Hi there! A quick update nicknamed the Daily Drip, from me to you, for Wednesday, September 5, 2018. Portland’s weather will have a one-day fling with 90 today, before a sea breeze carries in cooler weather tomorrow. Sunrise 6:37 AM, sunset 7:40 PM.
Newest developments regarding the teacher situation in SW Washington school districts:
+Vancouver: Strike’s over! Contract ratified by a 92% yes vote. The Columbian reports that first-year raises average 12.5%. So the school year begins today in VSD. The first day of elementary school for the Class of 2030!
-Evergreen: Still on strike. The district’s made a proposal, but no mediator was available yesterday. They’ll talk today.
-Battle Ground: Still on strike. Educators, students, and families marched on district HQ yesterday. Union feels like things are going backward.
-Washougal. Still bargaining. Still on strike.
-Longview: Still on strike. The LEA says other unions will honor their picket lines.
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Confirmation hearings continue for SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who would influence the nation’s laws for a generation if confirmed. He swears the Supreme Court is not, and never will be, a partisan entity. Committee questioning today will put that to the test.
…otherwise, the DC buzz is over Bob Woodward’s book, “Fear: Trump in the White House.” The news is bursting with anecdotes and depictions of chaos and staff defiance, too innumerable to recount here: the Washington Post has an extensive report. Woodward says the White House is “in a state of nervous breakdown.” One of his stories has the president refusing to go alone into the Oval Office because “the ghosts are here, watching.” Denials abound from 1600 Pennsylvania, and the POTUS twitter feed is volcanic.
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Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall just short of hurricane status, and will pour huge amounts of rain on the Gulf Coast and inland the next few days.
It was once unthinkable, but Amazon has hit a trillion dollars in value, the second company to do so…after Apple.
A first in Clackamas County: Milwaukie is banning plastic grocery bags, aka urban tumbleweeds.
You know that huge 140-foot totem pole on the waterfront in Kalama? It’s coming down. Two weeks from today. Engineers say the wood is so deteriorated that a 40MPH wind gust could blow it over. Discussions are underway on preserving it, but for now, it’s been deemed a danger. First the cooling tower across the river, and now this.
A Portland man pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal officer…by throwing crushed Sriracha Dorito chips in his face. The super-spicy chips are sold out of jail vending machines and used to sprinkle on bland jail food–but they feel like pepper spray in the eyes.
The new head coach of Madison High School’s football team resigned after a 67-0 loss to Reynolds. Details aren’t clear, but one of his players may have gotten into an altercation with an assistant coach in the final minutes, just as the head coach was telling the ref to blow the whistle and end the blowout.
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Good news? You’ve come to the right place.
–“School Janitor quietly gives out clothes, soap, and more to homeless student from her “giving closet”
–“Hero siblings lift overturned SUV from watery ditch, save couple and baby”
–“California premie nurse meets baby she helped save 28 years ago – and he’s a NICU doctor”
–“Gold necklace ‘dripping in diamonds’ donated to Goodwill.” You can bid at the link.
–“Firefighters nurse dehydrated hummingbird back to health”
Links to those stories, and the TMSG archives, right here.
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That’s the news so far! We’ll be seeing you on the radio!
Portland's Daily Drip 