Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Morning, sunshine! It’s Tuesday, May 15, 2018. We turn down the burners on Portland’s weather after yesterday’s 87 degree high; today we’ll glide into the low 70’s, once the sun breaks through. Then we’ll get a light shower tonight and tomorrow. Sunrise 5:39 AM, sunset 8:34 PM. There’s a New Moon today, which scientists say has the same effect on the tides as a Full Moon. With rivers already at the brim, that just may add to the extra bridge lifts.

It’s Power to the People Day–election day across Oregon–and ballots are due by 8 PM, with voters picking between some interesting candidates for Governor, city council, all kinds of legislative races, Labor Commissioner, county commissioners, catchers of dogs, pluggers of leaks….as of this morning, the percentage of eligible ballots turned in statewide has crept up to 18%. Washington County–with a big-spending DA’s race–has the state’s lowest voter turnout at 14%. And: for the moment, anyway, the Red team is doing a better job of turning out their base than Team Blue: Democratic turnout statewide is 23.7%, but Republican is 25.9%. And that’s how elections are won and lost.

It’s the second resignation in a week for a major Portland department head: transportation director Leah Treat, who’s run PBOT for 5 years, is taking a job in the private sector with a firm the city has contracted with for a long time. Seems cozy, but that’s how it works. Last week, Parks Director Mike Abbaté announced his exit, which takes effect today.

Bud Clark was elected Mayor of Portland on this date in 1984. Pop culture then briefly whooped-whooped it up with this leidherhosen-clad kayacking barkeep, chortling at the adorable elf on Johnny Carson. However, behind the twinkling eyes and Santa beard prowled a Reed-educated United States Marine with a kind heart but a small-business refusal to tolerate much nonsense. History remembers Bud Clark as one of our better mayors. The gentleman is 86 years old, and was seen taking selfies with folks at the St. Johns Parade over the weekend.

John F. Kennedy threw out the first pitch at a Portland Little League game on this day in 1960.

Sharp contrasts just 40 miles apart…as beaming dignitaries hailed the unveiling of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem…while Israeli troops killed 58 Palestinians and wounded 2800 more as they tried to cross the border fence at Gaza.

Ramadan begins at sundown tonight.

Best wishes to first lady Melania Trump, who’s in Walter Reed Medical Center following successful surgery to address a benign kidney situation.

Margot Kidder, who starred as Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve “Superman” films, died at her home in Livingston, Montana at 69.

Latest on Kilauea, from the Hawaii Volcano Observatory and local media sources: A massive new fissure is throwing up huge boulders, molten rock and toxic fumes. Activity is dominated by lava fountaining, explosion of spatter more than 100 feet into the air, and an advancing lava flow. A steady, vigorous plume of steam and occasionally minor amounts of ash is drifting downwind to the southwest. More energetic ash emissions are possible if explosive activity commences. (As a veteran of Mt. St. Helens reporting, let me say…yikes!)

And: is anybody going to this? Love to hear your review. The rock star with an exclamation point in the middle of her name–P!nk–brings her Beautiful Trauma World Tour to the Moda Center tonight. Her playlist highlights include hits that K103 plays including “Get This Party Started,” “What About Us,” “Who Knew,” “Raise Your Glass,” and “So What,” in the encore. There’s a video about multicultural inclusivity and non-body-shaming, with “Black Lives Matter” and “Impeach” imagery, and there’s a sing-a-long in which she exhorts folks to wail along with her cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” A (bootlegged?) video I saw from her Seattle show the other night shows people in the audience had a hard time remembering the words. So if you’re a Mom taking your teen daughter and friends to the concert tonight, you’ll really impress them if you brush up. From memory: “With the lights out, it’s less dangerous…Here we are now, entertain us…I feel stupid and contagious…Here we are now, entertain us…”

OK! Streaming video of the day–literally–is a marriage proposal in Bay City Michigan, where a young man drops to one knee and pops the ‘ol question to his girlfriend–while, behind his back, their 3-year old son…well…drops his little trousers and basically gives her reply. Oui! Oui!

Wizard of Oz creator L. Frank Baum was born this day in 1856.

H4@HH…or as Dripster Barry suggests, “Minimal words for Maximim Delight”

–“Stuck between a lava flow and a fence line, missing dogs rescued after 10 days”

–“He donated blood every week for 60 years and saved the lives of 2.4 million babies”

–“The New York Yankees send flowers for every police officer killed in the line of duty.”

–“Restaurant staff brightens Mother’s Day for woman eating alone”

–“Man Jumps In Lake To Save A Drowning Deer”

Say, there’s a now Daily Drip moment on K103 every morning at 6:20, when we pick out a few high points from the Drip or the Comments and share them with the world. What you write may well turn up on the radio!