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Good morning, Portland! We’re nearing the end of October. Spooky season is in full effect. Have you put out your giant skeleton yet?
Expect cloudy skies and chilly temps today (AKA Sweater weather) with a high of 55 and a low of 48.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• Portland Fire & Rescue and Portland Police Bureau say they didn’t find any accelerants or incendiary devices in the area where a fire broke out at the home of Portland City Councilor Candace Avalos. PPB says they have “no evidence to suggest the fire was specifically targeting Councilor Avalos.”
“Preliminary findings indicate that the fire did not originate in Councilor Avalos’ vehicle or other property belonging to her. The fire began in a storage shed adjacent to the residence, and Councilor Avalos and other nearby residents were affected by the spread of the fire,” the Police Bureau wrote in an update Monday afternoon. The incident is still under investigation. The councilor said she and her cat made it out safely, and are being supported by family, friends and loved ones.
• That support now includes $14,160 raised via a GoFundMe fundraiser set up for Avalos by a few close friends. The online fundraiser, which is no longer accepting donations, was set up to help cover the councilor’s car and home insurance deductibles, temporary lodging, a rental car, meals, and “replacement of personal belongings lost in the fire.” The organizers said the GoFundMe is “meant to be private and community-centered,” allowing those who know Avalos personally to help her navigate the unexpected hardship. It’s unclear whether the fundraiser comes with any legal or ethical implications for the councilor. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission limits gifts that can be accepted by public officials, but gifts are usually exempt if they come from people with no economic interest in matters the public official oversees or votes on.
• Christine Drazan, the Oregon senator from Canby who ran in the 2022 governor’s race, will again run for governor in 2026. The Republican state lawmaker announced her gubernatorial run Monday. Drazan is likely to zero in on current Governor Tina Kotek’s perceived leadership failures. During a speech announcing her candidacy Monday, Drazan said Oregon has become an over-taxed state with failed drug policies that’s pushing residents to leave the state. Like Republicans in Trump’s circle, Drazan was quick to welcome the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland in late September, calling the protests at Portland’s ICE facility “dangerously chaotic.”
“It’s shameful that state and local leaders have allowed violent mobs and domestic terrorists to assault federal law enforcement, destroy property, and interfere with those seeking immigration services from obtaining assistance and case management,” Drazan wrote in a news release. 🧐 It’s unclear whether Drazan has actually visited the facility or directly observed the protests, given she works in Salem and lives in Canby.
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/10/republican-christine-drazan-will-run-for-governor-in-2026.html
— The Oregonian (@oregonian.com) October 27, 2025 at 10:13 AM
• This week’s Do This, Do That weekly events guide is live, and packed with art installations, classic horror film screenings, and parties to keep you entertained this Halloweek and Halloweekend. Check out a free, one-hour rendition of Macbeth at Director Park, a séance party, and a showing of Nosferatu synced to Radiohead songs. 🎃🧛♂️
Halloween is best celebrated all October long, but if you’ve been slacking, pick up some pregaming ideas in this week’s Do This, Do That—cauldrons of tom yum pozole and screenings of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein are on the docket.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) October 27, 2025 at 2:51 PM
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• A category 5 hurricane is barreling toward Jamaica, threatening homes and safety there. The Weather Channel, citing the National Hurricane Center, reports “torrential rainfall is likely to trigger catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and landslides in Jamaica and Haiti, especially in hilly and mountainous terrain.” The hurricane could bring winds up to 185 mph, along with “life-threatening flash flooding, landslides … and storm surge in one of the strongest landfalls on record anywhere in the Atlantic Basin.” After hitting Jamaica, the storm is expected to shift its path toward eastern Cuba and the southeast Bahamas.
• Attorneys in Chicago are asking a judge to block federal immigration agents from using tear gas, alleging Department of Homeland Security agents have violated the terms of a current temporary restraining order that restricts the use of the chemical irritant. As ABC7 Chicago reports, US Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino is expected in court today, where a federal judge has ordered his appearance. Last Thursday, Bovino was seen throwing a tear gas canister into a crowd of protesters. DHS justified Bovino’s conduct, claiming he had been hit in the head by an object thrown at him by protesters. Attorneys for the city of Chicago and state of Illinois called BS, stating in court filings, “This statement is a lie.”
“The plaintiffs added that DHS has engaged in a pattern of making up things that do not exist to justify their actions, while also engaging in violence to provoke a reaction,” ABC7 Chicago notes.
• After launching a questionable AI chatbot called “Grok” two years ago, Elon Musk has now entered the online encyclopedia space, and already, the results are just as troubling as Grok’s tendency to spit out inaccuracies that align closely with Musk’s personal political views. Grokipedia is dubbed as a less woke alternative to Wikipedia (think binary classifications for gender, a grandiose description of Musk and his technology, and outright falsehoods about actual, provable events.) “On the section about Musk’s work in the U.S. DOGE Service, Grokipedia included an error regarding Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, asserting that he assumed ‘a more prominent role’ after Musk’s departure in May. In fact, Ramaswamy left the group before it became part of Trump’s administration in January,” the Washington Post reports. “To support the false claim, Grokipedia cited articles from the BBC and Al Jazeera, neither of which mentioned Ramaswamy.” Tech publication WIRED noted the site “falsely claims that pornography worsened the AIDS epidemic and that social media may be fueling a rise in transgender people.”
elon finally invented the dunning-krugerpedia, the madman
— ☠️deadward niedermurder☠️ (@niedermeyer.online) October 27, 2025 at 11:23 PM
• In a chilling, sobering reflection of how far Trump will, and possibly can go to stay in power, a US DOJ attorney made comments at a recent 6th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing about a possible “third term” for the president. Bloomberg Law reported on the recent statements made by two attorneys during oral arguments for a case examining the legality of gun owners bypassing federal background checks. The statements came not long after Trump recently said he’d “love to” run for a third term, which the US Constitution currently does not allow.
“Attorney Robert J. Olson first told the three judges on the Cincinnati-based court that a new administration will be in place ‘in three years or in seven years.’ Then, when DOJ attorney Sean R. Janda argued, he repeated a variation of that line, talking about a change that may occur, ‘as my friend on the other side said, three years in the future or seven years in the future,’” Bloomberg Law noted. “None of the judges pressed either attorney on those statements.”
@overtherainbowenergy You see how she destroys her own house and not the one that belongs to all of us? She’s very demure, very mindful 😌🐈⬛
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Courtney Vaughn
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