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!
Good morning, Portland! YOU GUYS. It's raining, like REALLY raining. You don't even know how ecstatic I am. (Well, you might if you've been reading the anti-sun rants in my Good Morning News posts this summer.)
Alright, time for some news?
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• November 2024 is still more than a year away, but candidates are already lining up to run for Portland City Council. Check out the Mercury's short profiles on the first four candidates to file with the program, and we'll keep you posted on all the other contenders. So far, District Three (which mostly constitutes Southeast Portland) is coming out on top for most candidates in the mix.
• Many Oregon kids returned to school this week—and viruses everywhere are celebrating. We all know schools are Petri dishes, and even more now in the age of rampant COVID. The schools are even seeing some vintage viruses return: Fewer and fewer Oregon children are getting vaccinated for measles (come on, you guys), so I guess that's something we have to worry about now, too.
• In better back to school news, Portland's famous Alameda Bike Bus has returned!
It doesn’t matter that it’s the 2nd day of school. If it’s Wednesday we are doing the #BikeBus. pic.twitter.com/Y22PJ2y4lp
— Sam Balto (@CoachBalto) August 30, 2023
• Oregonians can expect to see a huge tax "kicker" this year—$5.61 billion will be returned to taxpayers, the largest amount ever. But for most of us, this won't be super noticeable. The wealthiest residents will receive by far the most in return: while the median taxpayer will receive about $1,000 back, Oregon's 1% could see more than $44,000 returned to them. To be fair, they do pay more in taxes to begin with, but couldn't the state figure out something else to do with this money??! Some people are calling on Oregon politicians to end the kicker law so we can do just that.
If you're looking for "double the funny" then don't miss the next "TWO EVILS" comedy game show—with special guest contestants Neeraj Srinivasan and Milan Patel! 😍https://t.co/DvT2Y0AQha
— Portland Mercury 🗞 (@portlandmercury) August 30, 2023
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Hunters in Mississippi caught the longest alligator ever recorded in state history. If you don't know how long alligators usually are, apparently it's shorter than 14 feet, 3 inches long. Hmm...are alligators getting longer? What does this mean for society? Also, I hope they didn't kill this one. But that doesn't mean I want to come into contact with it.
Immense-a-gator: A group of hunters have captured the longest alligator ever to be recorded in Mississippi. The alligator weighed 802.5 pounds and measured 14 feet, 3 inches long. That breaks the previous record by over 2 inches. https://t.co/QaahzuQ9IB
— AP Oddities (@AP_Oddities) August 30, 2023
• There was an ultra-rare blue supermoon last night (though, in Portland, it was kinda covered by clouds). If you missed it, live vicariously through moongazers who did not and check out these awesome photos of the moon.
Senator Mitch McConnell experienced another alarming freeze-up at a news conference on Wednesday in Covington, Kentucky, the second such episode caught on camera in recent weeks. The episode intensified questions about his future in the Senate. https://t.co/q05DVdCWjO pic.twitter.com/4fXBhhABy2
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2023
• People in the Toronto area may have heard a lot of buzzing yesterday after a truck spilled five million bees onto a road near the Canadian city. The police warned drivers to keep their windows shut, as to prevent bees from swarming them in their cars.
• Finally, GREAT FROG NEWS:
Hoppier days ahead! Hundreds of northern leopard frogs, froglets and tadpoles reared at the Oregon Zoo are hopping back into the wild this month, thanks to a collaborative effort to save one of the last remaining Northwest populations of this endangered species. pic.twitter.com/q6fqK669NM
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) August 30, 2023