is no longer possible.

• Florida schools can legally require students to wear masks after a judge blocked Governor Ron DeSantis’s previous order banning mask mandates Friday. The decision comes as the Delta variant has exploded in Florida and students return to the classroom. On Thursday, Florida reported 901 new COVID-19 deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

• Hurricane Ida is expected to make landfall in Louisiana Sunday, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in the Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center said winds could reach up to 120 mph.

Look, fun things!

• Chase Hutchinson has the creepy, unsettling, stomach-churning scoop on Candyman, the latest horror flick from Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele.

• Hey Savage Love fans! Get your tix now to see Dan Savage live and in-person on October 2 for a reading of his newest book, Savage Love from A to Z, an illustrated collection of 26 never-before-published essays! (Plus, paid attendees get their own copy of the book!)

• Another week in Portland news, another edition of the PDX POP QUIZ!

• Alert! We’ve combined three of our world-famous film festivals into one, big, sexy, stoney, scary, movie showcase called the Mercury Movie Mashup! It’s the best of the best from SPLIFF (our stoner film fest), SLAY (our horror film fest), and HUMP! (the little porn festival that started it all!), featuring all the blood, sex, and weed you can handle in a ONE NIGHT ONLY show at the Clinton Street Theater—go get those tix now!

• And we’ll end today with Governor Kate Brown schooling Tucker Carlson: