Hiya, friends! It’s Tuesday, January 8, 2019, and here’s the Daily Drip, checking out the weather charts—ooh: rainy and windy, with gusts of 30 to 45 MPH in town and 50 to 65 in the west end of the Gorge, and highs of 40 to 45 degrees. This looks like a wet one: up to half an inch of rain. Plus, there’s a Winter Weather Advisory for snow, sleet, and freezing rain today through tomorrow morning across south-central Washington and north-central Oregon. Sunrise 7:50 AM, sunset 4:45 PM. Swiftly flow the days!
It’s warm enough this morning that we shouldn’t have a repeat of yesterday’s disastrous predawn in Yamhill County, where black ice coated the roads and led to a head-on crash between two trucks on the Newberg-Dundee bypass that took the lives of both drivers. Schools were delayed because of dangerous roads in McMinnville and Sheridan and Dayton, and there were accidents in other areas as well. The bypass, which has only been open a year–and this was its first serious accident– was closed until late yesterday afternoon.
Police don’t know who or why, but someone fired two shots at a car in the Winco Foods parking lot in Happy Valley, barely missing a shopper who was unloading groceries. Security video shows a red late-model sedan, but it hasn’t been found.
Day 18, now, of the government shutdown, and the impacts extend far and wide. Airline pilots fear that flight safety and security are compromised. Funding for food stamps runs out at the end of the month. The IRS is calling back furloughed workers to process tax refunds. Secret Service agents are working without paychecks. Tonight at 6, President Trump will explain himself in a televised address, to be followed by a response by Democrats and considerable fact-checking. Oregon’s only Republican in Congress–Greg Walden–is among those of his party who are none too thrilled with this. Walden voted with Democrats last week to reopen all government agencies with the exception of Homeland Security, so that could be hashed out separately without continuing to damage all the other government services that are currently hobbled.
Miles and miles of Portland’s side streets are so pockmarked, rutted, and cratered they’d jar the gold fillings from the teeth the pioneers. But now something is being done for the likes of SE Harney between 60th and 62nd. No, they’re not paving. But the city is making a show of bringing in heavy equipment to smooth out the moonscape and cover it over with nice, even gravel. Fifty miles in all will get this treatment, and neighbors say they’re glad of it.
The future of trucking is happening right here in Portland, where Daimler–which makes Freightliner trucks on Swan Island–is hiring hundreds of people with very specific skills: robotics, and engineering. They plan to have self-driving trucks on the road within the decade.
The Blazers knocked over the Knicks 111 to 101 last night. The Clemson Fighting Tigers humbled the Crimson Tide of Alabama 44-16 to win college football’s national championship.
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OK, this will remind “West Wing” fans of perhaps its most poignant episode. Here goes. Spotted in The Oregonian obit section:
Scott Allen Moss
March 16, 1963 – Dec. 12, 2018
Scott A. Moss passed away in Portland, with no one to claim him.
Scott served in the United States Army and was honorably discharged at the rank of Corporal.
A graveside service with full military honors will be at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, in Willamette National Cemetery. The public is invited to attend.
A reception will follow in Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home.
Arrangements are in the care of the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veteran Burial Program through Lincoln Memorial Park & Funeral Home.
Word of this is circulating. This gentleman won’t be forgotten.
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Governor Tom McCall died on this day in 1983.
Elvis Presley was born this day in 1935.
Opening tonight at the Keller: “The King and I.” Some familiar songs derive from this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic..”Hello, Young Lovers”…”Getting to Know You.” The national touring company includes Sunset High School graduate DeAnna Choi, as the King’s Chief Wife.
I’m hearing that Portland seafood counters will have fresh Dungeness crab today!
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Tell me something good!
–“‘Everyone Deserves Love And Respect’: Police Officer Has Lunch With Homeless Man”
–“When WWII Veteran is Saddened By Upcoming Birthday, 50,000 Strangers Give Him Reason to Smile”
–“Dog returned to family after being stolen nearly 4 years before”
–“Brothers on opposing sides of NFL playoff thriller share emotional postgame moment”
–“Local businesses are keeping Yellowstone clean during the govt shutdown”
Details in the Coffee Cup…I promise I’ll actually post it! (Yesterday, folks were messaging me saying, What Coffee Cup, dude? I accidentally put it under a weekend thread.)
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Heading in! How’s everyone doing this morning?
Portland's Daily Drip 