Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Good morning, and welcome to the little neighborhood coffee shop we call the Daily Drip! Today is Wednesday, March 6, 2019, and before we get to anything else, we need to check the Daily Drip Weather Center to find out if yesterday’s hints at a touch of winter are coming true. It’s a dry 31 degrees at PDX right now, but the National Weather Service posted this statement just as I’m writing this, at 0325:

…SPOTTY LIGHT FREEZING RAIN THIS MORNING…Light rain over Lane County will spread northward this morning. But temperatures in many areas are still around, or just below
freezing. So, this will result in areas of sleet or freezing rain or the interior lowlands. Fortunately, precipitation will be light, resulting in only light ice accumulation, generally up to 0.05 of an inch. Some areas closer to the Columbia Gorge may see a light mixture of sleet, freezing rain and snow this morning.

OK…so maybe something, maybe not. At this early moment, I don’t see any ODOT or PBOT tweets, school announcements, or power problems. That could change, and we’ll hustle that information onto the radio on 103.3, then put updates on the Daily Drip Facebook page here.

What a winter. Portland’s hospital ERs all have an hour-long wait thanks to a whole lot of people battling the flu. OHSU put out a statement summing it up: “The entire city is struggling with capacity issues due to an acute spike in the flu, which is putting pressure on Emergency Departments and hospitals everywhere.” KGW reports, in a story featuring a recent experience by media figure and Daily Drip participant K.c. Cowan, that hospitals all over town are packed. But as KC points out, people are still getting great care. Quick-care clinics may be a good choice. Watch out about going out of network. $$.

These are intense times in the Oregon Capitol. The legislature (in other words, the taxpayer) will pay a 1.1 million dollar sexual harassment settlement to eight women, and the biggest chunk by far goes to two former interns who were subjected to the ways of Senator Jeff Kruse. The settlement includes an agreement to create an office to handle complaints of this nature, plus an apology from the leadership with a commitment to allow such sins no more. And one of those leaders is suddenly taking a leave of absence: Senate President Peter Courtney, a Democrat who’s been under criticism for allegedly underreacting to complaints about the Republican Kruse, emailed as follows: “Under the advice of my doctors, I am taking a medical leave of absence of 10 days…. I look forward to returning to the Senate in full health and continuing our work together this session.”

Portland’s venerable Alpenrose Dairy and all of its amenities including baseball fields and a velodrome could be weeks away from being shut down and sold to developers. A lawsuit by heirs to the founders seeks to block other family members from carrying out the planned liquidation.

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The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Memphis Grizzlies 120-111 in the final game of solid 5-2 road trip, and are now in a 3-way tie for 3rd in the West with the Rockets and the Thunder–who happen to be coming to town for a crucial clash at the Rose Garden tomorrow night.

We’ll soon see a self-portrait of Tonya Harding we’ve never known, as the former star skater will share her story of surviving domestic violence–beginning at the hands of her own mother–at next weeks’ University of Oregon 20th Anniversary Domestic Violence Clinic Fundraiser and Gala. Said Harding in a U of O interview reprinted on OregonLive, “together, my husband and I are raising our son to be a happy, nice, gentle and loving little boy – so that he can grow up to be a good, loving, and gentle man.”

One Kanye West played a private concert for Adidas employees at their North Portland HQ yesterday. He’d been spotted having dinner the previous evening at the Korean restaurant Han Oak at NE 24th and Sandy Blvd. Kanye and Adidas are partners on his Yeezy line of shoes.

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Her Mom was a nurse…her Dad owned the largest shirt factory in Germany but it was seized by the Nazis….so together the young family escaped to freedom in the new land of America, settled in the state of Oregon, bought a hat company and named it after the biggest local river, and eventually began manufacturing outdoor clothing; she took over as president when her husband died, and turned Columbia Sportswear into a massively successful, publicly-traded corporation with herself as spokesmodel. Happy 95th birthday to Gert Boyle…let’s say it together…One Tough Mother!

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Here are some stories worth reading, in the links provided in the Daily Drip Coffee Cup below.

–“Panicked Bridesmaid Leaves Dress At Home, But Southwest Swoops In To Save The Day.”

–“City Bus Driver Stops To Help Car Stuck In Snow On Train Tracks–and her Passengers Jumped Out to Help”

–“‘Momma, you’re OK:’ 7-year-old girl calls 911 to save her mother”

–“A Navy veteran jumped into a New Jersey river to rescue a woman following a car crash”

–“Found: A ‘Life’ Magazine Stolen From a Library 51 Years Ago The sender returned it, confessed, and paid up.” Cool cover.

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It’s Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season for those of the Christian faith.

Spring begins two weeks from today, as evidenced by the lengthening, though frigid, days. Sunrise today is at 6:40 AM, sunset 6:04 PM; yesterday I walked my miles without a flashlight or reflector vest for the first time since November. Bring it on!