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Could Portlanders become even more enraged, ahead of election day? Because Taylor Swift has snubbed the city of Portland in her tour plans! Good Morning, and let's check for more rage-inducing news!

IN LOCAL NEWS:
• An item on this election season's ballot—Measure 26-228—represents the recommendations of a group of volunteers who were appointed by City Council to review the city charter. This review happens every decade, and this time around the group proposed a major overhaul to Portland’s government structure. You can read a more comprehensive break down of the measure in the Mercury’s 2022 Election Guide. But what's important to know today is that there's ANOTHER DUBIOUS LOBBY GROUP, with an obviously rhetorical to the point of ironic name, complaining that giving people the chance to vote isn't fair. Partnership for Common Sense Government (just seriously why), co-founded by Vadim Mozyrsky (oh, that's why) has accused the city of Portland of openly advocating for the ballot measure.

• In the fascinating and fast-moving realm of election mail news, OPB reports that Oregon Right to Life sent around some goofy-ass flyers with a stock photo of a baby, and a warning that Eastern Oregon Democratic candidates "support late-term abortions for any reason even up to the moment of birth in the 9th month of pregnancy." In actuality, abortions are rare after the second trimester and those cases are usually related to tragic health complications, so maybe give those people a break and stay out of the worst day of their lives.

• Anecdotally, we've heard from medical providers about an increased number of out-of-state patients seeking abortion health care here in Oregon. New data from Society of Family Planning confirms those accounts, and the numbers suggest that the Supreme Court’s June overturning of Roe v. Wade may be leading to more abortions.

• When I read this New York Times piece about how under-studied the clitoris is (watch out for damage to  clitoris in the story's first anecdote, if that would ruin your morning), I failed to note that one of the interview subjects is an OHSU surgeon. You can hear more from Dr. Blair Peters on Think Out Loud today at noon.

• Ahead of this weekend's Portland Book Festival, we'll be highlighting a couple authors we love. First up: A Q & A with Morgan Talty, whose debut short story collection "Night of the Living Rez" was published by Tin House this past July. In this Q & A, Talty took us through his interlocking stories and experiments with time.

• Did you get a chance to check on the Mercury's Free Ticket Tuesday this week? There's a Tuesday in the name, but you actually have until Thursday to enter!

• Holy shit, it's November. TIME TO MAKE PLANS with this massive calendar from our Everout team:

 
 
 
 
 
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IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• Two of the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains—CVS and Walgreens—tentatively agreed this morning to pay $5 billion each to settle thousands of lawsuits regarding their role in the opioid crisis. The New York Times reports that neither agreement admits to wrongdoing on either company's part.

• Speaking of a failure to admit wrongdoing, but it's good not to let people suffer even more:

• John Leguizamo penned an open letter yesterday, calling out Hollywood's failure at casting and making visible Indigenous Latinos for screen or stage productions. "I mean Aztec, Maya, Inca or Taíno. I mean Afro-Latino or any mix thereof," he wrote. "Take the new Top Gun and recast it with all Latin people, that’s a hit. Take a show like Succession and make all the characters Latin, that’s a hit."

• In a scandalous turn of events, Street Roots' editor in chief had some negative things to say about the downtown, over the weekend: