OK! Here we go rolling into this Monday, June 25, 2018. Coming off a sizzling valley Sunday, when Portland maxed at 91, we’re seeing an abrupt change: after a possibility of overnight thunder, we’ll get a limited amount of light rain today and highs around 70. Sunrise 5:23 AM, sunset stretched all the way out to 9:03 PM, and the moon is two days away from total fullness.
Drip time! Let’s see if I can outlast our venerable PC, with its patented slow-loading features. Come on, geeks, fix my Mac!
A crowd fanned out across the eastern grounds of Portland City Hall–some finding shade–to hear an afternoon of denunciations of Trump and ICE and the border policy which has left the fate of 2,000 children unresolved. The government says 500 have been united with parents, and the rest have not. The occupation outside the ICE HQ on Macadam is now a week old, with at least eighty tents and an infrastructure that looks like it’ll be there a long time. Nor is the president backing down; he tweeted that due process for immigrants should be dispensed with: “We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.”
Somebody filled an old speedboat with trash, and abandoned it to sink in the Willamette at Oregon City. Investigators are going through the contents for clues.
Today is the first weekday morning shift of a month without the Portland Aerial Tram. There’s a shuttle running up and down the hill to carry the Marquam Hill workforce. but nothing for the tourists, who’ll miss out on one of the city’s secret views. The tram’ll be back in full swing July 30.
Bringing some light into an angry Internet is the story of what happened on a Boston-to-Portland Alaska Airlines flight, where among the passengers was a middle-aged blind and deaf man named Tim. He was on his way home from visiting his sister, and was flying unaccompanied, way back in coach, and clearly in need of assistance. It was heartwarming to hear how the flight attendants and seatmates endeavored to attend to the gentleman’s needs. But it’s the story of 15-year old Clara Daly that people are talking about. She responded to a call over the cabin radio seeking anyone who knows American Sign language, which she’s learning as part of her dyslexia therapy. She took his palm into her hands and signed letters one by one. He did the same. Together than had a conversation that lasted for much of the flight, as other passengers shot video that’s going around and around.
It’ll be the rampaging bats of the Oregon State Beavers against the feral swine known as Razorbacks from Arkansas, in a best-of-three tournament for the College World Series championship starting today. Omaha weather calls for thunderstorms today–and those Nebraska boomers mean biz– with highs of 78. Then it heats up into the miserable 90’s. Four PM on ESPN and Rip City Radio, AM 620!
This is Lightning Awareness Week. It’s ironic that our region, with such a big rain reputation, is largely deprived of both lightning–and lightning bugs. Well, we do get some flashy moments, but nothing like our memories from Houston where the windows of one side of the house burst into blue, while the other side blazed a bright pink, simultaneously with a split-the-brain explosion of thunder, so you know the storm is Right There, while the kids run around the house yelling Ooo! Ahh! And the dogs leap into your arms. Houstonians shrug. It barely makes the news. It happens here, and Laurel Porter wins another Emmy!
If you see an aging rocker who somehow looks like a “Game of Thrones” character, you’re both right! Robert Plant’s coming through town for a show tomorrow night. He says he turned down a role on Game of Thrones.
“Les Miserables” closed out at the Keller last night; “Phantom of the Opera” opens one month from today.
Carly Simon came into this world on this day in 1945, and Michael Jackson left it in 2009.
Well OK! Let’s see if we can sweeten the porridge a little, with Headlines for a Happy Heart Rate:
–“New Zealand PM and her partner name their baby daughter after the Maori word for love”
–“Eugene man helping homeless people with free haircuts”
–“Cook County inmates call new jail recording studio “a blessing”; officials hope it reduces recidivism”
–“Lost cat reunited with owner after 10 years”
–“Parents from Paw Paw Michigan have their dog to thank for leaving a trail of paw prints that police used to track a 2-year-old who was missing for several hours.
–“Woman who spent seven years searching for her long-lost sister discovers she’s moved in next door”
–“Starfish on California coast, nearly wiped out by mystery illness, make stunning recovery”
People on vacation, please check in! Photos welcome too. See you on 103.3!
Portland's Daily Drip 