Thursday, January 17, 2019

Morning! We’re waking up on a Thursday, January 17, 2019, and while your eyes adjust to the light of your phone (or sun, if it’s after 7:45), let me check the weather for you….look! The currently unpaid National Weather Service says there’s “a great swirling low sitting off the Oregon coast this am, ” sending in bands of rain for Portland and highs around 48. But a winter weather advisory has been in effect all night in the Gorge, and I’ll check on that in a second, and there’s a high surf advisory along with gale warnings at the coast. Sure glad we have a Coast Guard. Wish they’d get paid. The sun comes up a minute earlier this morning, at 7:45, and sets a minute later at 4:56, so we’re gaining two minutes of daylight today.

OK, Gorge weather: the NWS says temps west of Cascade Locks are just above freezing and should stay there. But it’s at or below freezing east of CL, and precipitation will likely fall as snow or sleet, or a combination of snow, sleet and freezing rain at times this morning.

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It’s Day 27 of the government shutdown–I heard a network anchor say “year 27” this morning, and sometimes it feels like it. We hear about people thanking TSA workers at PDX, for keeping them safe, despite not being paid. The same goes out to the Coast Guard, whose boats, helicopters, and rescue swimmers are standing guard as always, despite the ongoing leadership outage. The 800,000 federal employees who are furloughed or working without pay are just part of the picture: there are throngs of contract workers who are sidelined as well, and they have no expectation of back pay. This staredown between politicians with no skin in the game will have a measurable effect on the economy, and the real impacts will be felt in homes of just plain folks at home.

As KGW reported last night, the Federal Trade Commission is closed, so the “Do Not Call” registry is inoperative, which is why your phone is blowing up with telemarketing schemes and scams.

Despite administration claims that ISIS has been defeated, four Americans are among 19 people killed in Syria by a suicide bombing that was claimed by the Islamic State.

British PM Theresa May narrowly survived that no-confidence vote in Parliament. But nobody has an answer for how to make Brexit work, and many are hoping for a year’s extension of the March deadline.

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Today’s New York Times includes a long investigative piece about the Hart family, the onetime Portland-area couple and their six adopted children whose car was driven off a California cliff almost a year ago. I’ve only scanned the story, but it looks like there’s some detail about tensions within the family that led to the tragic moment. It’s worth a read.

The Clark County measles case count is up to 14 confirmed, with 13 unvaccinated and the other unknown. These contagious kids may have shared the virus at Portland International Airport and the nearby Ikea, and a number of schools, churches, and other public locations.

The folks behind the Portland Diamond Project have revealed the names of the initial investors who are bankrolling the startup phase of the project: aside from Seahawks QB Russell Wilson and his entertainer/entrepreneur wife Ciara, they include the founders of Platt Electric, former MLB (and OSU) player Darwin Barney, and a dozen or so other local families. The Oregonian’s John Canzano says many have pockets deep enough to step up their investments as the costs gear up into the billions, and that Portland sits atop the list of cities for potential MLB expansion.

A retired UPS driver in Grants Pass came back from the store and started unbagging the fixings for some yummy breakfast enchiladas for his sweetie. Eggs? check. Cheese? got it. Sausage, peppers, bacon bits…hey wait. Darn. Forgot the dang tortillas. Be right back, honey. He returned to the store, bought tortillas, rewarded himself with a $20 scratch Oregon lottery ticket while he was there, and won $250,000.

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I like the way my partner Bruce Murdock intros our “Tell Me Something Good” segment on K103 every morning at 5:30 and 8:00. He says, “Ah, there’s Good News Today!” And then we get into stories like these:

–“Single Mom Gets Surprise of Her Life”

–“Mom buys dress for future granddaughter on her birthday, exactly 7 years before she’s born”

–“Buy a beer for a furloughed Fed worker!”

–“China’s Moon mission grows the first life on the Moon”

–“A Twitter war breaks out between museums worldwide over who has the most elegant artwork featuring ducks–including some lavish punnage. Fowl play!”

Links in our Coffee Cup, the first item in the comments below!

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On the 77th birthday of the late Muhammad Ali, the airport in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky has been named after him.

Just twenty-five days to pitchers and catchers–based on a February 12 reporting date for Spring Training!

Off we go into a Thursday!