Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Well, look at us! It’s already Wednesday, March 27, 2019. After a postcard-worthy day yesterday, highlighted for this radio daddio by giving rides in a wheelbarrow to a gleeful two-year-old and long-tossing the orange ball to a frisky puppy, today will be more of a time for indoor games, with light showers and thunder in the distance. Highs will be a perfectly acceptable 60. Our next purely perfect spring day should be Saturday, with highs of 65. Sunrise 7:00 AM straight up, sunset 7:32 PM

The Blazers hit the road against the Bulls in Chicago today, and they’ll be out to win big for the Bosnian Beast, who we’re hoping is sleeping well, sutured and sedated in a Portland hospital room following successful surgery for compound fractures of the shin and calf bones. Doctors expect Jusuf Nurkic will make a full recovery, but are making no promises about when. The very personification of a bad break.

Lawmakers may nibble away more of Oregon’s either cherished or despised no-self-serve gas law, with a bill that would permit stations to devote one quarter of their pumps to those who’d rather do it themselves. HB3194, which is currently in committee, stipulates that the price must be the same either way. What’s your stand? I’ve been an Oregonian ever since Tom McCall said not to stay, and quite comfortable with letting someone else earn a paycheck while I play Words with Friends or twirl the radio dial. But the other day during a no-time-to-spare rush my usual Chevron was staffed with just one swamped attendant who was not fleet of foot, and I pined for the option of hopping out and being done with it. Maybe it’s time for Pump Choice in Oregon.

Trying to shoo the dark money out of Oregon politics, legislators may force political committees to list their biggest contributors on their advertising, just like California and Washington do. Without such a requirement, “You could have a political action committee that is ‘Wonderful Oregonians for Kittens,’ that is funded by the tobacco companies,” according to Democratic Rep Dan Rayfield of Corvallis.

President Trump is beaming over a 4-point bump in his approval rating, to 43%, his highest of the year, in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that was taken after the Barr letter over the weekend. Forty-eight percent still believe that Trump coordinated with the Russians during the election, down six points pre-Barr. But 58% say they need to read the actual Mueller report…which we haven’t seen.

The administration is now backing a sweeping elimination of the Affordable Care Act, in a surprise Justice Department filing Monday in New Orleans, where the 5th Circuit is hearing an appeal of a Texas judge’s ruling that the entire act is unconstitutional. This is a change; prior to Monday the administration favored keeping popular provisions like protection for pre-existing conditions, but no more.

The Eastbank Esplanade reopens to pedalers and hoofers day after tomorrow.

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Mariah Carey was born this day in 1970. She’s named after Lerner and Lowe song, song ‘They Call The Wind Maria,’ from the 1951 Broadway musical ‘Paint Your Wagon’. “A way out west, they’ve got a name,” etc.

Disney’s hit Broadway musical “Aladdin” begins a 16-performance run tonight at the Keller.

This is the, lemme count, 39th anniversary of the first 1980 mini-eruption of Mt. St. Helens, which started a series of successively larger eruptions that culminated in the May 18th kablooey.

It was eighty years ago today that the University of Oregon won the very first NCAA men’s basketball tournament with a 46-33 victory over Ohio State. Why so low-scoring? They didn’t have a shot clock.

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Let’s look around for something uplifting and fun to read and watch, with links in the Daily Drip coffee cup below.

–“Aspiring country star uses guitar to lull baby daughter to sleep in viral video”

–“This student withdrew from prom court to clear the way for his friend, who has autism, to win prom king”

–“Hank the goodest dog saves his family and neighbours from a massive fire in their garden”

–“New neurons for life? Older folks can still make fresh brain cells, study finds”

–“What I Wish I Could Tell My High School Self.” What would you tell YOUR high school self?

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I spewed like six droplets of the exotic drink of my choice–Lemon La Croix sparkling water–onto the track pad of my iMac. It’s now going crazy. I am writing this on my wife’s PC. I am going crazy. I promise to patch up the typos and fill in the blanks from the radio studio. Talk with you then!