Good morning, Portland. This batch of links is particularly strong, so do yourself a favor and click on them.
Out in print as of yesterday is our 2016 general election endorsement guide from the Mercury Endorsement Strikeforce. If you need a little help wading through the bullshit, give it a read.
After a gas leak, a building in NW Portland exploded yesterday morning. Check out our reporting, photography, and video coverage here.
The state just sneakily outlawed a bunch of Portland smoking patios at bars, we reported yesterday:
“I’m freaking out,” says John Crockett, owner of the Nest on Southeast Belmont, who received notice several weeks ago that his patio no longer satisfied the state’s rules. Since the smoking porch closed, he says, a good chunk of his clientele has migrated elsewhere. “I’m losing hundreds [of dollars] every day. I don’t think I’ll be able to last six months if this keeps up.”
We also broke the news yesterday that the Portland Police Bureau has been secretly documenting mental health incidents with people they arrest or otherwise encounter. But…:
But there’s a problem: The PPB never told the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office it had begun filing these reports. That means defense attorneys representing people with perceived mental illnesses were never provided the additional records associated with their clients’ arrest. Prosecutors are constitutionally required to hand over such evidence to the defense as part of a process called discovery.
This morning, “millions of people around the world will practice dropping, covering and holding on as part of the Great ShakeOut, a worldwide movement aimed at making people pay attention to earthquake preparedness,” including more than 470,000 people registered to for the Great Oregon ShakeOut, OPB reports.
Thankfully, there will be no more debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Here’s Megan Burbank’s take on last night’s final debate: “Well, it happened again. A racist Cheeto insulted our intelligence by talking over Hillary Clinton on a national stage, and it was exactly the nightmare we’ve come to expect from these ‘presidential’ ‘debates.'”
Here are some national headlines:
•New York Times: “Trump Won’t Say if He’ll Accept Result of Election“
•Washington Post: “Donald Trump’s charge on the election’s integrity reverberates in both campaigns“
•Mother Jones: “This might have been the nastiest and most unusual debate of them all“
And, finally, I’ll just leave this here:
Surprised Ivanka would be shocked by lewd language. I met her once & she casually said: “I’ve never seen a mulatto cock, but I’d like to!” https://t.co/WrgCoM0MGK
— Jonah Peretti (@peretti) October 19, 2016