OK, Monday! You can’t scare us! Here we are, back together again on December 10, 2018. Portland’s weather is cloudy with a 50-50 chance of showers, and highs around 45. The Winter Weather Advisory in the Cascades and Hood River are being dropped, and now the whole week looks rainy but mild in Portland, with an abundant amount of snow on Mt. Hood where it’s welcome. Sunrise 7:39 AM, sunset 4:27 PM. We have exactly three weeks left in 2018.
We heard reports of ice and snow in the Gorge, but they’ve seen worse.
From Tennessee to Virginia and the Carolinas, the South is suffering from a massive blast of winter. Hundreds of flights are canceled, school is closed, power is out for many.
The man who caused a ruckus Friday at the Starbucks inside the Hollywood Fred Meyer, and was shot and wounded by police, turns out to be an escaped bank robber who held up a series of Portland banks five years ago.
People in Portland have lately reported hearing the ghostly wail of a train whistle in the distance: a ghost of a railroading Christmas past, perhaps? Why, yes! It’s the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation’s annual steam locomotive excursions, with round-trip rides that chug from Oaks Park Station through Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge to the Springwater Trail gateway on the Oregon Pacific Railroad. It’s been going on the last few weekends, and this coming Saturday and Sunday are the last trips.
I don’t have particulars on this, but somebody followed their GPS navigation off Highway 26 onto a Forest Service road on Mt. Hood, got stuck in snow, and needed rescue. Glad they’re OK. It doesn’t always end happily–remember the Kim family, a few years ago? That GPS can lead you straight into trouble. The young, tech-smart mountain drivers in your family may not appreciate “the talk,” but give it to them anyway.
Keizer firefighters had a super-fast response time to a fire Sunday morning…in the kitchen of their own firehouse.
Environmentalists are gearing up for a fight, now that the federal government has okayed the drilling of exploratory test holes on the northern flanks of Mt. St. Helens for a company that hopes to mine commercial quantities of copper, silver, gold, and…big pause…molybdenum. Good luck with that one, anchor people!
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Some Democratic members of Congress are telling the Sunday shows that impeachment should be considered, now that federal prosecutors have directly implicated President Trump for directing attorney Michael Cohen to make illegal payments to fend off a sex scandal that could have hurt his prospects in the 2016 the election. Others say it’s politically wiser to let the voters do the job in 2020, and that Trump could face charges when he leaves office.
Strange days at 1600, as General John Kelly is taking a hike from his job as Chief of Staff, the top dog of the whole White House operation save for Individual #1. Rumor had it that VP Mike Pence’s chief, 36-year old GOP wunderkind Nick Ayers, was the top candidate to take over, but he’s bowed out. His cat-wrangling capabilities are currently maxed with baby triplets at home.
There’s a huge nationwide train strike in Germany.
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It was a sweet welcome home at PDX as the 2018 MLS Western Conference Champs, the Portland Timbers, arrived home from Atlanta, just one game short of a storybook ending. The Rosarians doffed their straw hats, the Timbers Army chanted their chants, and the whole team worked the rope line, high-fiving and signing autographs for kids. They didn’t bring home the hardware they sought, but they made the Rose City proud. BTW the first **12** games of 2019 are on the road, because of the construction at Providence Park.
The Seattle Seahawks host the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
Restaurant news, in the form of this ambiguous Facebook post: “After 21 incredible years in The Pearl, Paragon (as we know it), will close towards the end of December. Thank you for many years of support. Come to celebrate the memories and enjoy all your Paragon favorites one last time.” As we know it? But! There’s now a restaurant in the cozy space that was long occupied by Wildwood. It’s called West, and I think it opened Friday.
The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan two years ago today. He didn’t come to the ceremony in Stockholm, but the US Ambassador to Sweden read a speech written by Dylan that said in part, “As a performer I’ve played for 50,000 people and I’ve played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people.” Later, Dylan himself wrote and recorded an acceptance message, and it’s work of literature itself. It includes some A-plus book reports on classic pieces of literature that influenced him. The audio is 27 minutes long, but if you’re out for a walk or a drive, it’s good listening. I’ll link to it at the Coffee Cup, first item in the Comments.
Don’t use a Neti pot without boiling the hell out of the water. Google “brain-eating amoeba” to find out why.
Happy birthday to former KATU television journalist and long-time Oregon State Senator Mark Hass, who sometimes reads the DD, and we thank him and all who do!
Say, I want to use this platform in the next five days to make sure everyone knows that the health care signup deadline is Saturday, since PSAs for this have been pretty well cut from the federal budget. If even one person who needs it signs up as a result of finding the link here, that’s enough to make me happy. So everyone, bear with me, as each day I give this reminder: December 15 is the deadline to enroll in Affordable Care Act health plans. There’s a link down below at the Coffee Cup, if you’d like to share with someone who could benefit.
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Let’s warm up this December Monday with some good news. As always, links to the full story are found at the Coffee Cup, first item in the comments section.
–“Wendy Littlefield needed a way to honor the daughter she lost in 2010. Along came a 12-year-old girl.”
–“Missing Dog Found Guarding California Family’s Property A Month After It Burned Down”
–“Firefighter Reunited With 4-Year-Old He Saved While on Vacation in Maui”
–“Mall Cop does CPR and Saves Woman’s Life”
–“Today in History: Bob Dylan accepts the Nobel Prize–and writes a whale of a book report on ‘Moby Dick'”
–“You can still enroll in a health care plan for 2019, but Saturday is the deadline.”
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Holiday time! Hanukkah ends tonight at sundown tonight…Christmas Eve is two weeks from today…we’ve got The Nutcracker going on all this week at the Keller…
So! Let’s show this Monday who’s boss! And Bruce, John, and Janine are here you to keep you company on the free iHeartRadio app, as well as 100,000-watt KKCW, at 103.3 FM!
Portland's Daily Drip 