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Good morning, Portland! Let's jump right in.

In local news:

•  It’s time for phase two of the city charter amendments! That major ballot measure that overhauled our city’s government was only the beginning—now the Charter Review Commission is currently considering 14 additional amendments to the Portland charter, including cutting outdated language, adding new city values, and expanding voting rights to noncitizens. Opportunities to voice your opinion on the amendments start this week.

• Oregon voters passed Measure 114—the gun control bill that limited magazine capacity and added a new permitting system—but legal experts are questioning whether the measure will actually be implemented. The new law is supposed to go into effect on January 25, but state police are expected to ask for a delay in order to get the new gun permitting system established. Some legal experts don’t anticipate the law will survive a legal challenge while multiple rural sheriff’s have already announced that they won’t enforce the new law.

• Respiratory illness season is in full swing and challenging Oregon hospitals. A surge in respiratory viruses in children has strained the state’s pediatric hospital bed capacity, with the number of statewide pediatric hospitalizations tripling since late October. Governor Kate Brown signed an executive order Monday to free-up more resources for hospitals to respond to the surge. Nurses say that the intervention should have come sooner.

• A student was shot outside Jefferson High School during an apparent drive-by Monday, less than one month after two students were shot outside the Jefferson high School gym. The student was shot in the shoulder and sought medical attention. Police have not made any arrests. 

In national news:

• President Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt is still in legal limbo after a federal appeals court panel agreed to halt the program while a current legal challenge against the program plays out in court. The program is being challenged by a Texas judge who alleges it usurped Congress’ power. Fun fact: The panel that agreed to halt the program is made up of three Republican appointees who were appointed by former President George “the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq” Bush and active threat to democracy Donald Trump.

• Four University of Idaho students were found dead in an off-campus house Sunday. The police are investigating the students’ deaths as a homicide, but haven’t released any additional details.

• In a study aiming to determine whether rats can keep time to music (looks like they can), scientists played the rats Mozart, “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen, "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, and "Sugar" by Maroon 5. 

• A lesson in mega company PR moves: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced a mission to give away most of his $124 billion fortune to fight climate change and inequality, including $100 million already distributed to Dolly Parton’s famed charity efforts. Hours later, the New York Times reported that Amazon will lay off 10,000 workers—the largest job cut in the company’s history—starting this week.

• An imagining exercise to get your brain  going this morning: curl up into your most rat-like form, listen to “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, and try to move in time with the music. It’s for SCIENCE.