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! Some people get energy from the summer sun, I get mine from the dreary days of fall and winter. Since the autumn rain and clouds are back 😍, so is my contentment with life. 

Now, here's the news, some of which does slightly lessen my contentment with life.

In Local News: 

• You can tell a lot about a mayoral candidate by their endorsements. Top mayoral candidates Rene Gonzalez and Carmen Rubio have each racked up a sizable number of big-name supporters: The former has been backed by organizations such as the Portland Police Association, the Multnomah County Deputy Sheriffs Association and Portland Firefighters Association. Carmen Rubio has received much more support from public sector unions, like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 189, the Northwest Oregon Labor Council and the Portland Association of Teachers. She’s also backed by progressive advocacy organizations Portland Neighbors Welcome and Portland for All. Meanwhile, Keith Wilson has found support from climate group Sunrise Movement PDX, among others. 

• HOWEVER, Rubio lost her endorsement from LiUNA Local 737, the union that represents 3,000 public sector laborers in and around Portland, after her astonishingly horrible driving and parking record was exposed in an Oregonian story earlier this week. 

• City Council candidates are also racking up the endorsements, with progressive candidates like Candace Avalos, Steph Routh, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Mitch Green, Jonathan Tasini, and Nat West earning support from most public sector unions (outside the law enforcement unions). More conservative candidates Loretta Smith, Eli Arnold, Daniel DeMelo, Kezia Warner and Terrance Hayes are seeing support from law enforcement unions and landlord/business advocacy groups, like Multifamily NW and Revitalize Portland. It will be interesting to see how this public support influences the election results. 

• How was this summer in terms of outdoor music events in and around Portland? With festivals like Project Pabst and Pickathon, as well as the PDX Live concert series, there was a lot to choose from musically over the last few months. But these events can be an educated gamble, especially now that climate change is making summers hotter and weather patterns act out. Did that influence our experience at these shows? Check out the Mercury's review of these summer concerts and find out. 

• In other music news: The cult-favorite musical genre Shoegaze is having a moment right now, which will be captured at the upcoming Dreamgaze PDX festival at the Fixin’ To in St. Johns from September 28-29. Find out more about that HERE. 

In National/World News: 

• All eyes were on the presidential debate last night, as candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump met for the first (and maybe only) time on the debate stage in Philadelphia. Hopefully you also watched, and if you didn't, you should at least check out the highlights. But here were some of MY main takeaways:

  • Donald Trump is, obviously, a lunatic (truly).
  • Thank God the Democrats replaced President Biden with Kamala Harris, who is actually quite adept at getting full sentences out. 
  • But I find it irritating how gung ho Harris is about fracking, which is bad, actually. 
  • I also wish she’d come out stronger (or really, at all) against Israel’s killing of some 40,000+ Palestinian civilians. 
  • But back to Trump, who is hateful, paranoid, fear-mongering bigot who can't answer basic questions and his return to the White House would be completely disastrous. We must do everything in our power to prevent that possibility. 
  • Harris won, obviously. But it's hard to really win with Trump and his looney supporters, who don't listen to facts or reason and are now intent on spreading the extremely racist and bizarre lie that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating dogs and cats in Ohio. Thank you to the debate moderators for pointing out that is not true. Nor are babies being legally executed after birth. 

Anyway, read more about what happened at the debate here, or in your pick of news articles all about it. 

• Oh, but guess what else happened after the debate?? Taylor Swift, potentially the most influential American, made her political endorsement...and she's all-in for Harris/Walz. Taylor Swift has been accused of being apolitical, and as a billionaire, she certainly doesn’t have the same problems as the rest of us. She’s also a litttllleeee too happy to burn planet-warming (private) jet fuel for me to consider her a true progressive ally. However, her support of Harris may have saved democracy? IDK. Trump should fear Swifties, and you know what, I’m sure he does. They may be the most unified coalition in our nation right now.

• Last night, Israel hit a Gaza U.N. school sheltering displaced Palestinian families with deadly airstrikes, killing more than 30 people. Tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been displaced by Israeli attacks are living in schools, and this is just one of many that has been hit during Israel's war on Gaza, killing many people in the process. Like I mentioned earlier, more than 40,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli attacks since last October, and the number keeps growing. 

• After the chaos of the debate last night, Biden and Harris came together (kinda) with Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, at a 9/11 memorial event this morning. But some survivors of the 9/11 attacks and their families are upset about the horrible event being used as a political pawn in this year's election. Understandable! 

• Finally, HBD to this giraffe. May we all be as relaxed, comfortable, hydrated, in our lanes as Desi. Have a good Wednesday!

 

Â