by Suzette Smith The Mercury provides its readers with interesting and useful news & culture reporting every single day. If you appreciate that, consider making a small monthly contribution to support our editorial team. If you read something you like, something you don't like but are glad to know about, and/or something you can't find anywhere else consider a one-time tip. It all goes in the same pot and it all goes to the editorial team. Thanks for your support! Good Morning, fog! According to the National Weather Service, this will be one of those days where it'll rain precisely at the moment you don't want it to (30 percent chance ☔), and probably during your evening commute home (after 3 pm). I do like the sound of the "calm wind" found in today's forecast. FOG RETURNS tonight, and we could even see some frost in the early morning. It's probably going to snow in the Cascades—if you like that sort of thing. On Saturday, we're getting stormy again, and that behavior will continue into next week. IN LOCAL NEWS:• Also from the NWS, a funnel cloud chunneled yesterday afternoon in Monroe, Oregon. Love that weather-heads are immediately like, oh that's just a land spout. 🌪️OREGON FUNNEL CLOUD: Seen from Monroe, OR at 12:40pm by Marie Rodriguez-Baird. Radar shows a building cumulonimbus cloud at the time. #Tornado #Oregon #ORwx[image or embed] — Holden LeCroy (@holdenlecroy.bsky.social) November 14, 2024 at 5:40 PM • No one following the contentious permitting process for Portland’s Zenith Energy terminal was RESIGNED to it, but yesterday's pause announcement from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is certainly shocking. Mercury reporter Taylor Griggs has more on the “cautiously optimistic” development. • Schools in St. Helens School District are closed today, following allegations and indictments of sex abuse, perpetrated by two of the district's teachers. Amidst community claims that district officials enabled the conduct and student protests, OPB reports that parents speaking at "a raucous school board meeting" earlier in the week demanded the superintendent and school board members step down. • Despite state Democratic Party members talking a good game on election night, OPB is holding the feet of the party's local leaders to the fire this morning, with a piece that points out governors in other states have swiftly moved to create new initiatives and call special sessions to resist the promised actions of an incoming Trump administration. In contrast, Dirk VanderHart and Lauren Dake report that "in Salem, the response has been muted." • HEY, I HEAR YOU, the Mercury's holiday guide is like post-halloween Mariah Carey transition "it's time!" Christmas decoration early this year. But when do your holidays start? So don't be judgy and get in here where we are being hella judgy of Portland’s holiday events, the 2024 Holiday movie docket, and so much more. • From the music column this week: This week, Hear in Portland: • Mal London's fourth album shows off pretty sonics and flows to match•Incredible trio WRK! (Yawa, Vaughn Kimmons, and Jacque Hammond) plays a free collab showcase• And we're hype to see Justin Timberlake in Portland![image or embed] — Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) November 15, 2024 at 8:51 AM • Portland-area peeps cannot get enough of that adorable Arctic fox that was found wandering in Willamette Park back in October. Oregon Department of Agriculture announced yesterday that she'll be moving into the Ochsner Park Zoo in Baraboo, Wisconsin, which "specializes in caring for wildlife that cannot be released back into the wild, including those rescued from the exotic pet trade." At this time, the cute mystery fox is presumed to be an abandoned wild animal that someone was trying to keep as a pet—they found out that FOXES SMELL REALLY BAD, I guess. I have been charmed by ODA's attempt at sternly reminding folks that it's illegal to have wild pets, even as it also gushes about how smart this fox is, how good she is at finding mice, how good her tiny paws are at climbing, and how much she looooooves the smell of urine. Definitely don't keep such a cute bby as a pet (one hundred illegal orders launched—I can change her).           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Bird Alliance of Oregon (@birdallianceoforegon) IN WIDER NEWS:• Former and future US president Donald Trump continues to stun with his cabinet appointments. I'm a little more focused on tracking than reacting at the moment. But its uh... telling... that all those people who voted for "the economy" [read: how cool it is to be an uninformed bigot] managed to upgrade a bunch of guys with sexual assault allegations and complaints.  Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, was the subject of a sexual assault complaint in 2017 in Monterey, Calif., according to public records and Hegseth’s lawyer. No charges were filed.[image or embed] — The New York Times (@nytimes.com) November 15, 2024 at 5:52 AM • Almost on cue (actually on Wednesday), one of the Proud Boys leaders Joseph "Joey" Biggs is asking Trump for a pardon of his seditious conspiracy crime, related to the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol—which Trump helped incite—in 2021. Biggs is currently serving 17 years. Other Proud Boys leaders have signaled they also plan to ask for pardons. • Ars Technica reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating Microsoft for anti-competitive practices, which allegedly keep Microsoft users from moving their data to competitor platforms. But like... will it be promptly dropped once the Biden administration leaves office?  • Thoughts and prayers for the shit-seeking Wired social media team for joining Bluesky 21 days ago and already posting this headline: Users frustrated with Elon Musk’s handling of X and closeness to president-elect Donald Trump are fleeing to Bluesky—an easier migration than leaving the US.[image or embed] — WIRED  (@wired.com) November 15, 2024 at 7:25 AM • And finally, here I am naming my unhelpful thoughts:           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Giovanni Brugnoli (@giovannibrugnoli)