Hi there! It’s your wakeup spritz of news and information, from me, the drafter of the Daily Drip and mangler of the language (I was justly busted for a doozy that I missed in editing yesterday), for this Tuesday, April 17, 2018. Portland’s weather wavers indecisively between showers and sun, not too much of either, with highs again near 50. Tomorrow leans toward the dry side, and Thursday may be the day for which our soggy souls cry out. Sunrise 6:21 AM sunset 7:59 PM.
We’ll get to the day’s chaos in a moment, but first:
This baseball talk is starting to get real. Oakland is seriously worried about losing the A’s to us. Let’s at least keep an open mind. A company has been created called the Portland Diamond Project, headed by a retired Nike executive, with the intention of bringing Major League Baseball to Portland. The Portland Diamond Project says it will have an announcement tomorrow. I read an SEC filing in which they’re looking for $5.5 million in private investors. Hey, I’m in for a grand! The Oregonian quotes a spokesman as saying the company is “in the midst of land-related transactions,” which sounds like they’re working on a stadium site. (John Canzano says it’s either the current PPS HQ, which needs a bulldozer anyway, or somewhere in Milwaukie). They’ve met with Ted Wheeler, whose spokesman told the paper that “the mayor at this point has not been asked nor is he prepared to offer any public incentives.” I think they know that wouldn’t fly here, and it may not have to. Portland is exactly what MLB wants. And what if there’s a Nike connection?
OK. Other news.
In the words of the late poet George Harrison,
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
It’s Tax Deadline Day! Whoopee! For those of us who so generously gave our various levels of government an interest-free loan by having too much withheld, here’s the answer to the question of when we get our damn money back. For State: If you e-filed, you should have your Oregon tax refund within 4 to 10 business days. But if you did it old-school, on papyrus with a quill, it could be eight to twelve weeks. For Federal, they say 21 days. But you can get a free app called IRS2Go that should tell you specifically when your refund will show up. And for the accountants among us: one…more…day….
There’s nothing that burns us up as much as adults who prey on children. Today…only 24 hours after one man who took advantage of disabled children in Oregon City was sent to federal prison for 28 years…the 19th annual Child Abuse and Family Violence Summit begins at the Red Lion Hotel on the River (the Jantzen Beach one). That man’s despicable case will be studied, along with many others, by attendees representing a variety of disciplines from all over the country. Welcome to Portland, folks; thank you for what you do.
The worst turns out to be true for the California family that vanished on the homeward leg of a Spring Break trip to Oregon, as three members were recovered from Mendocino County’s Eel River, along with the car. The search goes on for the fourth.
People got up and walked out on an embarrassingly inappropriate speech at the University of Portland’s end-of-year sports banquet, during which a senior tennis player made “violent and misogynistic” remarks (the words of another athlete, who wrote about the speech) detailing his sexual pursuits during his years at that respected institution.
We learned, randomly, that President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, whose files were carted away under warrant by the FBI, is also a lawyer for Trump spokesmodel Sean Hannity.
Overruling his advisers, President Trump rejected new sanctions on Russia, a day after the American ambassador to the UN said the US would impose penalties on Russian companies that helped Syria’s chemical weapons program.
A Russian journalist who wrote about Russian mercenaries in Syria has died after falling mysteriously from his fifth-floor apartment.
Kendrick Lamar has become the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.
Actor Harry Anderson, who played the judge on Night Court, has died at 65.
The Rose Quarter will be rocking hard tonight for Game Two of the Blazers-Pelicans playoff series at the Moda Center….while right next door, the Veterans Memorial Coliseum hosts a venerable British heavy metal band. If you’re in a jam getting out of the parking lot, and you say to yourself, “Judas Priest!”, you would be exactly right. Hope everyone goes home happy!
Curtis Tigard celebrated his 109th birthday the other day. The grandson of the suburb’s founder credits his longevity either to lots of red wine and naps, or “eating and drinking sensibly and taking life easy.” Different ways of saying the same thing.
Ford unveiled the Mustang on this date in 1964. All you want to do is ride around, Sally!
Headlines for a Happy Heart! (I rotate this feature’s name all the time. Suggest one, and I might use it too):
–“Desiree Linden splashed her way through icy rain and a near-gale headwind to win the Boston Marathon, the first victory for an American woman since 1985”
–“On the male side: Japanese High School Administrator Yuki Kawauchi just became the first amateur runner to win the Boston marathon in decades. He has to go back to work tomorrow.”
–“Boy with autism builds 26-foot replica of the Titanic completely out of Legos.”
–“Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles”
–“Restaurant guest tips $100 to each of 17 kitchen workers”.
–“Anonymous donor, identified only as Suzanne, leaves $10 million to Seattle independent radio station KEXP, one of the largest bequests in public radio history.”
–“Yale Is Letting Anyone Take Its Most Popular Class Ever Online for Free. Psyc 157: Psychology and the Good Life is everything you ever wanted to know about how to truly be happy.”
Well OK!
V-9.
Portland's Daily Drip 