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Good morning, Portland! And an especially good morning to Katmai National Park's fattest bear, judged by a jury of weird internet people in the deeply unscientific and very fun annual Fat Bear Week competition. There'll be more about  fat bears as we get into the news, so let's hit the customizable print.

IN LOCAL NEWS:

• Get amped for Joe Biden Friday. Joe Friden, Joe Friday? Beginning today President Biden will embark on a 3-day tour, stopping in Colorado, California, and Oregon. On Friday, he'll appear in Oregon to show support for Democrat and candidate for governor Tina Kotek.

• This October is breaking Portland heat records. What’s causing the warm temperatures so late in the year?

• Portland Timbers and Thorns owner Merritt Paulson announced yesterday that he will step down as CEO of both teams. But don't get too excited:

• The largest public employee union in Multnomah County accused County Commissioner Sharon Meieran of retaliation yesterday. AFSCME Local 88 says that—upon learning the group had chosen to endorse County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson for county chair—Meiran called and threatened to remove support for the union's current contract negotiations. Meieran has denied the accusations. Mercury News Editor Alex Zielinski wades through the whole mess to bring you the story.

• Masterfully directed by Shaking the Tree's Samantha Van Der Merwe, Fucking A is a must-see production in Portland’s busy fall theatre lineup.

IN NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

• The FDA has approved Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccine boosters for elementary school-age children, but the CDC still needs to weigh in.

• In dramatic events reminiscent of the Mercury's final cute pet photo contest—which destroyed at least one staff member's Pollyannaish faith in the honesty of pet owners—the 2022 race for fattest bear in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve fell to a ballot stuffing scandal. Setting an example which other government organizations could stand to imitate, Katmai quickly disclosed the situation and how they were solving the fraudulent fat bear votes. Voting closed last night at 5 pm Alaska Standard Time, and 2020's returning champion 747 once again took home the title of fattest bear.

• A court in what the Associated Press calls "military-ruled Myanmar,"—but which might more accurately be described as Myanmar's military junta—held another sham trial for the country's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, adding three years onto her already existing 23-year prison sentence. Famously under house arrest from 1989 to 2010, if she fulfilled this new sentence it would amount to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate spending almost half her life imprisoned for her political beliefs.

• The New York Times reports that former Marine Christina Bobb went to work for the Trump administration because she believed the 2020 election had been stolen from former President Trump—even though he lost the 2016 popular vote by 2,864,974 votes, but I digress. Now she's being investigated for obstruction of justice because she signed a sworn statement for the Trump legal team that not appears to be flatly false.

• Emerges from the back of a Medieval Times, holding a cake.

I heard there was a Prime Day here!

Sets down cake that reads: How many Prime Days will it take until people love you again?

They will never love you again, because you're a bad company that does bad things.

@morningbrew Amazon’s exclusive event is back (again)! (Ft. @dhtoomey) #amazonprime  #primeday #business #jeffbezos #fyp ♬ original sound - Morning Brew