Good morning my friend! Nice hanging out with you, on this Fridayest of Fridays…last day of the week…last day of the month…last day of summer, by the reckoning of many….it’s Friday, August 31, 2018, and the weather is just getting good. Perhaps a morning sprinkle today, then peekaboo sun straight on through, with highs in the mid to high seventies Sunrise 6:31 AM, sunset 7:49 PM.
It’s safe to frolic in the waters of Cannon Beach again! So says the Oregon Health Department, which adds it’s still a good idea to avoid pools, where birds like to stop and do their birdness.
The extraordinary cluster of teacher strikes has now wiped out the first week of school in Battle Ground…Vancouver…Evergreen…Washougal…Ridgefield…Hockinson…Longview…they’re all closed, as the deadlock goes on. So do negotiations; ironic way to spend the Labor Day weekend. There is a serious shortage of mediators. There will, by the way, be a show of teacher solidarity at noon today outside the Evergreen School District headquarters. The EEA calls it “Full Force Friday.”
There’s a fire burning on the Washington side of the Gorge near Carson. It’s tough to fight because it’s directly under a BPA line, and air drops can’t be used.
A bicyclist was killed by a southbound Amtrack train in Salem.
A truck blew a tire on the eastbound I-40 in New Mexico and it lost control, veering into the westbound lanes and hitting a Greyhound Bus head-on. There are at least seven fatalities on the bus, which was heading from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
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It’d be joyful if it weren’t so sad…we’re in a period of memorials for two beloved figures, John McCain and Aretha Franklin. Today it’s Aretha’s turn to be honored in words and song–from the likes of Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, and so many more–beginning at 7 AM Pacific from Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. They’re calling it a “homegoing service.” It’ll be live-streamed on multiple platforms and carried live on BET. I think I’ll throw a “record” on that and watch it straight through this weekend. News networks will dip in and out. Then Saturday, starting at 7 our time, the National Cathedral in Washington will be the setting for a memorial for John McCain “focused on his national and global leadership.” It’ll be carried by every cable news channel, and if it’s half as moving as Joe Biden’s eulogy yesterday, it will be a profound American experience. Put a record on that one, too.
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Today is Ted Wheeler’s birthday. The mayor of Portland was born in 1962…which makes him…the latest holder of a crummy job. Ted is a smart and kind person who deals gamely under the untethered scorn of a dozen uncompromising constituencies, then gets on his bike and rides home. For a smaller salary than the mayor of Beaverton.
Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper perform at the Sunlight Supply Amphitheater tonight. Or you could get your motor running and head out on the highway to exit 258 and the Oregon State Fairgrounds tonight for Steppenwolf! The band is now and always has been led by John Kay…born Joachim Fritz Krauledat, whose mother smuggled him out from behind the Iron Curtain in 1945. We may be born to be wild, but life has a way of taming us. Good to have Steppenwolf come around to remind us who we are.
John Lennon left England for a new life in New York with Yoko Ono on this date in 1971–and never returned.
This is the day in 1997 Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris at 36.
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College football starts for us tomorrow with a docket of games that begins with Oregon State visiting the scandal-motivated #5 Buckeyes of Ohio State. Their head coach Urban Meyer is on suspension for looking the other way at domestic abuse by one of his assistants. The Beavers are five-touchdown underdogs. The #24 Ducks host Bowling Green at 5 PM….the #6 Huskies visit #9 Auburn at 12:30…and the WSU Cougars are at Wyoming, also at 12:30 Saturday. I know there are other games and other teams, and while I’m on the lookout for good stories from any level, no disrespect is intended if I concentrate on the D1 headliners. If there’s a team we should cover, you’re hereby appointed as their Daily Drip Correspondent!
High school football begins tonight. There’s no better fan experience than the Friday Night Lights–particularly if your kid is on the field! Beaverton’s shiny new Mountainside High School plays the first varsity football game in its history tonight. They’re the Mavericks, and in their first rodeo…they’ve drawn Jesuit.
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–“Thanks to $325,000 Lottery Win, Virgin Islands Couple Will Replace Home Lost in Hurricane Irma”
–“Microsoft will require suppliers to offer paid parental leave”
–“The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting, Aims To Cut Garbage Patch By 90% By 2040”
–“Gene Editing relieves muscular dystrophy symptoms in dogs; may work in humans”
–“Man proposes on the side of a cow”
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Hey, is anybody else ready for a three-day weekend?????? We’ll pop in, as we always do, so Dripsters can talk. I think it’s so groovy now, that people are finally getting together. Next official DD on Tuesday.
Portland's Daily Drip 