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Good Morning, Portland! Expect rain this weekend with a break for sun on Sunday (seems appropriate). It’s also doomsday early Sunday morning, the day we change the clocks back and enter into the gloomy era of everlasting darkness. Let’s get to the news.
Brief reminder that elections officials say it’s too late to mail your ballot and be certain it will be counted on time. So, if you’re still fixin’ to vote, you’ll want to take it directly to an official drop box. Here’s a handy map of drop box sites care of Multnomah County. And here’s a link to the Mercury‘s Election Strike Force endorsements for local and state races, and a handy cheat sheet for anyone experiencing logophobia.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
Portland Police Bureau released body camera footage yesterday of the fatal officer shooting of 36-year-old Eric Hurtado in downtown Portland on October 15. Coincidentally, the Multnomah County DA’s Office also announced Thursday that it won’t prosecute the officer who shot Hurtado, noting “the use of force was justified…and therefore not criminal.” That means it won’t go before a grand jury. The footage shows officers arrive at a hotel where Hurtado was using a box cutter to try to attack a man in a doorway. About four seconds elapses from when the police vehicle stops and the first officer runs toward Hurtado and fires his gun. Shortly before police arrived, Hurtado reportedly stabbed an employee in the neck at St. Honore bakery and cafe. The employee was hospitalized with serious, but non life-threatening injuries. Courtney Vaughn
This video from the ACLU is out of Hillsboro, showing ICE agents slashing tires of legal observers.
The local nonprofit newspaper Street Roots earlier this week published a spooky story about how the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) is exploring the use of AI tools that they are specifically prohibited from using. The city approved the use of software like Microsoft Copilot earlier this year, but in its approval of the tech, it expressed that only employees outside of PPB could use it. Well, that doesn’t mean PPB officials can’t explore potentially using it some day, does it? According to a PPB spokesperson, they’re just looking into it because of “staffing shortages” and this could potentially help with inefficiencies some day. The reporting shows PPB holding a host of meetings to talk about something that they can’t legally use—talk about inefficiency! More here at Street Roots (I hear it’s in print too).
Three people are dead after two helicopters collided mid-air near McMinnville on Thursday afternoon. Authorities said two people—including a flight instructor, 22, and another yet unnamed person—were in one helicopter, and one person, 38, was in the other. Investigators were still working on the scene as of Thursday evening. More at OPB.
IN ARTS, CULTURE & OTHER FUN:
Ok, brainiacs, let’s see what you know about local trivia in the latest POP QUIZ PDX—Haunted Portland Edition. Halloween is coming up Saturday, and you might want to get prepared with this spooky quiz, all about Portland haunts and historic spectres.
The Mercury is throwing a Scream Queen Halloween party on Saturday at the Albert Abbey in North Portland! If you like costume contests, flash tattoos, photo booths, dancing, and the horrors of late nights, pop down to the Abbey and celebrate with us. Alberta Abbey, 126 NE Alberta, Saturday, Oct 31, doors 10 pm, event 10:30 pm, $15 advance, $20 door, TICKETS HERE! 👻
For more events this weekend, our Lindsay Costello has you covered in the Do This, Do That events calendar. Check out the 1932 film Vampyr at Tomorrow Theater tonight, Death at Dusk at Lone Fir Cemetery on Saturday afternoon, and of course the aforementioned Mercury‘s Scream Queen Halloween on Saturday night. Much more here! And for music-specific recommendations, Mercury Music Picks is back from Starly Lou Riggs with a ton of great shows to see. And, much more here!
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
The great Patrick Stewart, the inimitable Star Trek and X-Men actor, has died at the age of 86. Stewart—or Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, respectively—died after a struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia, his spokesperson said. Stewart held many awards for his acting on screen and stage, including for Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a Grammy for Peter and the Wolf spoken word album, and more. He was also a strong LGBTQ+ ally, and was once erroneously outed as gay, briefly, in the British newspaper the Guardian. Patrick Stewart also did what too many of Portland’s cynical big biz people appear afraid to do: he loved Portland and its people. We’ll always have that, even as we mourn the loss of the legend himself.
Christa Pike, the woman who survived an execution attempt in Tennessee and is currently being tortured by the state, has made her first public comments since the botched execution last month. Pike said in a written statement that she is in constant physical pain and she struggles to speak, adding that “there is pain in my mind and in my soul.” Pike faced the death penalty for the 1995 murder of a classmate when Pike was 18 years old. The execution team, who Pike did not refer to directly in her statement, spent an hour attempting to put the line in her arm to administer a deadly dose of pentobarbital, and ultimately failed to kill her after multiple attempts. “I’m deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position,” Pike said in the statement. The Guardian reports that she is currently being held in solitary confinement, in a prison infirmary in Nashville. This is all a thing that happens in the United States. Read more on Pike’s statements and condition in the Guardian.
Well, have a good weekend.
