Credit: MICHELLE MRUK

Stay up to date on Portland news and politics. Looking for fun? Here are the best Things to Do in Portland today.

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MICHELLE MRUK

Good morning, Portland! I spent the past few days visiting my old stomping grounds of San Antonio. If you’re wondering what Texas feels likes two days before a midterm election, here’s an idea:

Pain Game: The FDA has approved an opioid painkiller that’s 10 times more powerful than fentanyl (and 1,000 stronger than morphine). That definitely won’t get into the wrong hands in a country that’s in the midst of a full-blown opioid epidemic.

Getting AMPED UP for Election Night? Of course you are. Here are the top 10 national races CNN recommends you keep a close eye on. And here are the 7 governor races to watch if you care about upending gerrymandering.

Yoga Studio Shooting: A man who made “misogynistic rants” online and complained about women not dating him fatally shot two women, and then himself, in a Tallahassee yoga studio Friday.

Give Us Your Tired: According to the Washington Post, militia groups from across the US are heading to the Mexico border to fight the so-called “caravan” of immigrants fleeing violence in their home countries. Apparently, that also includes a militia groups from Oregon.

Fair Weather Friends: Skip, one of Portland’s three e-scooter companies, has temporarily halted all scooters rentals, blaming the rain. It appears e-scooters are not at all equipped for Portland’s signature weather. Oops.

Winter’s Coming: Portland’s expected to open a new homeless shelter along Martin Luther King and Killingsworth by Thanksgiving.

Cecile Richards Wants You to Vote: Read why in the Mercury‘s exclusive interview with the former Panned Parenthood director Friday.

Red Flag: Someone posted on Patriot Prayer’s Facebook about burning down offices belonging to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Local and sate police are investigating.

Today in Glorious Headlines: “Police catch chickens that flew the coop in NW Portland, fowl play suspected.”

36 Hours: That’s how much time you have left to get your ballot to a drop box, Oregon. Here’s where you can find one.

Alex Zielinski is a former News Editor for the Portland Mercury. She's here to tell stories about economic inequities, cops, civil rights, and weird city politics that you should probably be paying attention...