🌱 City Workers Vaccinated + Rental Assistance + Re-Fund Police

It's Thursday, my friends, and that puts up one day closer to the weekend. Let me tell you what's going on today.

First, today's weather:

Mostly cloudy skies will give way to rain in the late afternoon and a high temp of 66.

Here are the top stories today in Portland:

1. In an effort to keep Portland police officers accountable, a public interest lawyer has won a 16-month legal battle to determine the identities of the Portland Police Bureau’s Rapid Response Team. Alan Kessler filed a public records request with the city of Portland seeking a numeric key that would match officers’ names to the numbers they wore during protests. It took until Oct. 18th for him to get that list. (Willamette Week)
2. It appears that the vaccine mandate imposed by Multnomah County and the city of Portland are working. 91% of city workers are fully vaccinated, and little more than 50 employees are in the process of getting vaccinated. As for the county's 5,600 workers, just 35 people are accepting a separation due to the mandate. Of that number, only eight are regular, full-time workers. (KGW)
3. Mayor Ted Wheeler has postponed the City Council’s semi-annual budget adjustment process to increase spending on homeless programs. Wheeler had been scheduled to release his recommendations for spending the unexpectedly large $62 million surplus on Monday, Oct. 18. Instead, his office announced that Wheeler and Housing Commissioner Dan Ryan had been contacted by Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury last week to discuss how to increase city and county spending on homeless solutions. (KOIN)
4. Is Portland now saying re-fund the police? After months of protests and calls to defund the police, the city seems ready to change its tune in the wake of increased crime and violence. As the Portland City Council prepares to update the city's budget, city leaders say there's a renewed political will to refund the police. (KPTV)
5. Today Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) shared that the agency and Local Program Administrators (LPAs) are making steady progress on application processing for the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OERAP). As of today, OHCS and LPAs have paid more than $92.3 million in federal emergency rental assistance (ERA1) to 14,304 applicants, and committed an additional $53.4 million for 6,664 households, for a total of $165.6 million for 20,968 households to date. (The Skanner)

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Today in Portland:

• There will be laughs aplenty at SE Portland spot the Lay Low Tavern. Hosted by Julia Corral, this comedy night will feature both local and touring comics. If you've never been to the Lay Low, just remember its motto: average drinks, questionable service, shady location. 9:00 PM.
• There's a Portland-based hip hop show at downtown venue Kelly's Olympian. Performer iamjordan will be the feature tonight. Tickets available online. Doors at 8:30 PM.
• If this event doesn't put you in the Halloween spirit, nothing will. Check out Belle's Mini-Masquerade Ball at the Portland Puppet Museum in SE Portland. There will be wine tasting and nibbles, door prizes and a tour of the enchanting new exhibit, all free by donation. 7:00 - 10:00 PM.
• Want to get your fashion on? Then get on down to Spooky Cute Vendor Pass for an evening of dancing, drinking and shopping. This is an INDOOR venue. There is lots of room for vendors in 3 main areas. One area is close to the dance floor, another is the round room and it has a tea lounge vibe and one is close to the door for lots of traffic! Tickets available online. 7:00 PM to midnight.
• American roots rockers Marty O'Reilly and the Old Soul Orchestra will be playing at Mississippi Studios in North Portland tonight. Imagine the delta blues reprised by psychedelic indie rockers and you might have some idea of how they sound. Tickets available online. Doors at 7:00 PM.

Portland Patch Notebook

• Travel Portland: "Fall looks so, so good on the Rose City. #ThisIsPortland: @sophiemcgolf #PDX #PDXNOW #TravelPortland #TravelOregon #PortlandOregon #HereForPortland" (Instagram)
• Portland Audubon: "This winter, join Portland Audubon’s expert educators for school break day camps, Jr. Birder (an online science adventure all about birds), or bring the whole family out for a day of fun at Marmot Cabin! Whether your child want..." (Instagram)
• With Halloween on the way, I wanted to give you all the spooky material I can find. Someone put together a video listing some of the haunted locations around Portland. It's far from complete, but does hit some of the highlights. Check it out. (YouTube)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Thursday. I'll catch up with you bright and early tomorrow morning with a new update! If you're into these newsletters, consider inviting some of your friends and neighbors to read along. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— Dominic Anaya

About me: Doctor, educator and now a writer/artist, I'm just chillin' in Portland, OR with my wife, our ferrets, our chickens and our goats.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Portland Daily? You can email me at portland@patch.com.