by Taylor Griggs If you’re reading this, you probably know the value of the Mercury’s news reporting, arts and culture coverage, event calendar, and the bevy of events we host throughout the year. The work we do helps our city shine, but we can’t do it without your support. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support! GOOD MORNING, PORTLAND!  The weather is looking nice today, in the high 60s, with even warmer temps to come this weekend. I am eager for more rain, but I suppose we should enjoy the dry weather while it lasts. I love the rain when I'm cozy in bed, not so much when I'm biking and my glasses are fogged up and my pants and shoes and socks are completely wet and I am shivering for the rest of the day. That will come in due time, however.  The news will also come in due time. Like, now. So read on.  IN LOCAL NEWS:  • In June 2023, Multnomah County filed a multibillion lawsuit against fossil fuel companies, holding them responsible for the climate crisis, which caused the deadly 2021 heat dome that killed 69 people in the county. (Deadly weather events, made much worse by global warming, have killed dozens more people in Multnomah County since 2021.) This week, Multnomah County added NW Natural—Oregon's largest gas utility company—to the $52 billion lawsuit. The lawsuit states the utility company is responsible for a significant amount of carbon emissions and, even more damning, it has engaged in a disinformation campaign about the climate crisis and the safety/polluting power of gas utilities. The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, a seemingly undistinguished nonprofit founded by known climate denier Art Robinson, is also listed as a defendant on the lawsuit for perpetuating misinformation about the climate crisis.  The lawsuit is notable in that it attempts to hold companies and organizations responsible not only for polluting, but for lying about it, hoping to continue padding their wallets while people die from ever-worsening climate disasters. I also find it curious how many "climate-friendly" organizations have been sponsored by NW Natural—for example, representatives for the company have set up shop at Portland Bureau of Transportation Sunday Parkways events to spread climate denialist propaganda. Hopefully, this lawsuit will encourage local groups—especially organizations ostensibly working to combat carbon emissions—to think twice about their list of sponsors. The lawsuit is currently pending in Multnomah County Circuit Court.  • Oregon is one of the few states to automatically register eligible voters when they get a driver's license or state ID. Well, we used to do that...until the Oregon DMV messed up, some people freaked out, and Governor Tina Kotek called on the DMV to pause automatic voter registration until they figure out what's going on. In case you need some background, the DMV erred by registering about 1,600 non-U.S. citizens to vote. (It's every January 6 protester's wet dream.) Most of the people accidentally registered to vote didn't know they were registered and therefore did not vote. But during a time when trust in our voting systems is so low—for literally no good reason, might I add, because voter fraud is extremely rare—this DMV clerical error just adds to the distrust. So, the DMV should fix the problem, but how about we don't let this situation ACTUALLY get in the way of democracy by getting rid of our great automatic voter registration system? Also, some of the people who were incorrectly registered are citizens of American Samoa, a U.S. territory under the jurisdiction of many American laws and policies. Let this debacle be a reminder that people who live under American rule should have the right to vote for who the rulers are.  •Thirty candidates are vying for a seat on City Council to represent District 3.  By now you might be familiar with the frontrunners in the race, but a few late additions are picking up notable endorsements. Among them: Kezia Wanner, a former director at Portland Fire & Rescue, and Harrison Kass, a staffer in Commissioner Rene Gonzalez's office. Both have been endorsed by the Portland Police Association. Learn more about who's running here.  • How about some good news? Down in southern Oregon/Northern California, salmon are swimming freely in the Klamath River for the first time since hydropower dams were installed there more than a century ago. After many years of work to get the four river dams removed, led by the tribal communities that have lived along the Klamath for time immemorial, the last one was removed on October 2—and already, there's a big difference. But salmon recovery will still take time. Their populations have dwindled over the last few decades, in large part because of the dams but also because of climate change. However, with their obstacles removed, scientists and tribal members at least have hope for rebuilding.  • New York Post food writer Steve Cuozzo decided to disrespect Portland's food scene, and he is now paying the price, thanks to a biting rebuttal from the Oregonian's Lizzy Acker. Cuozzo's anti-Portland sentiment came up in his takedown of Salt & Straw, which has apparently opened a new location in NYC. He wrote that the ice cream shop's weird flavors "should have stayed in Portland, a city with possibly the nation's most self-important culinary scene." SMH.  