Good morning and congratulations! You have found the elusive Daily Drip, or it has found the elusive you! Either way, it’s a shiny Wednesday, March 7, 2018, with a fresh Gorge wind and highs of 58. Rain tomorrow, but dry again for time-change weekend. Sunrise today 6:37 AM, sunset 6:06 PM.
Portland’s city council will vote today whether to make permanent the mandatory moving expense payments that landlords must fork over to tenants who are evicted so the rent can be raised. As proposed by the Mayor, this will now apply not only to corporate property management companies, but to individuals who have only one rental property, including folks renting out the other half of a duplex. I’ve been both a landlord and a renter and feel incredibly fortunate now to be neither.
Upsettingly to many, a Multnomah County judge has declared that a local $500 limit on campaign contributions is unconstitutional–as is a requirement that the names of donors be disclosed. Supporters of the spending limits, which 89% of voters approved, say the ruling opens the door to anonymous big spenders in Portland political races.
Portland’s new superintendent of schools, Guadalupe Guerrero, says that although student walkouts are against the rules, he wants to encourage civic engagement on school safety and gun violence. So the district has told every school to organize its own “visible, building-wide event” (like circles of people holding hands on the playground) on March 14, the day set aside to honor the 17 lives lost recently in Florida.
A helpful update on recycling in the Portland metro area: local officials have found a source to take the contents of our carts, after China declared it too contaminated, and we are now asked to review the list of what goes where, abide by it strictly, and keep on recycling. So get ready for a renewed and probably needed recycling harangue: this means no plastic bags (stores will take those back), no plastic clamshells, no pizza cartons, nothing with even a molecule of food on it, and for crying out loud, no diapers. No wonder China is mad.
A Camas woman says she wounded her boyfriend with a Samurai sword–after she found the Tinder dating app on his phone, along with other incriminating evidence, like scratch marks on his back and red hair in the shower drain. Hers is green.
Willamette Week reports that a Portland woman accused the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, of touching her inappropriately while posing for a photo at a Portland nightclub in 2011. Cuban was the subject of a recent Sports Illustrated report alleging decades of such behavior, but Portland authorities declined to file charges because of insufficient evidence.
The Portland Trail Blazers beat the NY Knicks last night, and now take an 8 game winning streak into a home game against the almost-as-hot Golden State Warriors on Friday night.
Speaking of hoops: If you’ve been in Portland for the last couple of decades, then Kevin Love has likely been on your radar. Even as a freshman starter at Lake Oswego High School, everybody seemed to know that he would be in the NBA, and soon. Nobody seemed to worry about the pressure this kid felt under all those expectations. Anyway, he lived up to them, and now deep into a successful career this really pretty private guy is opening up about the psychological struggles he copes with, which culminated in a frightening panic attack that forced him to abruptly exit a game last fall. Ever since then he’s been in counseling, and now he’s written an eloquent essay in The Players’ Tribune that’s worth searching out and reading. His point, and the title of his piece, is “Everyone is Going Through Something.” That is the profound essence of human empathy. Our thanks and best wishes to Kevin.
Newly named to this year’s Rose Festival Court is Kash’imani Thomas, a four-year Honor Roll Senior at Jefferson High School. We’ll interview her at about 6:25 this morning on K103.
President Trump has just lost his top economic adviser, the Wall Street heavyweight Gary Cohn. He, like most Republicans in Congress, is vehemently opposed to the steel and aluminum tariffs that Trump casually adlibbed at the end of a meeting last week, regarding them as a back-door tax hike that could quickly ignite an everybody-loses trade war. Dow futures are down 307, at this writing (0330).
Ending an Obama-era ban, the Trump Administration has decided to allow elephant trophy imports. Ebony and Ivory.
The number one consumer complaint in Oregon? Imposter scam phone calls by a longshot, according to the state Consumer Protection Division. It infuriates me to be interrupted by some liar falsely claiming that my VISA payment is overdue. My policy of being nice to people pertains to everyone who’s trying to make an honest living–not thieves and con artists.
An unmanned, 8.5-ton Chinese space station is due to fall to Earth the first week of April.
So let’s protect ourselves by imagining the stories behind these true headlines:
–“Chicago megachurch orders two pizzas during Sunday service–and congregation lines up to tip single mother delivery woman over $1800”
–“Beeping eggs assembled for Easter Egg hunt for visually impaired children”
–“California coyote found with jar stuck on its head released into the wild”
–“Oprah Filled a Hotel Room With Hidden Cash for Housekeeping: “Somebody Is Going to Be Happy Today!”
–“Health officials say this year’s nasty flu season has finally passed its peak”
–“Michigan man wins lottery three times in one day” (A coupla scratch tickets, and a $325K jackpot).
Well, look at that, you just read another Daily Drip. Time to roll out and see what we can do with this gift of a new whole day!
Portland's Daily Drip 