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James Zandecki / getty images

Good morning, Portland! And good morning to this too-hot-for-TikTok inanimate object:

Anyway, here are the headlines.

• Yesterday was the deadline for many public workers in Portland to be vaccinated against COVID-19. It turns out that 91 percent of City of Portland workers are fully vaccinated, and nearly 350 workers got "medical or religious exemptions." At Portland Public Schools, 96 percent of employees are vaccinated. The district will lose about nine in-classroom teachers who declined to get their shots.

• We all know the frustration cause by a fucked-up supply chain right now. In addition to screwing up the national economy, these supply chain issues are also leaving small Oregon businesses in the lurch—from olive oil purveyors to whiskey distillers.

• Wine grapes are one of Oregon's top ten most lucrative crops. So how is climate change—including wildfire smoke and the heat dome—impacting the state's wine industry? Read about how industry experts are surprisingly optimistic, and why pinot noir may be on its way out, in this fascinating Mercury Food & Drink Guide piece by writer Janey Wong.

• Speaking of the Food & Drink Guide: We've got a lot of great stuff in there! You can find it all here.

• More Oregonians died using the Death With Dignity Act in 2020 than in any other year. The state law allows people with terminal illness the decision to end their life peacefully and on their own terms. Recent changes to Oregon Health Authority policies allowed more dying Oregonians to access life-ending medication.

• The National Parks Service could soon have its first Native American director in its 105-year history, and he has Oregon ties. Charles F. Sams III, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was nominated by President Joe Biden back in August, and today the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will meet to discuss his qualifications.

• Up in Seattle, we know that 24 officers with the Seattle Police Department have refused to get vaccinated, despite a city mandate requiring them to do so. I'd tell you what the numbers here in Portland are, but for some reason cops are exempt from the rules here!

• These fascist creeps were never going to be satisfied with stopping at abortion:

• We know how Americans are remembering Colin Powell, who died recently of COVID. But how is he being remembered by Iraqis? Not well! "Colin Powell is the engineer of the U.S. invasion of Iraq,” a Baghdad lawyer told NBC News. "Because of his lies, hundreds of thousands were killed, during the invasion or as a consequence of this brutal action," a retired Iraqi teacher said.

• Donald Trump is suing the House panel on the events of January 6, to prevent them from gaining access to White House documents that would potentially show how complicit he was. Meanwhile, the panel is voting to hold Steve Bannon, a Trump ally through and through, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over documents or testify before the committee.

• And finally, here's a brilliant comic about pants: