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Good Morning, Portland! How’s your schadenfreude? Don’t blow it all in one place. Let’s hit the news!
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• As voting results update, Oregon governor Tina Kotek continues to have a strong lead on her opponent Christine Drazan—by over 100,000 ballots as of 7:15 this morning. Kotek declared victory Tuesday night, and several outlets interpreted a statement Drazan issued Wednesday as her concession. The Oregonian and OPB both tactfully noted that Drazan’s “652-word statement… stopped short of acknowledging Gov. Tina Kotek’s reelection.” This is an energy we love. If you read the Mercury, you’re likely progressive-minded, so you’re probably all about this blue tsunami. But politicians are tricksy, and you’ve gotta watch’m—all of’m!
• Sidebar: This is Iowa’s governor elect Rob Sand, and I feel like we could be demanding this energy from Kotek. She seems very together and could probably pick it up pretty easily. Just an idea! (Sidebar update: This video is from 2020, and governor elect Rob Sand says he doesn’t skate anymore because [he needs his] ankles right where they are.”)
• Updates about other races, including Portland city councilor seats and Multnomah County Chair, have not changed a ton from what they were on Wednesday afternoon! But you can find them here!
• Wow! Everyone was so turned around about the election that we barely heard about about Jackie’s PDX catching fire! The high-end sports bar remained closed Wednesday and Thursday as management assessed damage. Via social media, the bar told customers it would keep them posted on closure/reopening details as they emerge.
• One of Portland’s best features is its indie movie house ecosystem, and a major thing that keeps that system thriving is second-run movie screenings. Lindsay Costello puts together a round-up of the month’s best looking showings, and in November, Portlanders have a shot at seeing documentaries by Les Blank and French writer-artist Sophie Calle (not at the same place!), Tampopo (always yes!) and Jeong Jae-eun’s 2001 sleeper hit Take Care of My Cat. Aw dawg, if you’re not feasting this holiday season, you could be watching movies about eating! Just a thought.
• Mercury music editor Starly Lou Riggs has some recs for music shows you should really scoop. In the basket this week: Nick Jaina, Black Belt Eagle Scout, and 45th Parallel Universe at Sight Reading. Plus, Sea Moss, Fruit Looops, V1deoboy, and Kye Alive making top-notch performance art and experimental glitch at Swan Dive. Then, Portugal. The Man links up with the the Oregon Symphony? Get in the music picks to read more!
• This could probably be considered local OR national news, but Ryan Goswing of BLM Oregon and Washington has been crowned most beautiful bat of 2026. Congrats to photographer Emma Busk for capturing this gorgeous visage and reminding people that bat is beautiful.
IN NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
• On the national political stage, Wednesday was a flurry of blame-shifting by GOP politicians and grandstanding gratitude from the Democratic Party. In terms of analysis and extrapolation, we have barely begun to see the thinkpieces, folks.
• Russell Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault Thursday morning, in a London court. The case against him drew from accounts given by six women, who described attacks that occurred between 1999 and 2009.
• A researcher at Harvard Medical School was detained for four months in early 2025 after customs agents accused her of smuggling superfine sections of frog embryos into the US. Kseniia Petrova has said the embryos were intended for her cancer research. Department of Homeland Security really held onto this one, claiming that Petrova had lied to federal officers about the frog embryos. Her case was dismissed Tuesday night, after a US attorney filed a motion to do so “based on developments in this case and an assessment of the office’s priorities and resources.”
• Today’s SPACE NEWS is also TELESCOPE NEWS. NASA’s Swift Observatory fell to Earth Wednesday, following failed attempts at correcting the space telescope’s sinking orbit. While that sort of LOOKS like a failure, Swift’s original mission projection was just two years. Associated Press reports that Swift’s run lasted 11 times longer than planned. SHOCKING TWIST: NASA says that Hubble Space Telescope is also expected to fall from orbit, into the planet’s atmosphere, by the mid-2030s. The agency is gauging interest in mounting “a rescue mission” to push it further out (in science paraphrasing).
• Sending you into Thursday with this strangely effective mindfulness trend:
