Good morning to you! And thanks for dropping by the sunbleached Daily Parch for Wednesday, August 8, 2018. Like a brisket on a spit, or a chop on a rotisserie, we’re rotating into the high heat of our 24th day this year above 90. Our region is painted red on the weather maps to signify an Excessive Heat Warning, with highs today and tomorrow reaching the high 90’s, kept out of the hundreds only by the wispy lacework of wildfire smoke overhead. I think that’s why we only made 93 yesterday. Don’t let anyone sell you the “dry heat” canard. Wind and humidity patterns will lend, in the words of the National Weather Service, “a muggier feeling to the heat. This increases the heat index and will allow the temperatures to feel warmer than they actually are.” Joy. However, as long as NWS has the DD microphone, let’s ask them to tell us something good: “An upper low will pass to our north Friday and Saturday for cloudier and cooler weather, and possibly light rain.” Sunrise 6:03 AM, Sunset 8:28 PM.
Let’s give a very warm welcome–wish it was a cooler one–to hundreds of talented girls age 10-12 from around the world, and their families, who are in Portland for the Little League Softball World Series! It starts today at picturesque Alpenrose Stadium off Shattuck Road, bucolically and olfactorily adjacent to a working dairy, and continues on ESPN up to the championship game one week from today.
The job of Portland Mayor comes with few powers–it’s really a City Council seat with a gavel and a big microphone–but Ted Wheeler’s about to wield the one big stick the mayor has, and that’s the authority to divvy up city management responsibilities among the council members. These shakeups are always hush-hush, but the secret’s been leaked to The Oregonian/Oregon Live, which says Wheeler keeps the hot potatoes of Police and Housing, Chloe Eudaly keeps Neighborhoods and takes over Transportation, Dan Saltzman finishes his career with Fire, Fighting Nick Fish (strong guy: going full speed at city hall, in between chemo sessions for stomach cancer) gets Parks, and Water will be on the Fritz–Amanda, that is.
Two reverends and a rabbi were arrested for blocking the sidewalk at Portland ICE headquarters yesterday. They were part of an interfaith group demanding that ICE release, into the care of a support system ready for them, the asylum seekers who are still, after all this time, in the federal detention facility in Sheridan.
Which brings us to election results!
It’s the morning after Primary Day in Washington, where voters have set up a November showdown between Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican Susan Hutchison; while in SW Washington, Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler will duel with Democrat Carolyn Long, a professor at WSU Vancouver who aims to flip that seat. In Ohio, they’re still counting the provisional ballots, but the Republican candidate has declared a tight victory over the Democrat in a race for a congressional seat that’s been GOP-occupied for 40 years. Missouri voters overturned a GOP right-to-work law, in victory for organized labor.
This was the day in 1974 when Richard Nixon faced the music of Watergate by giving the TV camera that warily reproachful look of his, and handing in his notice. I halfway anticipated jubilation in the streets, but when I got off the air at KGW after the speech I walked across Jefferson to the Leaky Roof, and everyone just seemed exhausted by it all.
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And now a word from our better angels…
–“Groom stops wedding photo shoot to rescue drowning man”
–“Woman helps man short on cash at convenience store, finds out he’s Keith Urban”
–“Abandoned dog at the Houston Humane Society gets showered with internet love”
–“Man plants a tree every day for 39 years and creates a lush forest”
In case you missed it yesterday…the iHeart web staff is working to create a place where you can access the details of these stories. We’ll unveil the Daily Drip Link Farm when it’s ready!
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Glenn Campbell died one year ago today. He gave wings to Jimmy Webb’s most achingly melodic songs, he was the nimblest guitar player the Beach Boys ever had, he ran in the fast musical company of The Wrecking Crew, and he’s dearly missed.
It’s International Cat Day. People who care about cats (Keillor phrase) might want to look into, via the Google, the Wildcat Ridge Sanctuary. It’s an 82-acre retreat, not open to the public, that’s home to a loved population of tigers, cougars, bobcats, and other big felines who were saved from the heartbreaking circumstances that captive wild animals find themselves in. It’s a remarkable place that I’ve recently learned about, located near Scotts Mills, between Mulino and Silverton. And no, despite their epicentric location, they don’t seem to raise any warning yowls about the tiny earthquakes that sometimes nudge the ground beneath them. I interviewed a volunteer and board member, and that’ll go up on the DD Link Farm too.
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