It’s December. Take a breath and take that in. The darkest month of the year and yet…our most celebratory month, built around a birth, fresh beginnings, a rich array of music, and every kind of comfort and joy. It’s Friday, December 1, 2017. For Portland, today looks like rain but not a lot, and highs in that cool-but-not-cold 50 range. Sunrise is 7:30 AM, sunset at 4:28 PM, and we’ll lose eighteen more minutes of sun before it all starts coming back to us.
By the way: after a steady rain Saturday, Sunday looks like the perfect day to go hunt down that Christmas Tree. Which is exactly what our extended family will do together as always.
Christmas Ships shove off tonight!
Breaking news in the Russia probe…Special Counsel Robert Mueller has charged former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn with “willfully and knowingly” making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to the FBI regarding conversations with Russia’s ambassador.
Heroic work by a Greyhound bus driver, who was stabbed in the throat while driving a load of passengers at freeway speed on I-84 in the Gorge. Even as he bled, and passengers wrestled with the attacker, Clint Lawson held tight to the wheel and stopped the bus safely. He and another stabbing victim are recovering, while the suspect is jailed.
Witnesses tried hard, but couldn’t save a 63-year old woman who was killed as she walked her bike outside Southridge High School. She was hit by a 17-year old student who was leaving the school parking lot. A couple who valiantly applied CPR had come to the US 15 years ago as Kurdish refugees.
An official end to a nightmare we all shared: the Eagle Creek Fire is now 100% contained. It’s still smoldering, months after it was sparked by a teen who tossed a smoke bomb on September 2, but it won’t grow beyond its perimeter. Dealing with the aftermath will take years.
The Senate may vote today on the tax cut bill, though backers are having trouble getting enough Republicans on board. President Trump tweets that “Obstructionist Democrats” are trying to block it “because they won’t get credit,” but in fact, it’s GOP deficit hawks who are balking.
Triggering a flurry of outraged presidential tweets, a San Francisco jury returned a surprise verdict in the trial of an undocumented Mexican immigrant who shot and killed 32-year old Kate Steinle as she walked along Pier 14, and became a celebrated cause for the Trump campaign for border security. The jury acquitted Jose Zarate of murder, but convicted him on lesser charges. The defense maintained the shooting was accidental.
A passenger flying first class on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Mazatlan says she was subjected to hours worth of lewd commentary by an intoxicated seatmate, and her complaints were dismissed by flight attendants who said, “oh, he’s a regular passenger, he just doesn’t have a filter.” The passenger calling out the airline as well as the drunk clod is Randi Zuckerberg…sister of the founder of Facebook.
It’s World AIDS Day. Over 7,000 Oregonians are living with AIDS. Concern is now shifting to rural areas, where some who’ve gotten hooked on opioids are making the deadly switch to heroin, and sharing needles…a common form of transmission. Only 35% of Oregon adults have ever been tested for HIV.
Born on this date, in 1945, and awaiting an apology from Geraldo Rivera for allegedly groping her in the 1970’s, is Bette Midler. (I still haven’t lived down singing for her, on the telephone, one of her own songs..and she didn’t recognize it)…Also on the cakes-and-candles list are Sarah Silverman in 1970..and Portland rock jock Bob Ancheta…
Today’s the traditional opening of Oregon’s famous Dungeness crab fishing season. But it’s been delayed while the stars of the show put a little more meat in their shells.
A pivotal moment in the struggle for civil rights happened on this day in 1955, when seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus performs “The Most Wonderful Season” concerts starting tonight at the Newmark. The Singing Christmas Tree lights up the Keller, and the Festival of Trees opens to the public today at the Oregon Convention Center.
Folks in Clark County are part of one of the nation’s biggest one-day food drives tomorrow, as Walk and Knock will do just what the name implies. It would be so much appreciated if you could put a bag of groceries on your porch by 9 AM tomorrow for the Clark County Food Bank.
One high school will win its first Oregon football championship tomorrow afternoon at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. It’ll either be Clackamas or South Medford. Great teams, great coaches. In Washington tomorrow night, it’ll be Richland vs Woodinville at the Tacoma Dome. Defending champ Camas was eliminated in the first round. But Hockinson plays Tumwater Saturday morning for the 2A crown.
How about some Headlines for a Happy Heart!
“Homeless Choir Makes History, Rocks Carnegie Hall.”
“Chainsaw Nun Who Helped Clean Up After Hurricane Irma Honored By Miami Heat.”
“Military Brothers Tell Mom Not Everybody Gets Care Packages Like Them, So She Sends 10,000 Boxes.”
“Afghan Girls Robotics Team, Which Was Temporarily Denied Entry to the US, Goes On To Win Major European Competition.”
“Otter Rescued After Wandering Into British Veterinary Clinic.”
“Woodworker Becomes Shop Teacher at 65, Now Builds 4000 Toys.”
Today is my 32nd anniversary at K103. After all these years I still I love what I do, and who I do it with, and who I do it for.
Supermoon on Sunday!
Portland's Daily Drip 