Good morning, friends! Whoa! Suddenly it’s Tuesday, September 4…the summer of 2018 is spread out behind us in the rearview mirror, taunting us for how we wished half of it away during the smoke and the heat, while promising us that sweet fall days are almost here. But not just yet. Today looks sunny and 84, and tomorrow, 90 degrees is within range. Sunrise 6:35 AM, sunset 7:42 PM.
A red flag warning will take hold for the Willamette Valley from 1 to 7 today: high heat, low humidity, and 25 MPH wind gusts that could send grass fires galloping over the terrain.
After a long weekend of bargaining…some fruitful, some fruitless…half of SW Washington’s teacher strikes are settled. Let’s see if we can make sense of the patchwork of teacher strikes and settlements in SW Washington; a plus indicates they’ve settled…a minus indicates they’re still on strike:
-Battle Ground…still on strike, offer on the table.
+Vancouver…tentative agreement to be voted on this morning at Skyview HS; if ratified, school begins tomorrow.
-Evergreen…still on strike, no school today.
-Washougal…still on strike.
+Camas….settled…school starts today
+Ridgefield…settled…school starts today and tomorrow.
+Hockinson settled..school starts today…
-Longview…still on strike, no school. District considering legal action.
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Brazil’s elegant national museum burned down. Millions of priceless exhibits destroyed. Cause not known. They were a month away from upgrading the fire suppression system.
There’s a hurricane watch on the Gulf Coast, as Tropical Storm Gordon gains strength. Looks like a low-category landfall along or near the Mississippi coast tonight. Japan was just hit by Typhoon Jebi, its strongest in 25 years.
The Senate Judiciary Committee begins confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh today.
Golden, Colorado–the Denver suburb where Coors is made–will vote in November on lowering the voting age, for local issues and candidates only, to 16.
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Now that September is here, folks are beginning to gather on the lawn of Chapman School in NW Portland, and nearby Wallace Park, to watch the annual flurry of Vaux’s swifts into the school’s chimney, where they roost during migration because the old growth trees they once flocked to are now scarce. The spectacle at Chapman of these cigar-shaped hummingbird relatives twittering into the chimney normally peaks around September 9, and the early birds are stopping by now.
This weekend TriMet rolled out the biggest bus service expansion in its history, including an all-night bus to Portland International Airport. They haven’t had buses going directly to the terminal since 2001 when light rail first touched the shores of PDX.
The face of Colin Kaepernick looks out from Nike’s 30th anniversary ‘Just Do It’ advertisements. He’s currently suing NFL owners for colluding to keep him out of the league. The message on the ad reads, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
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New York’s Village Voice has ceased operating.
The Oregon Journal folded on this day in 1982.
Ten years ago today, John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination.
Nine weeks until the midterms.
Today is the 30th wedding anniversary for actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, or as Paul Harvey used to say, “on their way to forever together.”
Today would be the 100th birthday of Paul Harvey.
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Headlines to spray a sweet cool mist on this September morning…
–“Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach, adopted at birth, discovers biological father is his lifelong mentor”
–“Officer adopts homeless woman’s baby daughter”
–“Photo of deer hugging a firefighter near Burns Lake goes viral”
–“SC firefighters nurse dehydrated hummingbird back to health”
–“Hero pet spaniel saves toddler from choking to death”
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It’s the beginning of school for a great number of districts in the area, a day of first-day photographs that pile up with blinding rapidity, or so it seems when you have a dozen of them; just a dozen, and then it’s done…
And it’s a day of memories. I wonder if anyone can top these. First day of first grade, I clambered up onto the monkey bars and accidentally booted a kid in the mouth, drawing blood; someone threatened me with being taken to “the principal,” whatever that terrifying entity might be, and I ran crying all seven blocks home.
First day of second grade: a couple of big girls laughed and pointed at me and said my pants were on backward. I ran crying all seven blocks home. My pants were fine.
Love to hear your stories of Day One! (Looking for material for the radio…as well as chatter here)….
Radio! 103.3 and K103 on the iHeartRadio app. Bruce is back. Morning team at full strength.
Portland's Daily Drip 