Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Morning all! You and the Daily Drip have found each other on Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Our Northwest weather continues to be cold and lip-crackling-dry, are you noticing? Dry throat, lots of static electricity? Today will partly sunny with highs in the 40s, but then: tonight a chance of very light snow begins around midnight and continues into tomorrow morning, with the sticking level right down to zero feet above sea level. An inch or less, is the latest guess for Portland. That could give us a challenging commute on Wednesday. Sunrise 6:42 AM, sunset 6:03 PM.

Ladies and gentlemen…President Jeff Merkley! That’s a phrase you’ll not be hearing soon, longshot though it may have been, as Oregon’s junior Senator is announcing today that after mulling it over for a year, he’s decided to run for re-election to his secure Senate seat, rather than plunging into the crowded pool of hopefuls for 1600 Pennsylvania.

There’s a bill in the Oregon Legislature to keep our state permanently on Daylight Time. It’s sponsored by Republicans Kim Thatcher and Bill Post, and Democrat John Lively. Some clever person decided that SB 320 will come up for a public hearing–get this–on Tuesday, a week from today, at 8:30 AM…when we’ve just made the lurch to Daylight Time. People will be discombobulated from the time switch, and that’s the point. (The downside is that if we stick with daylight time year-round, our kids will be feeling their way to school in pitch darkness at 8 AM in December).

KGW reveals that Oregon is experiencing a decline in the birth rate–and that last year’s arrival of 42,067 squealing little bundles is the lowest number in 25 years. This baby bust is chalked up to women having kidlets later–in part because of student loan debt–and some people making a lifestyle choice not to have children at all. It’s part of a national trend. Yet the state’s population is continuing to grow–thanks to people coming here to live their lives in the green, blue Northwest.

Suddenly a sandwich shop in southeast Portland that many people loved, delicately named “Shut Up and Eat,” has shuttered for good. The place made gigantic sandwiches, and it served the last one on Sunday.

An apparently famous comedian named Micah ‘Katt’ Sierra Williams, who’s accused of slugging a Portland chauffeur for not letting his dog ride in the front seat of a limousine last fall, was a no-show for his trial on assault charges in Multnomah County Circuit Court. There’s a warrant now for his arrest.

It’s Mardi Gras!—and in a fun coincidence, tonight’s the night the Oregon Historical Society welcomes former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who’s certainly tossed a few beads from Mardis Gras floats in his time. He’s here tonight in his capacity as the mayor who took down the statue of Robert E. Lee; The title of his appearance: “In the Shadow of Statues, a White Southerner Confronts History.” He’s at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall tonight as part of the 2019 Mark O. Hatfield Lecture Series.

Also happening in our town tonight:

Made internationally famous on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album, but with a recording history that began a decade earlier and continues today, South Africa’s stellar male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo is at the Aladdin Theater tonight. (They’re on the tracks “Diamonds on the Souls of her Shoes” and “Homeless” on “Graceland”).

Luke Perry was only 52 when he succumbed to a stroke. The “Beverly Hill 90210” heartthrob was a household name in the 90s, and still had a fairly prolific acting career. In fact, he’d already filmed a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming flick about Charles Manson called “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

Country singer Patsy Cline was killed in a private plane crash on this day in 1963. She was 30. Thirty-three-year-old John Belushi died of an OD this day in 1982.

Happy birthday to Dr. John Kitzhaber, governor emeritus.

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Today’s guaranteed-to-make-you-smile headlines, with links in the Coffee Cup below..

–“City Bus Driver Stops To Help Car Stuck In Snow On Train Tracks”

–“Thousands line up in rain for stem cell test to help child with cancer”

–“This Hiker Saved the Life of an Alaskan Timber Wolf—4 Years Later the Wolf Still Remembered Him” (This is a good read, though it may set off your “tall tale” detector).

–“From rags to wrenches: Brent Jones went from cleaning SF’s cable cars to taking charge of Muni’s iconic fleet”

–“Grandma Spotted Carrying Teen With Cerebral Palsy Up Stairs Gets Life-Changing Gift.”

Details in the Coffee Cup right here. Have a great day, friends!