Does this qualify as a Renaissance painting? Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty images

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

Does this qualify as a Renaissance painting?
Does this qualify as a Renaissance painting? Joe Raedle / Getty images

Good morning, Portland! It appears we’ve survived the apocalypse, so congrats on that.

Here are the headlines!

“What did you get yourself into this time, Tim”: Part One of the first Democratic 2020 presidential debate was last night, and our own Alex Zielinski watched the hell out of it—read her analysis here. And come back tomorrow morning for my own review of Dem Debate: Two Many Candidates.

Get on Board: The TriMet Board of Directors made a lot of decisions at its board meeting yesterday—some that will probably make public transit more accessible for Portlanders, and some that could make it less accessible. Read up on the highlights here.

Who’s Gerry Tho: The Supreme Court has ruled that gerrymandering—the practice of drawing political district lines so that they benefit one party more than the other—is too political for federal courts to weigh in on. Right, because courts have no place in politics!

Oh, and in other Supreme Court news:

In Case You Needed More Proof: The two women who heard author E. Jean Carroll’s account of Trump raping her are going public for the first time on today’s episode of The Daily.

Bad Religion: Imagine disliking queer people so much that you consider creating a schism in your hundreds-of-years-old church? That’s what’s going on right now at the United Methodists Church.

No Deal: If you haven’t been following Mercury alum Dirk VanderHart’s OPB coverage of the Oregon Republican walkout, what have you been doing the last two weeks? Here’s the latest on the now seven-day-long standoff in Salem (and Idaho).

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Blair Stenvick is a former news reporter and culture writer for the Portland Mercury.