Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Hello, Drip Nation! It’s Tuesday, July 24, 2018, and though we’re ascending Mount Ninety-Five today, and the heat warnings have been extended to Thursday night at least, the early hours are perfectly cool and comfortable. Looks like 100 on Sunday…and then a drop to 85 on Monday. The sun pops up to the left of Mt. Hood at 5:45 AM, and slips off the western edge of our world at 8:48 PM.

Saying he supports their cause but it’s time to go, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler served an eviction notice on the Occupy ICE encampment a block off SW Macadam. About 90 tents have blocked the Willamette Shore Trolley tracks behind the ICE building for over a month, but a faction of the group had already elected to leave and “diversify and evolve” their tactics in support of immigrants. A sweep will follow for those who remain; the notice says the campsites will be cleared beginning today.

Sounds like the powers-that-be under the big Swoosh have gotten the message…as Nike is raising the salaries of 7,000 female employees as part of a corporate awakening to equity issues including, but not limited to, pay.

The Oregonian is losing Editor Mark Katches to the Tampa Bay Times, where he’ll run a paper owned by the respected nonprofit Poynter Institute. He’s been at the O for four years, arriving just after they cut home delivery to four days, and it seems like he stabilized the place from what felt like a free-fall. Oregonian veteran Therese Bottomly takes over the helm for now. We need this paper to survive.

A couple of hikers heading up Broken Top Trail near Bend encountered a family hiking down, with an 8-year old girl in tears….because she’d lost her stuffed lion along the way. The hikers promised they’d keep an eye out…and a mile or two later they spotted the little lion by the side of the trail. They tried Facebook, then the Bend Bulletin got involved, and this morning the lion is home safe with a happy little girl.

Happy birthday to Oscar-nominated filmmaker and Pearl-dweller Gus Van Sant, born in 1952. Described by Robin Williams as “the mellowest man in Hollywood,” his films include “Good Will Hunting” and our KINK friend Mike Rich’s “Finding Forrester.” Van Sant’s latest has a Portland connection: “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” is a biopic about the late Portland cartoonist, and dark-humored quadriplegic, John Callahan.

Wildfires have killed dozens in Greece…a heat wave has killed dozens in Japan….while the eastern US has flood warnings posted, as rainfall with a tropical connection will continue for days and even weeks in some areas.

President Obama popped into Portland on this date in 2012. There’s still a plaque at the booth where he had a grilled cheese and split pea soup with a couple of veterans at the Gateway Breakfast House, 11411 NE Halsey.

It was on this day in 1974 the US Supreme Court ordered President Nixon to surrender tape recordings of White House conversations about the Watergate affair. A little over two weeks later, Gerald Ford took the Oath.

I hope everybody has their 45 (spf) on tonight as singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, winner of nine Grammys, plays at McMenamin’s Edgefield. Her set list varies from show to show, but chances are excellent she’ll open with “All I Wanna Do,” her breakout 1994 hit.

I noticed in researching Sheryl Crowe’s setlists that she’s added Jackie DeShannon’s “What The World Needs Now (is Love)” as a final song for her encore. On that topic, a quick quote from Mister Fred Rogers, before we wrap:

“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”

And…

Tee Emm Ess Gee!

–“Cat rescued weeks after being bricked into foundation”

–“11-year-old boy earns three college degrees, has eye on U.S. presidency”

–“Stranded Woman Gets Police Car Lift to Wedding”

–“Cyclist carries injured stray dog on his back, finds pup a forever home”

That’s the Drip. Stay cool.