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Portland City Hall
Portland City Hall Mercury staff

Good morning, Portland! Time for some honesty: I'm a little exhausted after writing this think piece yesterday (some are calling it "the think piece of a generation"), but I'll try my best to slog through this one.

Okay, here are the headlines!

• All of Tuesday's election results are finally in, and it looks like we've got quite a few local runoffs to look forward to in November—including the races for mayor, two Portland City Council seats, and a Metro Council seat. Meanwhile, state Sen. Shemia Fagan clinched the Democratic Secretary of State nomination by about half a percentage point (no matter what you read from the Oregonian on Tuesday night!).

• In a press conference yesterday, Multnomah County leaders said they still aren't ready to set a reopening date—but they are moving closer to meeting their criteria goals. "I think we have a strong plan in place, and just need to time nail some of these components down," said Jennifer Vines, the county's public health officer.

• Three Oregon prison inmates have been hospitalized with COVID-19, per OPB. As our own Alex Zielinski has reported, health and safety conditions in state jails and prisons have been sorely lacking since the beginning of the pandemic.

• Sen. Jeff Merkley's Republican opponent for the November election has expressed loud support for QAnon, the wide-ranging conspiracy theory that spurred Pizzagate. Which would be very alarming if she had any chance of winning.

• The quarterly Oregon revenue forecast came out yesterday, and it is.... not good, thanks to COVID-19. State economists estimate we have a $3 billion budget gap on our hands, and it's going to keep growing.

• According to a new study from Johns Hopkins University, the United States could have saved 36,000 lives if it had began social distancing just one week earlier. But never mind that, because it is time to reopen and get our nails painted, baby!

• Speaking of reopening: The CDC released new guidelines for schools, businesses, and other organizations looking to reopen soon. They include a "menu" of safety protocols, and offer those organizations the choice of which measures will work for them.

• China's government plans to enact a new law that would tighten the country's grip of control over Hong Kong. Remember that before the coronavirus hit, Hong Kong was a site of mass protests because of China's draconian treatment.

• Go off!