Thursday, February 22, 2018

What, Thursday already? We just got here! It’s February 22, 2018..the real George Washington’s birthday…and I cannot tell a lie, it’s been a long strange week, full of sparkling wintery beauty and white-knuckle drives to work. We’re still tasting the lingering kiss of winter, which needs a Tic Tac. Maybe it snowed overnight at your house, and right now I’m going to dash out to see if it did at mine. (Pause for field trip). It did. Two inches. And there’s still an inch worth expected in the early hours from a snowy band that’s marching around in the sky. The Winter Weather Advisory is extended to 8 AM for Portland and Clark County and 10 for the Valley, and later it’ll be sunny with a high of 35.

This morning, the sun springs up like a Pop Tart at 7 AM sharp. Our next post-7 AM sunrise won’t be until a month into the football season. Sunset 5:48 PM.

We’ll have lots of school schedule complexities this morning because of these latest snowbursts. Delayed starts are already announced for PCC, Gresham-Barlow, Battle Ground, Scio, and others. And the shuttle to Spirit Mountain from Portland, Vancouver, and Salem isn’t running today.

Children are leading the way, but there were sharp words from a grieving father during the White House “listening session” on gun violence yesterday: “My daughter was hunted last week. … I am enraged to hear our politicians … not be able to use the phrase that guns are a problem.” A closeup shows President Trump holding a card in his hands (near a cuff monogrammed with “45”) with his talking points, including “I hear you.” Word. Pro-gun Sen. Marco Rubio and an NRA rep got a similar blistering from a town hall in Florida.

The City of Portland is suing companies who peddle the drugs behind the epidemic of addiction that costs the city millions. Lots of cities are doing the same. About half of all drug calls to 911 in Portland are for opioid overdoses.

The owner of the Little Giggles Day Care in Bend has admitted that she sedated and abandoned the kids in her care while she went to a tanning salon. She allegedly then tried to bribe fellow jail inmates to confess to her crime.

The petting zoo and the milking contest will have to find new homes as the main exhibit hall at the Washington County Fair has been deemed dangerous and structurally unfit and is shut down forever. Volunteers built it in the 50’s. The Fair will go on without it this summer, and they’ll break ground on a new space later in the year.

Tonight’s the night for the ODFW hearing on a summertime alcohol ban on the beaches of Sauvie Island, where half a million Portland area people migrate to sun themselves every year. The hearing begins at 7 PM at the Sauvie Island Grange Hall, clothing optional. Just kidding.

This was to be the date of the Oregon Senate hearing into the very touching conduct of Sen. Jeff Kruse. But he self-ejected, so the hearing is scrubbed. which I think is too bad. People still need to be heard, precedents set and examples made, whether the turkey is still on the spit or not.

In news of local cuisine, today’s the day the McDonalds at 91st and Powell closes down for reconstruction, including demolition of the original Golden Arches.

Beginning with a prototype to be launched today. SpaceX plans to eventually bring speedy broadband to the entire planet, through a network of thousands of low Earth orbit satellites–eliminating the latency that plagues communications involving the large satellites in geostationary orbit that are currently used for satellite Internet.

The Slovenian parents of Melania Trump have been granted green cards and are close to becoming United States citizens. They likely benefited from a family unification program often derided as “chain migration,” which President Trump has vowed to end.

Born this day in 1732, POTUS #1 George Washington, who was raised by a tobacco farmer, married a rich widow, sired no children yet was the Father of our Country and the Issuer of Great Quotes. For example, Washington said…”To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” and “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter” and ” it is better to be alone than in bad company” and “I really love your peaches, want to shake your tree,” or something about a tree that he never actually said or did.

HHHHH

–“Peter Wang, a 15-year-old member of the Junior ROTC who was killed as he helped fellow students escape a mass shooting in Parkland, posthumously admitted to the U.S. Military Academy.”

–“Ranchers in Oklahoma found a bald eagle covered with ice and called a game warden. He then warmed the bird up in his truck and set him free.”

–“Cops Buy Food For Mom Caught Stealing Groceries For Child”

–“New Hampshire student with cerebral palsy sinks shot of a lifetime on ‘senior night'”

–“United Airlines Found Woman’s Engagement Ring, Had Pilot Return It By Hand”

A pretty young lady passed by my table at lunch yesterday, looked over her shoulder, and said, “I’m a Dripster!” My lunch companion looked at me, like, say WHAT?

Time to saddle up for another run down the luge of my commute. Yesterday morning, I merged onto 205 from 213 and saw that the Abernethy Bridge, 85 feet high above the Willamette River, was shiny with ice. So I veered onto OR 43 and took the suburban route instead, through West Linn and Lake Oswego. Moments after arriving at the station, I heard a scanner call of a multiple-car accident on the Abernethy. Bet it’s salted or sanded this morning. Let us know what you find, please!