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MOTOYA NAKAMURA / MULTNOMAH COUNTY

Good morning, Portland! Welcome to a spoooooooky Good Morning, News—although, let's be honest, the news is always spooky these days.

Here are the headlines.

• On Wednesday, Zenith Energy contested the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) denial of an air permit the oil transport company needs to continue operating its Portland facility. As a result, the company may be able to continue its operations for years while fighting legal battles against the city and state. This company could be responsible for someday reducing Portland to a pile of ashes, but hey, at least they're persistent.

• A member of the Oregon National Guard assigned to support COVID-19 relief work at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) has been placed on leave after being accused of sexual harassment. Around 1,500 members of the Oregon National Guard were deployed to 50 state hospitals in August, where they were tasked with offering "non-clinical" support to hospital staff burdened by a swell in COVID patients.

• I guess Nick didn't read my column:

• Election Day is coming up—but as you may have noticed, there are no statewide ballot measures in Oregon or Washington that are making headlines or flooding your mailbox with campaign mailers. That said, there are still plenty of local measures, both crucial and novel, in the Pacific Northwest. OPB has the rundown.

• Despite being interrupted by a merry band of unmasked protesters dipshits, members of the Portland Public Schools (PPS) board moved forward with developing a possible vaccine mandate for PPS students 12 and older during their Tuesday night board meeting. The board will vote on a specific mandate in mid-November.

• From the AP: "President Joe Biden traveled to Capitol Hill early Thursday to make the case to House Democrats for a dramatically scaled-back domestic policy package, $1.75 trillion of social services and climate change programs the White House believes can pass the 50-50 Senate." Lower prescription drug prices and a paid family leave policy have been axed from the bill, but at least we've still got free pre-k, and a $555 billion investment in mitigating climate change. May Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema—and their shitty rich financiers who lurk in the shadows—rot in hell.

• I hope this works out exactly how I imagine it would:

• Want to feel old? QAnon is four years old today! Vice has a fascinating—and frankly, quite depressing—look at the true believers who have yet to waver from the Q-cult, despite the fact that not one single Q prediction has come to pass.

• Things are not looking great for The Boss Baby 2: Family Business star Alec Baldwin. Local authorities in New Mexico aren't ruling out possible criminal charges for Baldwin, and they say there's evidence of other live rounds having been fired on set.

• And finally, I give you: words!