Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Good morning, Portland buddies! Here comes Tuesday, May 22, 2018. Our weather is really really warm, high 85, but only 68 at the coast, and that’s only an hour and a half away. An hour if my buddy Bruce is driving. Sunrise 5:32 AM, sunset nice and late at 8:42 PM. That’s the planet Mars hollering out in the early morning sky.

So now we know the punishment for the teen known as “A.B.” who certainly hopes to never see another firecracker as long as he lives. A Hood River judge stuck the Vancouver boy with a $36 million dollar bill for the damage he caused by thoughtlessly igniting last year’s Eagle Creek Fire. That’s on top of the 5 years probation, almost 2,000 hours of community service for the Forest Service (he’ll get good at spiffing up porta-potties), and the task of writing 152 apology letters to all those hikers who were trapped on the trail as the flames roared. “A.B” will never pay anywhere close to that amount, but some kind of payment plan will be worked out, and if he sticks to it and is very, very good for the next ten years, the balance will probably be forgiven.

A Tigard K9 officer located an 11-year old autistic girl within an hour of her being reported missing.

Fire consumed a beautiful home on Mt. Scott Boulevard last night. No word on what caused it. The homeowner arrived home from a trip to the store, discovered her home was on fire, opened the door–and her two dogs came running out. All safe.

Just about everyone seemed to have misgivings about it, but Governor Kate Brown’s proposed tax cut for about 12,000 “mom and pop businesses”–sole proprietorships that have at least one parttime nonfamily employee–sailed slickly through a one-day special session of the Oregon legislature. Even her Republican opponent in November–Rep. Knute Buehler–voted for it. And a number of Democrats–Mark Hass, Sara Gelser–voted nay. Some of those moms and pops are doing all right: 75% of the savings will go to people earning 200K a year or more.

The Dow is back above 25K after President Trump seemed to back off his threat to punish China with tariffs–although overnight, his chief trade representative said they could be back on. We’ll see today how the market responds to the mixed messages.

Columnist Eugene Robinson writes in the Washington Post that a constitutional crisis is upon us, with Trump’s demand for a Justice Department investigation of the FBI over its probe into Russian meddling with his campaign, undermining the department’s traditional independence from political pressure by the White House.

A student is suing Liberty High in Hillsboro after he was told to cover up a pro-border wall T-shirt.

The Eagles play at the Moda Center tonight, in a concert that was rescheduled from a few weeks ago because of Don Henley’s unspecified illness. Sadly Glen Frey has been gone for over two years now, but his son Deacon Frey is in the band, and he sounds eerily like his Dad, and so is Vince Gill, Amy Grant’s mister, who applies his creamy-smooth tenor to the Randy Meisner vocals on “Take It To The Limit.” The rest of tonight’s lineup stars longtime Eagles Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh, and surviving founder Henley, still in great voice at 70. I’m told that he really hates cell phones being used during a show, so I’m not sure we’ll get the same you-are-there posts from Dripsters tonight that we enjoyed so much during the Paul Simon concert. But maybe! BTW the show opens with “Seven Bridges Road”…delivers hit after hit after hit.. saves “Hotel California” for the first encore…and ends the second encore with an achingly beautiful “Desperado” featuring, I’ve read, a five-woman string quintet. And there are some goodies for us Rocky-Mountain-Way Joe Walsh fans too.

Other Portland folks are heading north to see Taylor Swift at Century Link Field in Seattle tonight.

Paul Allen is kicking in a cool million to a Washington gun control initiative that would raise to 21 the minimum age for buying an assault weapon while setting up an improved background check system. The Blazers/Seahawks owner calls Initiative 1639 “reasonable and necessary.”

A Vancouver Freddie’s figured out why plants kept disappearing from the garden center. Police arrested a 41year old man with 157 stolen plants in his home. Along with meth.

A baboon escaped from a crate at the San Antonio International Airport and roamed free for several hours until being cornered in baggage claim. He was on his way to a local animal shelter, and that’s where he is now.

Spoiler alert: Tonya Harding did not win Dancing With The Stars. But she was a finalist. She’s had a good year.

Britain’s Sun tabloid reports that Meghan Markle’s Oregon nephew Tyler Dooley tried to bring a knife into a London nightclub–and explained that he carried the weapon because President Trump warned that London is a “war zone” with knife fights all over. Tyler’s in the cannabis profession in Southern Oregon.

Which leads to…headlines for a happier heart! I post an actual headline…your mind fills in the gaps:

–“Meghan Markle, Prince Harry donate royal wedding flowers to hospice patients”

–“A Noah’s Ark of animals rescued from Hawaii lava”

–“Alaska Airlines says ‘so long’ to non-recyclable plastic straws”

–“Dog becomes stay-at-home dad for ducklings after their mum disappeared”

–“California man wins more than $6million in five months from four different lottery tickets”

–“Man embarks on mission to mow lawns in all 50 states”

That’s the how Tuesday is starting out. And if trouble comes your way, take a hint from the two big concerts in the Northwest tonight. Take it easy! And shake-shake-shake it off!