Good morning my friend! It’s Wednesday, April 4, 2018, and before anything else, we want to observe that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated fifty years ago today. Faith leaders, including the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and the Albina Ministerial Alliance, are leading a march from the downtown waterfront, over the Steel Bridge, to the statue of Dr. King at the Oregon Convention Center. In the words of the event flyer, “We’re calling on all people of faith in the common good to gather, march and re-dedicate themselves to the unfinished work of the original Civil Rights Movement and Poor People’s Campaign.”
All right! Portland’s weather changed overnight as a weak system is brushing the area with light rain; we’ll get to 58º f, 14º c. It’s good if you can squeeze in a little midweek yard work, because heavy rain is on track to arrive in the days to come. Sunrise 6:45 AM, sunset 7:42 PM.
California authorities are using a brief break in the weather during this morning’s low tide to conduct an all-out, multi-agency search covering an expanded area for the missing Hart children. The Coast Guard is providing computer models of where the currents may have taken them since the crash over a week ago.
A rare female shooter with a grievance to settle opened fire inside YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, not far from San Francisco International Airport, wounding three people before taking her own life. It’s believed she was angry at YouTube for censoring or deleting videos she had posted.
Multnomah County’s Republican Party is taking on the Portland Public Schools, claiming that teachers are “brainwashing” children with anti-gun views, and filing a public records request for emails and other documents showing that teachers and administrators, and not students, organized the March 14 protest. High school kids interviewed by KGW say no, actually, their views are their own. “Watching people our age getting killed in our schools, that scares us. It’s not our teachers pushing us. We are afraid, we are scared. We led that walkout,” one said.
The Blazers lost to the lowly (this year) Dallas Mavericks on the road last night, but more importantly, Damian Lillard injured an ankle. The team is not saying how severely.
The Portland Winterhawks won the seventh game of their series against Spokane, and advance to the second playoff round against Everett,
We anticipate a joint announcement today of a canine nature from the Portland Rose Festival and the Oregon Humane Society.
Cirque du Soleil opens at the Moda Center today–with its first show set entirely on ice. From the show’s description: “Follow Crystal, our lead character, on an exhilarating tale of self-discovery as she dives into a world of her own imagination. Feel the adrenaline as she soars through this surreal world at high speed to become what she was always destined to be: confident, liberated, empowered.”
I’m not sure why we’re not having a Bicentennial moment over this, but two hundred years ago today, Congress adopted the flag of the United States with the brilliantly flexible concept of having a star for each state (twenty, at the time), and another star to be added whenever a new state is admitted to the Union.
Somebody (probably a newsperson. Maybe at KATU!) has decided that today is Hug a Newsperson day.
Not the way to pass the test: A student driver crashed a car into a Connecticut DMV during a license exam, injuring one person.
From our Department of Non-Disgusting Headlines:
–“Parents find daughter after 24-year search” (It’s quite a story. The little girl and her daddy were separated in a marketplace crowd. He spent these decades trying to find her, by becoming a cab driver to meet as many people as possible. Last year a police sketch artist produced a rendition of how she’d look today, someone saw it and a connection was made and verified with DNA. Turns out the lost little girl was taken in and raised by a kindly couple. She’s now married with children. All of China is celebrating the reunion).
–“One-armed teen baseball catcher inspires millions, including professional athletes”
–“One-in-a-million’: Joliet, Illinois woman had son, then twins — and now has given birth to triplets”
–“NYPD Rescues Nuns Who Locked Themselves Out Of Car On Way To Easter Mass”
–“Hunting dog named Reuben, stolen from man’s truck in Vancouver area, found, reunited with owner.”
Hey, thanks, everyone who has, for signing up for Dripstock! I know we still have room, and we’d love to meet as many as we can. Lots to talk about!
Let’s wrap with a few MLK quotes.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Those ring so true today. In his short life, the man cast a tall, tall shadow. Happy Wednesday, and let’s spend some quality time together on radio 103.3!
Portland's Daily Drip 