Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Ta-da! Here’s the Daily Drip, materializing in your news feed (depending on Facebook’s whims) for Wednesday, February 13, 2019. Our local weather in Portland calls for rain, highs 40-45, with a 1000-foot snow level (look around for TV towers: they tend to sprout from thousand-foot hills in Portland). Sunrise 7:15 AM….sunset 5:34 PM.

Floodwaters have made a muddy mess of many of our roads, and K103’s Janine Wolf will be among the morning traffic reporters scouting for the very latest on the likes of Cornelius Pass, which carries way more traffic than it was ever built for, and which was closed by a mudslide yesterday afternoon between US 30 and Skyline Blvd. We remarked on the radio yesterday morning about the radar image showing an angry red smear of heavy precipitation stalled in a swath from, like, Gaston clear up to Kalama…and then we saw the results. A muddy river runs through many a back yard in Scappoose and Rainier…Highway 30 was a lake…herds of elk were seen fleeing the floods… the Columbia County Fairgrounds opened horse stalls to accommodate folks with flooded stables…Forest Grove school buses were late because they smartly avoided driving through ponded roads…Vernonia is watching the Nehalem River, which looks full, but below flood stage. Good thing they build that beautiful new school on the hill. Who has a flood story to tell?

In the Columbia Gorge, a winter weather advisory in the west and a winter storm warning in the east expire at 7 AM, but many schools there are either closed or two hours late, and travel on I-84 remains a challenge. In fact the westbound lanes are closed at Hood River because of multiple semis. And starting at 8 AM they’ll close one lane at a time of I-84 at MP 54 to finish up a diesel mopup from a Monday truck crash.

And now California’s getting a punishing from the storm, that recently drenched Hawaii, and southbound truck traffic on I-5 is being held at Ashland because of heavy snow in the Redding area, while chains are required on all other vehicles except 4x4s.

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Voters approved two levies for the Vancouver schools. But Hiockinson failed, Ridgefield is trailing, and LaCenter and Evergreen have a lead.

Oregon is on its way to becoming the first with a statewide rent control program, as the Senate easily passed SB 608 and lateralled it over to the House, where it’ll get the same favorable treatment. Republicans say it’ll scare landlords out of the business and decrease the housing supply, hurting the people it’s designed to help, but Democrats say renters have been gouged long enough.

We’re sobbing in our suds over the closure of BridgePort Brewing, the latest of the old-guard steinfillers to call it a day. BridgePort re-tuned our tastebuds with the Blue Heron Pale Ale, opening the age of the IPA. Other craft brewers took that hoppy model and ran afield with it, and with declining sales, BridgePort has sadly switched off its kettles and will padlock its brewpub door on March 10.

There’s video going around of a guy riding a Freddy’s shopping cart down the steep West Burnside hill toward Big Pink. Dude’s in the left lane, and stops for lights along the way. He’s apparently known to many as the King of Cans, and his conveyance has been referred to as a Burnside Cadillac.

The Blazers have the Golden State Warriors at home tonight at the Moda Center.

A wire fox terrier named King won Best in Show at the 2019 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. We were rooting for the Bouvier, named a sweet boy named Lars, but no…

This was the day is 2000 when, two days after Charles M Schulz died, the last original Peanuts comic strip was printed in newspapers

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The Good News Doctor is IN!

–“Cool-headed girl, 8, saved injured father’s life during CA shooting spree”

–“A nursing student is forever grateful for a stranger’s generous act”

–“Purse lost in school in the 1950s to be reunited with owner”

–“Local Goodwill stores have received an extra 5 million pounds of donations since Marie Kondo’s show debuted on Netflix”

–“Black leopard spotted in Africa for first time in 100 years.”

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I love the folks at Portland’s National Weather Service. Scorched by complaints about snow that did or didn’t materialize, from grumps who don’t grasp the complicated crapshoot known as forecasting, they posted this via Twitter yesterday. From the National Weather Service:

“Here’s what we recommend you do. Wake up early for work tomorrow and check the weather. Be prepared in case there is snow. If not, have that extra cup of coffee, scroll through your favorite news source, or take a quick nap. You could even make yourself a nice breakfast.”

Thanks for scrolling through the Daily Drip!!