Good morning! Here’s what drips from the heavens of news on Thursday, March 28, 2019. Portland’s weather envisions partly cloudy skies emerging from patchy morning fog. with a chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs around 58. Sunrise 6:58 AM, sunset 7:33 PM.
The furious little late-afternoon squall that crossed our communities created thousands of power outages, since restored, and it made for a rollicking ride for air traffic flying in and out of PDX. Dozens of flights were delayed and a couple were cancelled, as a wind shear advisory was posted for the airport, and while outgoing flights sat out the storm, incoming pilots were warned of intense rainfall through the Gorge and clear up to touchdown. Pilots along the way shared information to help each other. I spent that hour monitoring air traffic control in addition to a flight tracker map and doppler radar, and the professionalism exhibited by both the tower and the cockpit was reassuring but unsurprising. Passengers may not have had the smoothest rides of their lives, but they were in good hands all the way.
There was a poetic moment in a Clark County courtroom yesterday, as Tay’lor Smith, who last summer pushed her friend Jordan Holgerson off the Moulton Falls Bridge, was sentenced to jail. Surprised and stunned, she asked the judge if she could turn herself in at a later date, because “I’m not ready.” Which is basically what 16-year-old Jordan said in the instant before she was shoved into the abyss, falling five stories and suffering smashed ribs and experiencing PTSD to this day. Knowing this, the judge said, “You’re going to jail right now.” The term is only two days, which is two more than the prosecution recommended, but Ms. Smith will also get to wear an orange jumpsuit plucking up beer cans and used Huggies along Clark County roads for weeks.
So back in jail we have the TriMet sex abuser too-jocularly dubbed the TriMet Barber. This slug was arrested again for touching someone on a MAX train.
No explanation yet for the violence in the Lake City area of north Seattle, where a man fired a gun randomly into traffic, killing two drivers, then stealing the car of one of his victims and getting into a wreck, killing a third person. The attacker is in custody. He also opened fire on a Metro bus, but the driver, despite being wounded, managed to heroically back the bus out of the area and escape any more bullets; not one of the passengers was wounded.
Let’s send a Daily Drip feel-good to Portland rock star Art Alexakis, frontman for Everclear, who announced that he’s been diagnosed with MS–and that he’s had it for decades. With medication, he’ll be fine. And another message of good wishes for Portland State Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer, who yesterday underwent surgery for thyroid cancer; lawmakers wore purple in solidarity yesterday. And the whole community is proclaiming the sentiment on a billboard that Blazer fans are attempting buy, through a Go Fund Me account: “We Love You Nurkic!” Jusuf N continues to recover from an unspeakable injury suffered against Brooklyn the other night; Blazers PA announcer Mark Mason, a good man whom I often see lumbering up the iHeart Industries stairwell as I’m scampering out, told me it’ll stay in his nightmares for a long time.
By the way the Blazers schooled the Chicago Bulls in their own yard 118-98 last night. Before the game, the whole Portland team did a group Facetime with Nurk.
It’s Sweet Sixteen game night for the Oregon men’s basketball team, as they play favored Virginia at 6:57 PM on TBS. The Ducks are the white-hot Cinderella team in the tourney, though the media narrative has turned in a pumpkinish direction. Freshly-indicted attorney Michael Avenatti, accused of trying to extort millions from Nike or else he’d reveal damaging information, tweeted that the Beaverton athletic wear giant had illegally paid substantial sums of money to Bol Bol, the NBA-bound freshman who played only a few games for the Ducks before being injured. And he’s made other charges. There are denials all around, but it’s a topic at the tournament tonight.
At Major League Baseball parks across the land, today is Opening Day!
Portland police were handing out plenty of tickets yesterday in a crosswalk sting at 54th and Powell. Wish a cop could have seen the quick step I executed to avoid getting clipped by a driver at 7th and Main in Oregon City around 11 AM. She didn’t see me, but I saw her, as well as the phone she was gazing at in her lap.
A man walked in and stole the photograph of Neil Goldschmidt from the foyer of the Portland Mayor’s office.
Somebody hacked a construction sign in Portland yesterday to read, “Zombies Ahead.” Happens a lot. You’d think City Hall would fix our zombie problem, but no.
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A star was born this day in 1986. It’s Lady Gaga’s birthday.
The Three Mile Island nuclear accident happened forty years ago today.
This is the 50th anniversary of the death of President Dwight D. Eisenhower..
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TMSG!
–“‘Job well done’: Virginia police dog needs just 15 minutes to find
two lost children”
–“Woman Finds Post Cards from Grandparents on eBay”
–“Anonymous ‘Robin Hood’ Has Been Leaving Envelopes of Cash in
Village Mailboxes Since Last Week”
–“Needle In A NYC Haystack: Sanitation Workers Help Man Find His Lost
Wallet In City’s Trash”
–“Parent’s Reaction to Son Passing the Bar Exam”
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Off we sail toward the last weekend of March. Who’s got something good to tell?
Portland's Daily Drip 