Tuesday​, February 27, 2018

Good morning, neighbors! It’s Tuesday, February 27, 2018. Spring begins three weeks from today! We have a minor winter hangover, with rain or snow likely in the morning, the snow level 500 feet, nothing to flip out about but maybe enough to delay a schoolhouse in the hills, and highs around 45. Sunrise 6:52 AM, sunset 5:55 PM.

Let’s dip into the news bucket and see what we can fetch.

Unhappy neighbors of homeless camps may find relief soon as Oregon lawmakers from both houses have given rare unanimous approval to a bill empowering Portland City Hall to break up the modern-day Hoovervilles on just two days notice–instead of two weeks–and to do so on state land, and not just city property. Opponents of the bill say it lacks compassion and will only worsen the misery of people dealt a bad hand in a runaway rental market.

(Portland is not alone in hosting a population of houseless people. The Columbian says downtown Camas is “vexed” by related problems. And Oregon City has a police officer specifically assigned as a homeless liaison; over the past four months, he has helped a man get clean, get a job, and get housed. The officer’s name is Day; the formerly homeless man is named Knight).

There was a fatal stabbing overnight near SE 162nd and Sunnyside Rd. in Happy Valley.

It’s hard to believe…but you can buy a house in Oregon and check the deed to find language like, “only members of the Caucasian race are permitted in this subdivision.” Illegal and unenforceable, it’s nonetheless repellent, and now the Oregon House unanimously passed a bill to speed up and simplify the process of removing such garbage from deeds and documents.

The Oregon House has passed a net neutrality bill, aimed at offsetting the FCC’s recent deregulation. The bill, which goes now to the Senate, forbids the state from buying internet service from any company that doesn’t treat all content equally.

Eight newspapers across Washington are running front-page editorials this morning lambasting the Legislature for trying to exempt itself from the voter-approved Public Records Act, and urging the Governor to veto the bill.

Teams of Washington state troopers were posted outside Harney Elementary and McLoughlin Middle schools Monday morning to nab drivers who haven’t registered their vehicles in the state–thereby dodging taxes that help pay for schools.

Washington’s Governor, Jay Inslee, was at the White House with other governors yesterday, and publicly advised President Trump to do “a little less tweeting, a little more listening.” Trump folded his arms, pursed his lips, and quickly called on Texas Gov Abbott.

An attorney for the deputy who has been castigated for staying outside while an active shooter roamed the halls of Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida says he thought the shooting was coming from outside, and that he was doing what he was trained to do. President Trump asserted yesterday that he himself would have “run” into the school and confronted the gunman, even if he was unarmed.

If you have a down-home hankering for a juicy chicken breast, dipped in spiced buttermilk, tossed in toasted cornflake crumbs and baked until crispy golden brown, Oregon’s second Cracker Barrel is open in Beaverton, on 114th off Canyon, just west of 217.

The smoky mezzo-soprano of k.d.lang, a Portlander since 2012, will be on display tonight as the singer brings her new Ingenue Redux tour to a sold-out Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It’s the 25th anniversary of the Grammy-winning album, and she does it in its entirety, right through its last number, her megahit “Constant Craving.” I hear the set continues for half a dozen songs, and that if you have a craving to hear her do the song that opened the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver–her now-iconic cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” you won’t be disappointed.

New additions to Portland’s 2018 concert roster: Jackson Browne at Edgefield July 22, Joan Baez at Revolution Hall on November 5, Metallica at the Moda Center on December 5, featuring selections from their upcoming Christmas album.

Chelsea Clinton is 38 today; our K103 morning show buddy Josh Groban is 37.

HHH, please?

–“Milkmen return to London as millennials bid to cut plastic waste

–“Iowa basketball player purposely misses free throw so as not to pass esteemed deceased former player in record book (This was my TMSG story on-air yesterday. I have mixed feelings about it).”

–“Two lions rescued from neglected zoos in war zones in Iraq and Syria have been transported to South Africa to live at a sanctuary with other animals that survived harsh conditions in captivity elsewhere in the world.”

–“Amazing high school cross-country runners clean up overflowing trash for old people.”

–“Bargain hunter paid $20 for old South Carolina teapot. It just sold for $806,000.”

–“Gardener in a kibbutz in northern Israel stumbles on a 700-year-old bronze ring with an engraved image of St. Nicholas, the inspiration for Santa Claus.”

OK! Work time. Hope you’re feeling good! Thanks for being part of the Daily Drippage!