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!

Happy D.B. Cooper Skyjacks a Plane and Escapes with $200K in Cash Money anniversary, everybody!
Happy "D.B. Cooper Skyjacks a Plane and Escapes with $200K in Cash Money" anniversary, everybody! shironosov /iStock / Getty Images Plus

GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND! All this love, waiting just for you. I just gotta know that your love is true. Can't keep running, boy, in and out my life. Wanna be your girl, not 'cause the mood is right. LET'S GO TO PRESS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• The Oregon Health Authority announced yesterday that Oregonians no longer have to wear masks outside in crowded settings, thanks to the progress MOST of us have made battling back COVID-19. GOOD WORK, (most of the) TEAM! The state will also be launching their “Test to Stay” COVID testing program in Oregon schools, which is a process to allow unvaccinated students and staff to stay at school if they test negative after being exposed to COVID-19 after a certain number of days. Our Isabella Garcia has the details!

• Happy D.B. Cooper 50th Anniversary! Don't miss this fun, interesting feature by Doug Kenck-Crispin on the 10 weirdest revelations from the FBI files on the only unsolved skyjacking case in American history!

• While COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have dropped a lot since September, insufficient staffing and long hours are significantly stressing the health care system in Oregon, and nurses are taking the brunt of it, in some cases working 12 hour days up to 21 days in a row.

• Look out, vax card fakers! Washington state has developed a new method of verifying COVID vaccination status: a digital card with a QR code that can be scanned to see if you're telling the truth.

• Looking for the perfect beverage to bring to you coming holiday gatherings? DO NOT PANIC! Just read our Blair Stenvick's informative article titled, "Five Festive Local Beverages For Your Thanksgiving Dinner."

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Prosecutors are expected to file another murder charge—six total—against the man who drove his SUV into a Wisconsin holiday parade, after another child died from his injuries yesterday.

• A disproportionately white jury is beginning its second day of deliberations in the murder trial of the Georgia men who stopped and killed Ahmaud Arbery as he was jogging.

• The number of people applying for unemployment plummeted to the lowest levels since 1969 last week, indicating good news for an economy on the rebound.

• In related economy news:

• A jury is holding Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart responsible for the flood of opioids that led to the addiction crisis in two Ohio counties.

• Today in SCIENCE!: NASA is launching a spacecraft designed to smash into (and hopefully deflect) an asteroid in a test to defend the earth from potential future asteroid collisions.

• That tracks: "Florida man playing Judas in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' accused in Jan. 6 Capitol riot." (He's also a Michael Jackson impersonator!)

• You want to find the perfect gift while also supporting local businesses, yes? YES! Then don't miss the Mercury's Holiday Gift Guide, featuring only the coolest gifts and where to find them... locally!

• And hurry, hurry! You still have time to enter to win FREE TICKETS to see the hilarious O Christmas Tea, and the musically excellent Beabadoobee and Lettuce. It's the Mercury's FREE TICKETS TUESDAY!

• And now... THE WEATHER REPORT: A very foggy morning turns into partly sunny skies today with a high of 51.

• And finally, here's the truest thing you will hear all day!