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Good morning, Portland! November is flying by. Hopefully you had a chance to dry out after the wet weekend. Today, expect clouds to hang around, with temps hovering around 47 degrees this afternoon, before dropping down to the low 40s this evening.

Now let’s get to what you came here for.

We don’t do Thanksgiving at our house because it encourages dependency. Here it’s Thanksearning

— First generation home renter (@internethippo.bsky.social) November 24, 2024 at 11:09 AM

In Local News:

• As we mentioned yesterday, employees at several New Seasons grocery stores plan to strike tomorrow (Wednesday), which is typically among the busiest days of the year for grocers. Unionized employees, who have yet to enact their first labor contract with the company, say New Seasons Markets won’t agree to a contract with better starting wages, or a contract that affords unionized workers a living wage of $27 an hour. The union has tried to negotiate a labor contract with the company since last year. It’s common for customers to boycott a business whose workers are on strike, but New Seasons staff are asking shoppers to extend the boycott until employees have a contract. Taylor Griggs brings us the details.

• Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) just published the results of a study it led in the Annals of Family Medicine. The study examined survey data from Medicare and Medicaid recipients regarding housing and food insecurity. OHSU’s survey found that while spending was through the roof during the first years of the pandemic (ultimately leading to the inflation we’re now battling), those who rely on federal health care programs faced growing costs of food and housing. “The jump in [health-related social needs] following the start of the pandemic and the persistence of need, particularly in food and housing, highlight the importance of research to better understand which public health and health care interventions, investments, and policies effectively address HRSN,” a summary of the study’s findings states. The data could help inform better approaches to a holistic model of health care–one that examines someone’s overall well-being in addition to acute medical needs.

• In Pacific Northwest mystery history: The children of a man who carried out an in-flight heist before parachuting out of the plane say they believe their dad was the infamous skyjacker referred to as DB Cooper. A brother and sister say a parachute kept on their parents’ property in North Carolina for years might be evidence that their father was the elusive, storied man who held up a Seattle-bound plane from Portland in 1972 by claiming to have a bomb in his briefcase. The man, referred to throughout the years by media and the FBI as DB Cooper (the likely false name given by the passenger, long before TSA existed) demanded $200,000 cash and four parachutes, ordering the flight to land, re-fuel, and then take off again. With cash and parachutes in hand, the hijacker exited the plane mid-flight, before it could land. The FBI was never able to positively ID or arrest any suspects.

Police did arrest and convict a man named Richard McCoy II shortly after the DB Cooper incident, who carried out a strikingly similar stunt, demanding $500,000. McCoy has since died, along with his wife. The couple’s adult children now say they believe an old parachute kept in storage was likely involved in the 1971 Portland to Seattle incident now known as the infamous DB Cooper heist. At least one amateur sleuther agrees.

• Crews are searching for yet another missing hiker in Mt. Hood National Forest. Search and rescue crews combed hiking trails near Welches last Friday, in search of 61-year-old Susan “Phoenix” Lane-Fournier and her two dogs, who are thought to have gone for a hike Thursday and never returned. Coworkers say Lane-Fournier didn’t show up to work Friday and her truck was found near the Green Canyon Way Trail.

• Time to get festive! Or just…de-stresstive? Holiday Drink Week is here to warm your spirits and spice up your life. Starting Monday, Dec. 2, get yourself a fancy $8 cocktail. Cheers!

Coming at you December 2-8, it’s the cheeriest time of year: the Mercury’s HOLIDAY DRINK WEEK, featuring 24 festive cocktails from your fave Portland bars… and only $8 each! 🎄

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 1:21 PM

In National/World News:

• Last week we told readers about Donald Trump’s top cabinet picks, which currently still include WWE co-founder Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education. While McMahon served a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education, she doesn’t have a background in education, as she once erroneously reported on a form for the board position. At the time, McMahon listed a bachelor’s degree in education. McMahon’s degree is in French. McMahon previously led the Small Business Administration under the first Trump administration, before stepping down to lead the America First Action PAC to help Trump’s reelection campaign. As USA Today reports, the university that issued McMahon’s degree in 1969 says the program she completed at East Carolina University was designed to prepare students to teach French, but her degree is not, in fact, in education. Apparently, McMahon tried to correct the error over a decade ago when the discrepancy was reported by a local news outlet in Connecticut.

@mooreteaches Time to lay the smackdown!!! #TeachersOfTikTok #LindaMcMahon ♬ WWE: I Won’t Do What You Tell Me (Stone Cold Steve Austin) [Original Theme] – WWE & Jim Johnston

• While we’re on the subject of America’s most successful felon, things with his transition team and his plans for running the government aren’t going well, and likely won’t. The Washington Post reports one meeting of Trump’s team at Mar-a-Lago resulted in shouting, name-calling, and Trump’s attorney being barred from a meeting he tried to enter. The attorney reportedly elbowed his way past to get into the room (or maybe it was just a brush of the shoulder, like the the kind of interaction that happens on a MAX train). Related: Elon Musk is apparently taking his new informal position of “first buddy” seriously. The dude won’t go away.

Can’t decide what’s more embarrassing, this or Drake suing Kendrick

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— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein.bsky.social) November 25, 2024 at 7:55 PM

• Tariffs were a key point in Trump’s campaign, but it’s unlikely he knows what he’s getting into, and it’s unlikely to produce the results he promised. Tariffs are essentially fees paid at US ports of entry on goods imported from other countries. Trump wants to jack up the rates paid on goods from countries like China, Mexico, and Canada, in an effort to push manufacturing jobs back to the US. Here’s the problem: some goods, like coffee, can’t be made in the US. We import everything from pre-assembled car parts, to agricultural goods, to oil, and economists say higher tariffs will only get passed on to consumers. It could wreak havoc on the American auto industry.

• Intel is finally getting the windfall US CHIPS Act grant promised by the government, but the company is getting less than originally promised, and has already laid off thousands of workers. Intel reported its receipt of nearly $7.9 billion in CHIPS Act funding today, less than the $8.5 billion initially expected. Sources, including The Oregonian, note the company already won a lucrative Department of Defense contract that makes up for the reduction in grant allocations. The money is supposed to help companies like Intel keep computer chip manufacturing jobs in the United States, and was expected to help expand operations at Intel sites in Arizona, Ohio, and its Hillsboro locations. Earlier this fall, some GOP lawmakers questioned whether Intel should receive the full grant, after the company laid off roughly 15,000 employees, including 1,300 in Oregon.

• And finally, in the never-ending saga of Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef that was entirely drummed up by Drake, the Canadian Degrassi actor turned rapper’s company filed a legal motion against his record label and Spotify, alleging both entities used bots and AI to artificially inflate the popularity of Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us.” The label, Universal Music Group, responded with its own legalese version of a diss against Drake, telling The Verge, “No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”