So how is your relationship with the Willamette River? Chummy enough to jump in and swim the quarter-mile across and back? That’s what Mayor Ted Wheeler and a bunch of other people are doing this morning at seven, to help the Human Access Project begin another year of showing Portlanders the river is much cleaner than we think. Hang on, let’s check online water sample results…OK! At Riverplace, the latest weekly reading is that there were 10 E. Coli organisms per 100 ml. The previous week there was 1. But the state standard is 406. So, hop in! You first.
Lots of cougar sightings around town. Including some false alarms. One particularly beefy feline seen stalking a Battleground neighborhood turned out to be a house cat named Ranger.
Garfield the comic cat turns 40 tomorrow.
NPR religion correspondent Tom Gjelton just turned 70, and yesterday began a 3600-mile cross-country bike ride from the Oregon Coast to Massachusetts.
It’s Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday. The most commercially successful composer in history was born this day in 1942. He’s still cranking. New album coming out soon maybe? And he’ll be doing Carpool Karaoke with James Cordon…
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on this date in 1983 when she and four other astronauts safely blasted off–on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
The Oregon State Beavers play for their lives against Washington in the College World Series at 11 AM today. They collapsed against North Carolina in Omaha’s brutal heat and humidity on Saturday.
World Cup underway! Sweden and South Korea are getting set to play at 5 AM Pacific….Mexico shocked defending champion Germany, and overjoyed fans in Mexico City are believed to have triggered a small earthquake…
A “Roseanne” spinoff is in the works at ABC–minus the title character, but including everyone else, and centering on the Sara Gilbert character.
At least 600 people have summitted Mt. Everest this spring. But almost all of their garbage is still up there. Climbers give up a $4,000 waste deposit if they fail to come down with 18 pounds of trash. But most of them are high-rollers for whom 4K isn’t worth the hassle, I guess.
TMSG! Headlines, mostly, in contrast to the sad and outrageous things happening in the world…
–“In Toronto, Canada, Constable Niran Jeyanesan got called to a Walmart to arrest a shoplifter who attempted to steal clothes for a job interview. Niran paid for his clothes and the man got the job.”
–“Missing 3-year-old girl found in Missouri cornfield with dog by her side; Yorkie alerts searchers with a ‘weak bark.'”
–“Americans gave a record $410 billion to charity last year.”
–“Kenny Chesney Will Donate All Proceeds from His New Album to Virgin Island Relief Fund”
–“Firefighters save pregnant dog; become parents of 7 puppies”
–“A string quartet performed with instruments made from debris from March 2011 quake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan…ensemble of musicians from Japan and Austria part of Tsunami Violin Project, which aims at having 1,000 artists from around world play the instruments.”
It feels good to be rolling into work at 4 AM against a bright far-northern sky! Thank you to everyone for the good wishes, and for tolerating yet another absence of this usually-Daily Drip. Recovery from that minor little surgery continues to go fine. I’ll be able to see you on the radio–5 to 9 AM on 103.3–better than ever!
Portland's Daily Drip 