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GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! A foggy morning turns to sunny-sun this afternoon with the high reaching a balmy 74 degrees! Sorry, pumpkin spice / "cozy" lovers... looks like you'll have to enjoy seeing me in a thong for a few more days! And now... let's read some spicy NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Lawsuit incoming! The family of Black Portlander Immanueal Clark-Johnson, who was shot and killed by a Portland cop in 2022 after he was mistaken for a robbery suspect, is planning on suing the city unless they agree to settle. The officer used an AR-15 to kill Clark-Johnson—a high velocity rifle that will "tear apart internal tissues and give fleeting opportunity to save the victim." Our Courtney Vaughn has the heartbreaking details of the case, which could be the fourth city payout connected to a fatal police shooting since 2020.

• Oh, this is NOT good:

• Portland police are stepping up patrols around Jewish and Muslim institutions and places of worship as tensions continue to rise following Hamas' horrific attack on Israel, and the Israeli government's vengeful and indiscriminate bombing of Gaza which has killed thousands of Palestinians, including civilians and children. The Islamic Society of Greater Portland has already received an email death threat.

• According to a recent audit of Metro's garbage facilities, the organization is putting their employees in danger with their haphazard methods of dealing with dangerous trash. Recent examples include a hand grenade (!) that wound up in the garbage as well as century-old, but still very dangerous, radioactive waste.

• Earthquake drill tomorrow! 

• Even Oregon's own Republican Rep. Chavez-DeRemer (who flipped the fifth district in the last election) can't abide with the thought of election denier Rep. Jim Jordan becoming Speaker of the House and was one of the 20 GOP members who voted against him yesterday. (NO, we will not be giving her a cookie for doing the very least a responsible citizen of this country should do.)

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• President Biden is emphatically buying into Israel's story that the explosion at a Gaza hospital, which killed hundreds, was actually the work of a failed rocket launch by Hamas' pals, the militant group Islamic Jihad—and the president says there's military intelligence to back up the claim. However, outside experts say the video evidence is inconclusive. Meanwhile doctors are rushing toward the site of the disaster to assist the survivors and according to this report are "performing surgery – often without anesthesia – on patients lying on floor." Palestinians caught between the feuding sides are rightly fearing for their lives as even the so-called "safe zones" are not safe from Israeli bombing, and Biden has apparently gotten the Israeli cabinet to allow the US to send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip (as long as none of it goes to Hamas)... though it's far less than the billions we've given in military aid to Israel.

• But sure... Israel's government would never harm a hospital.

 • You love to see it: The clown car Republicans of the House still don't have a speaker after election denier Rep. Jim Jordan fell on his stupid, lying face after not receiving enough votes from his own party yesterday. Another vote is expected to be held today, and you can probably expect the same hilarious outcome as some GOP members are pushing for current temporary speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry to take on the job full time.

• Pop star Britney Spears is shouting her abortion in an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, saying that she got an abortion while in a teenage relationship with then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. The book reportedly also recounts the struggles she went through while trapped in her father's years-long and overbearing conservatorship.

• Headline of the day (because this is where we are now): "Trump Gets Attacked By Flies During Speech — Makes Bizarre Claim About Pest Control Products."

• And finally... forget being scared of robots—here's your new futuristic nightmare.