Good morning! Here we have the last Wednesday in September, the 26th of the month and the 269th day of the year 2018. Our Pacific Northwest weather is fantastic, with highs of 82 in Portland today, but only 68 in Seattle. Sunrise 7:02 AM, sunset 7:00 PM. That’s our last sunset of 7:00 or later until Daylight Time returns on March 10.
Bill Cosby wakes up in jail this morning, for the first day of three to ten years.
Plowing on through, in the words of Mitch McConnell, the Senate Judiciary Committee votes Friday on the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination, one day after one of the women accusing him of sexual assault tells her story to the committee, and submits to questioning by an Arizona prosecutor flown in just for the occasion. By the way, it turns out that one of Kavanaugh’s Yale drinking buddies was former Portland Trail Blazer and Oregon gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley, who told the Washington Post, “Brett drank, and I drank. Did he get inebriated sometimes? Yes. Did I? Yes. Just like every other college kid in America.”
It took a moment as the translations were rendered, but an audience of world leaders at the UN General Assembly açtually laughed as President Trump told them, “My administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” Later he said that was meant to get some laughter, but his first response was, “Didn’t expect that reaction.” He went on to restate his doctrine of acting in America’s interests rather than the world’s; calling it patriotism over globalism.
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The PSU protest against armed officers on campus is showing all the signs of a lengthy Portland-style occupation. Activists say they’ll camp outside the public safety building at Broadway and Montgomery 24/7 until the campus cops put down their guns for good.
The speed limit on a high-crash section of Marine Drive has been lowered from 40 to 35. That stretch averages 35 wrecks a year.
It’s rare that the shuttering of a neighborhood restaurant leads to something better, but the recently-closed County Cork Public House on NE Fremont is being remade into the Rose City Book Pub, which will sell books–and also have 18 taps of beer. Projected opening date is October 14.
The City of Portland today will consider helping people with past marijuana convictions get into the legal cannabis industry by subsidizing their license application fees by up to $1500. The purpose, according to sponsoring Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, is to “promote healing in relation to the harmful legacy of cannabis prohibition.”
It’s been a rollicking ride for Nike, lately, as our local sneaker outfit stuck its neck out with the Colin Kaepernick commercial, while dealing with internal turmoil over gender disparities. But times have never been better financially. The company reported a highly prosperous first quarter with sales flirting with 10 billion dollars.
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The last Beatles studio album–Abbey Road–was released in the US on this day in 1969. You’ve been to London, you’ve reenacted the crosswalk scene, you have the photo. Let’s see it! (There have been pedestrians hit and injured doing that, although a quick check shows no verified fatalities).
Janis Joplin recorded “Me and Bobby McGee” on this day in 1970–and died over a drug overdose 9 days later.
It’s Olivia Newton-John’s 70th birthday. She’s a fighter, leading a walk just last weekend raising funds for The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne, as she battles a recurrence of the disease herself.
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Let’s break out a five-pack of good stuff!
–“Millennials are causing the U.S. divorce rate to plummet”
–“Firefighter leaves his wedding to fight a fire: “I’ve got the rest of my life with him,” says bride. “They needed him for that moment.”
–“Childhood cancer survivors wed at the same hospital they met in 25 years later”
–“Oregon adoptee’s DNA test leads to discovery of long-lost sister”
–“Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” hit #1 on the charts 30 years ago today.”
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That’s the early morning edition of the DD! We’ll be on the air from 5-9 Pacific on the iHeart Radio app, and on local terrestrial radio 103.3. Tune in there, and check in here. Thanks!
Portland's Daily Drip 