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GOOD AFTERNOON, PORTLAND! First of all... calling all wing lovers! The Mercury's absolutely delicious WING WEEK returns this Monday, October 3—and get this—you can go to your fave restaurants and get six creative wings for only SIX BUCKS a plate! (Better start stretching out your tummy!) But first... the NEWS.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Bad news for City Council candidate Rene Gonzalez: The city elections office told the candidate that, actually, he DID clearly violate small donor election laws after accepting—and failing to report—a whopping 96 percent discounted rental rate for a campaign office in offered up by local moneybags Jordan Schnitzer, and will have to pay his historic fine. Stay tuned for our story on Gonzalez's eventual appeal, and then the follow-up story when his appeal is DENIED. (We can play this game all day! 😀)

• Oh, and if you give a crap about various local moneybags who are attempting to take over the city, you're gonna wanna watch THIS:

• Workers at the Old Town location of Voodoo Doughnuts have decided to join other service workers across the city (such as New Seasons and Burgerville) and unionize, becoming members of the Doughnut Workers United—which is a federally recognized union!

• Nike co-founder Phil Knight has certainly donated his fair share of moolah to Oregon Republican candidates in the past—but it's NOTHING like he's been doing during this election year, in which he's already spent a whopping $2 million on trying to put Republicans in the state House and Senate.

• Let's go, smarty pants! It's time for the newest edition of the super-fun trivia game, POP QUIZ PDX. This week: quizzy Qs about shady Portland tycoons, local killer robots, and the many reasons why autumn BLOWS. 

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:

• Having devastated the coast of Florida, Hurricane Ian (which was originally downgraded to a tropical storm, but has now once again reached hurricane status) is heading to the Carolinas. Meanwhile officials in Florida say at least 500 people have been rescued from flooding, but the death count is currently unknown. However, President Biden says we should expect "a lot."

• Overwhelmed by the negative response to his renewed Russian draft, Vladimir Putin is furiously backpedaling on his order, acknowledging that "mistakes" were made, while also blaming other officials. 

• Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, has (surprise!) once again sided with Trump in his continuing fight against the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid. This time she has rejected the order from special master Raymond J. Dearie who wanted Trump's lawyers to prove that the FBI had planted evidence, saying, "Naaaaaaah, you guys don't have to do that. By the way, where are you taking me to lunch today?"

• RIP rapper Coolio ("Gangsta's Paradise," "Fantastic Voyage") who has died at the too-young age of 59.

• And finally... oh crap, now I'll never look at Lord of the Rings in the same way again.