Thursday, January 25, 2018

Hello, fellow earth person! We’re ripping open a whole new day on this Thursday, January 25, 2018. With colder air settling in, Portland will be a showery and breezy place with a chance of thunder, a quarter of an inch of rain, and highs of 45. This latest system is a snarly little animal, with a radar image that looks like it’s chasing its tail. Might get a little cold-core funnel rotation out of that. Then a hard rain for the weekend, and we might be talking about high water, dreaded words for those of us who’ve dealt with it. But the days grow noticeably longer. Sunrise 7:39 AM, sunset 5:07 PM.

The Trump administration picked this week, when the U.S. Conference of Mayors is meeting in DC, to announce that it is subpoenaing America’s sanctuary cities, of which Portland is foremost, for volumes of records to show compliance with federal immigration law. A furious Mayor Ted Wheeler called this blue-state squeeze “one of the most disappointing actions by a White House” in his lifetime, demonstrating “an insulting lack of moral compass.” Oregon has long been a sanctuary state, with a law on the books for 30 years prohibiting the use of state and local resources to enforce federal law in cases where an immigrant’s only crime is entering the country illegally. Those last seven words should be in boldface.

Trump is in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum; before leaving, he made the statement that he’s “looking forward” to being interviewed by the Robert Mueller investigation.

The ex-doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University will never be free again, as Dr. Larry Nassar is sentenced to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing at least 160 young female athletes. Every one of the brave victims who wanted to be heard was heard, and much respect to Judge Rosemarie Aquilina for making that happen. Time, now, to dig into the system that allowed this to occur, and drag the enablers into the daylight; the president of MSU has already resigned.

The Tigard Times reports that Matt Barbee, the Tigard police officer who was hit and seriously injured by a vehicle along Highway 26 in December, has been moved to a rehabilitation facility. He’s making progress, but has a long road ahead.

Life in the city of Roses….from the PDX Alerts Twitter feed: “11th/Johnson Update – police on scene-made contact with screaming female who said there is no problem – officers advising “this is just what she does” – units clearing.”

The Oregon Convention Center has that nice vinyly new car smell as the Portland International Auto Show opens today. Besides the cars and all the new technologies they represent–I have a 2018 and sometimes it drives itself better than I do- what’s new is “The Garage”…where you can watch crews build a car from a kit. And other cool gearhead stuff, and a man cave, and drinks and stuff.

On this date in 1987, Neil Diamond sang the National Anthem at the Superbowl.

Elton John says he’ll wrap up his concert career with a 300-show world tour that comes to Portland on January 12, 2019. A pre-sale for Amex cardholders begins today.

A TBS comedy show, “Angie Tribeca,” is looking for extras in the Mt. Hood, Government Camp and Rhododendron area to appear on an episode that’ll be filmed in February. They’re looking as well for 1980s and 90s cars, trucks, and campers to be featured in the show.

Reaching back thirty years for a program that’s full of relevance today, CBS has made a 13-episode order for a current-day Murphy Brown revival starring Candice Bergen.

The Blazers beat the Timberwolves 123-114, with all-star Damian Lillard pouring in 31, and have now won 4 out of 5.

For Mariners fans: Edgar Martinez missed out on getting into the Hall of Fame this year. Watch for a concerted effort next year. We’ll all be his DH.

Cake, candles, and exploding whale confetti to Portland TV/radio veteran, and my iHeartRadio colleague, Paul Linnman, who’s celebrating his birthday today.

Mary Tyler Moore died one year ago today. Here’s a quote from that good woman: “There are certain things about me that I will never tell to anyone because I am a very private person. But basically, what you see is who I am. I’m independent, I do like to be liked, I do look for the good side of life and people. I’m positive, I’m disciplined, I like my life in order, and I’m neat as a pin.”

H4aHH!

–“Grandma Accidentally Takes In An Opossum Thinking It’s A Stray Cat”

–“Real-life Lassie helps rescue elderly man from frigid East Bay waters”

–“Southwest fills plane with pets, flies abandoned animals from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico”

–“Man learns to read at age 47 after hiding illiteracy for years”

–“Cat Realizes Owner Doesn’t Like Mice Gifts, So She Brings Him A Leaf Every Morning”

–“‘It never holds me back’: Man with Down syndrome starts million-dollar sock company”

The littlest of our family has taken her first step. And then nine of them!

So before we go and sock it to a Thursday, a quick save-the-date announcement: our second annual Dripstock will be held on Friday, April 13th! I like that! It suggests all kinds of creative thematic possibilities. Dripstock is a social event for us all to hang with friends we haven’t met, and who knows what fun things might be in the works. As before, we’ll do it in the iHeart performance space in Tigard, and more details will be released once we figure ’em out!