`` by Taylor Griggs The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. 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! It'll be cloudy/maybe a little rainy today with temps in the low 50s. Pretty balmy for this time of year!  IN LOCAL NEWS:  • There appears to have been some bad blood between employees at Portland's Small Donor Elections program, revealed in an Oregonian story yesterday. Last month, David Lewkow—former deputy director of the program—resigned abruptly and accused his boss of bullying and mismanagement in a letter. The Small Donor Elections program provides public campaign dollars to candidates for city office who meet a threshold of support. It was particularly relevant during the past city elections, in which many candidates (and soon-to-be councilors) had no prior experience in government or fundraising and needed the support. Lewkow's letter alleges that the program head, Susan Mottet, created a toxic work environment, calling the office "the most hostile" place he's ever worked. He also said Mottet refused to hire more people to work in the office, leading to problems. In response, Mottet said the office's struggles were because of Lewkow's inability to "perform his job competently." Damn.  The Small Donor Elections program was involved in several controversies during the past election cycle, especially relating to candidates making questionable decisions (like donation swapping, or asking bar-goers to donate to a political campaign in exchange for discounted entry to the club). Jonathan Tasini, a candidate who ran in District 2, also had some harsh words against Mottet, writing in an email over the summer that delays within the program was stalling his campaign.  “This is just one part of why this entire system is broken and, frankly, a joke to conduct serious political campaigns and will need to be blown up, including the underfunding of your office," Tasini wrote.  Regardless of what went down, the contention between the program's two employees certainly couldn't have made their challenging jobs easier. It's sad, because the program is ostensibly a way to keep big money at bay in local elections, making it easier for people who haven't pledged their candidacy to moneyed groups to have a shot at local office. Here's hoping things can be ironed out.  • The wheels on the (electric) school buses go round and round. The Environmental Protection Agency has allocated about $6.5 million to Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality for 26 electric school buses and charging infrastructure. When the state purchases the buses, Oregon will have more than 200 e-school buses. It's unclear how much the old buses were actually contributing to Oregon's greenhouse gas emissions—I am more concerned with eliminating school pick-up car lines with programs like bike buses or walking school buses—but, hey, at least they'll be a pain in the ass to charge. I kid, I kid. Oregon's children deserve shiny new school buses. I just hope they'll ride them.  • Though I believe in some degree of life on other planets, I am an Alien (TM) truther. That is, I don't believe they're flying around our planet's orbit in UFOs, and I don't love conspiracies about the government hiding evidence to the contrary. To that end, I'm skeptical of articles like this one, which implies some funny business happened in Oregon's night sky earlier this month. I question the sources cited on this matter and am unsatisfied by the conclusion, as thought-provoking as it may be.   Perhaps I'm burying my head in the sand and will soon be eating humble pie in massive quantities, possibly fed to me by the aliens themselves, who will take me hostage as punishment for my lack of awe and wonder. I just...don't know.    Unlike the drones seen over the East Coast, these red lights have so far defied an easy explanation.[image or embed] — The Oregonian (@oregonian.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 9:30 AM   • Speaking of the EPA...the city of Portland also recently received a $319 million federal loan from the agency to pay for the new Bull Run water filtration plant, which is expected to cost $2.1 billion. Four years ago, Portland City Council approved the project at a price of $500 million, so this is quite a bit of an increase, making it the largest capital construction project in city history. But city officials say it's important for the future of Portland's clean drinking water to replace the current water treatment plant and build new pipelines. They also say the project will make the Bull Run system more resilient to wildfires, which can result in ash and dirt in the water supply. Portlanders will pay for the plant, however, through water bill rate hikes. So it's reasonable to be skeptical about the major price increase and hope it doesn't balloon any further. We shall see.  • It's almost 2025, and with the new year comes some new state laws. Oregon laws that will be in effect come January 1 include:  A law allowing Oregon school districts to affix cameras to school bus stop signs, so drivers who don't stop for kids getting off the yellow buses may face consequences.  A "right to repair" law, which will make Oregon the fourth state to require tech manufacturers to provide access to tools to repair their devices.  A law requiring the Oregon Treasury to divest from coal companies and funds that include coal companies. A law making illegal drug use on public transit a class A misdemeanor, compared with the more minor class C misdemeanor charge people are subject to for using drugs in other public spaces. People who break the law could face up to a year in jail, a fine of more than $6,000, or both.   IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:  • Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer in the UnitedHealthcare CEO case (oh, who am I kidding, you know who he is), has been charged in New York with murder as an act of terrorism. He was already charged with murder last week, but the added terror charge is new. According to New York law, prosecutors can bring charges of terrorism if they allege someone committed a crime with the intent to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping." I suppose the fact that Luigi's (alleged) act has prompted people on the internet to express unprecedented rates of interest in CEO murder isn't helping him fight the terrorist allegations. But, if I may ask, why don't mass shooters get such charges? I would argue the very existence of "active gunman drills" in kindergarten classrooms demonstrates a civilian population under intimidation and coercion. But the innocent kids killed in mass shootings probably didn't know too much about how to drive company profitability to maximize shareholder value. So.  • Bruh moment:  Donald Trump has nominated former Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker to be ambassador to the Bahamas, the president-elect announced Tuesday.[image or embed] — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 8:23 PM • Donald Trump's frightening, vaccine-skeptical (or outright hostile) picks for health-related positions in his upcoming second administration (ahem, RFK Jr.), have brought back long-dormant concerns about diseases like polio making a comeback in the US. Polio, a disease that killed or paralyzed hundreds of thousands of people (mainly children) annually in the early 20th century, was essentially eradicated in the United States thanks to a highly effective and safe vaccine. But if RFK Jr. and other science-denying weirdos notch important administration positions, it could become harder to get vaccines. Earlier this week, Trump promised that he will at least keep the polio vaccine available as president—though he didn't say the same about other important vaccines. He also said RFK Jr. will be "much less radical" than people expect. Ok, Don. I wouldn't bet my life on that promise.  • Speaking of renewed 20th century concerns, people around the world are building private nuclear bomb shelters at growing rates. The market for U.S. bomb and fallout shelters is predicted to increase from $137 million in 2023 to $175 million by 2030. Some experts say the bunkers are a waste of money, as nuclear war would be catastrophic and unsurvivable for many, and we should instead focus on raising awareness about how dangerous these weapons of mass destruction are and attempting to prevent their use at all costs. FEMA has a different take, saying the public could protect themselves from radioactive fallout by staying inside and away from outside walls for at least a day. Doesn't seem like enough time to me, but ok. I'll never be rich enough to build a bomb shelter. And if I were, I'd buy cooler stuff instead.    A new suit against 17 universities alleges: – Georgetown's president flagged 80 applicants every year for special admission.– MIT had a list for rich students who otherwise wouldn't get in.– Penn had a similar list for those with connex to donors and/or the board.www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/u...[image or embed] — James Downie (@jamescdownie.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 6:34 PM   • The Winter Solstice, AKA the shortest day of the year, is on Saturday. This means days are going to start getting a teeny bit longer very soon, even if it doesn't feel like it. To me, December 21 through June 21 (ish) marks the more optimistic half of the year, whereas everything after the Summer Solstice is a slow march to darkness. So, I'm excited.  • Is this video of kissing sloths SFW? Oh, come on, this is the Mercury...and BTW, fill out our sex survey! Toodles!!!              View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Sloth (@sloth_lovers_life)