Look, are Portlanders hyped about our amazing restaurants and food carts? Yes. Do we go TOO hard for our food culture? Absolutely...NOT. Portland punches way above its weight, culinarily speaking, and seeing as we've faced constant ridicule from the national media for years now, it's FINE and GOOD that we speak highly of our incredible chefs and dining establishments. Self-important? How about scrappy, creative, unique, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, completely not ever been done before...just some ideas. Anyway, Acker is right that Cuozzo is petulant, and she could've gone harder on him. THAT BEING SAID...I'm not into the bugs at Salt & Straw. But their Lucky Charms ice cream is heavenly, and the chocolate stout one they had a few months ago was divine. So it has its place.  IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:  • All eyes are on Florida today as Hurricane Milton, an extremely strong storm, roars toward the state's west coast. The storm is now projected to make landfall late today, most strongly impacting people who live in the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota. As the hurricane winds blow, there are also tornados taking place across Florida. This is quite frankly an apocalyptic scenario and many people are still refusing to evacuate, while others cannot. At least Disney World decided to close up shop after maintaining it would stay open yesterday. It's a horrible situation, and please keep in mind that hurricanes of the scale were essentially out of the question before humans pumped entirely too much carbon into the atmosphere, spurred on by companies including NW Natural.  • There are places in the world dubbed "blue zones" where people seem to live exceptionally long lives, owing to their diets or low stress levels or whatever. There was even a Netflix documentary about this that came out last year, heralding places like Okinawa, Japan and Sardinia, Greece as paradises that produce healthy people who live much longer than the rest of us peons. Well, as it turns out, this whole thing might be a sham. Researchers say you can't really determine how old someone is. There is no objective physical measure to test it, and even documents could be inaccurate or missing altogether. Take Okinawa, an island in Japan which was bombed by the Americans during WWII. Many birth records burned in the bombings, and wouldn't you know—there are also a lot of unverified 100-year-olds there. Some of the document problems could be due to fraud, too. Children might benefit from their parents' pension checks after they die, and won't register their deaths in order to keep the money coming in.  The point is, people who live really long lives are almost always much richer than the rest of the population, with access to exceptional healthcare and fresh, healthy food. So don't fall for the "blue zone" BS from people who probably want to sell you something.  • A biologist poking around the Massachusetts coast picked up some comb jellyfish for further research and put them in a tank in his office. The next thing he knew, two of the jellies had fused together! The combined jellyfish was now behaving as one being, with a shared nervous system, which is apparently a very uncommon thing to happen. While I think this news is exciting in itself—fish merging together as one!—scientists also point out the discovery could lead to advances in human medicine, helping medical researchers figure out how to emulate the jellyfish's quick regenerating and healing skills. Anyway, I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a kid (doesn't everyone?) but science is completely confounding to me, so sharing these tidbits is the best I can do.  • Three women reported being kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight last week out of Los Angeles...because they were wearing crop tops on a hot day, and boarding a plane with no functioning air conditioning. (Not that they need any excuse to wear a freakin' crop top, but still.) According to the women, who were heading on a 30th birthday trip to New Orleans, a male flight attendant instructed them to "put something on." At first, they refused, citing the hot temperature on the plane. When the flight attendant wouldn't budge, they agreed to put sweaters on, but by that point it was apparently too late—the three women (plus one of their children, who was accompanying the group) were removed from the flight with no refund. Now they're considering a lawsuit. This is not the first time Spirit has gotten itself in hot water, but people still flock to the airline despite its horrible customer service and extremely uncomfortable seats because it's dirt cheap. Anyway, I hope these women sue them into oblivion! Or at least get a refund and be able to fly on an airline that doesn't slut shame people wearing...*checks notes*...crop tops???! • That's all from me, happy hump day! XOXO           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by The Kangaroo Sanctuary 🦘 (@thekangaroosanctuary)