Good morning and welcome to a Wednesday, Dripsters and lurkers, equally welcome all! When it comes to April days in 2019…this one is a 10. Numerically speaking anyway. Meteorologically, it’s fresh and showery, with another front rolling in tonight that’s tapping into a subtropical stream in the sky, so, yep, more rain, with highs in the cool fifties. Plus we have a winter weather advisory that prophesizes near a foot of snow at elevations above 3500 feet between noon today and noon tomorrow. That’s easily within range of the Cascade passes, with Government Camp at 3980 and Santiam at 4817. Sunrise 6:34 AM, sunset 7:50 PM.
Floodwaters should start receding on the Oregon rivers affected by this week’s heavenly torrent, but they’re still running fast and angry, choked with brambles and logs and causing all kinds of mayhem. Flood control reservoirs are almost full. The Willamette downtown is running ten feet higher than it was a week ago, swamping homeless camps on the river’s bank, and hurtling logs toward docks and marinas. Clackamette Park is closed because the parking lot is submerged…at least one Marion County motorist had to be embarrassingly saved after driving past signs into an obvious pond, the picture duly spread on Twitter as a cautionary example…water sloshed into the Corvallis intersection of highways 34 and 20…Oregon 58 is open again, ending the second maroonment of Oakridge this year…and flood warnings continue on the Pudding River, a Molalla tributary named not for the consistency of the water but for the elk blood pudding that exhausted and soaked settlers cooked on its banks–with the kind help of local tribal women–back in the pioneer days.
The Oregon Senate has voted to hop aboard a nationwide drive to circumvent the Electoral College by pledging that all seven of Oregon’s electoral votes will go to the winner of the national popular tally.
Oh, this’ll stir up some comments…an Oregon Senate committee has okayed for a full Senate vote a bill that would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs, or blinking red lights, as though they’re a yield sign. Slow down and look, and if nobody’s coming, you can pedal on through. It’s been that way in Idaho for years, and in fact, it’s how many cyclists handle stop signs in neighborhoods anyway.
Speaking of the rules of the road….at a media event at SE 122 and Salmon, PBOT bolted in the final 20 MPH speed limit sign, making that the law on all of the city’s neighborhood streets. Twenty is plenty, is Portland’s motto, if not its actual practice.
Well, the rankings are in from US News and World Report on the best cities to live in America…and, whoops, Portland slipped to #8, from #6. We’re ahead of Seattle, but behind San Francisco. Austin, the original “weird,” is #1. Portland loses points for housing affordability. But in the category of desirability?–as in, where would you most like to live? The resounding word from 2500 adults surveyed across the nation is that Portland is numero uno. People yearn to come here. The US News article buys into the conventional hype that “Portland’s population toes the line between an innocent playfulness and a shameless wild side.” Oh, that’s us all right. I myself think it’s because we have good jobs in the middle of the most beautiful terrain on earth, with a desire to protect it, in a place where it’s OK to be who we are.
People here have remarked about the ODOT reader board at N. Lombard and Denver that has been hacked repeatedly to show messages like “Zombies Ahead” )and others not meant for tender eyes)…so KGW sent a reporter out there, and he discovered a compartment holding the keypad had no lock! Wonder if he was tempted to program it himself to say, “Hey! We miss Tracy and Joe!”
Speaking of The Ocho…News Director Rick Jacobs, a good guy by all accounts, is turning in his key to the big oaken door by the end of the month.
Devotees of kimchi and dashima should know that Portland’s first H Mart, a sought-after Korean supermarket, has its grand opening today at SE 33rd and Belmont.
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With returns almost final, it looks like Benjamin Netanyahu is headed toward a fifth term as Israel’s prime minister.
Washington Post fact-checkers have awarded four Pinocchios to President Trump’s claim yesterday that it was President Obama who ordered children separated from families at the border, and that “I’m the one who stopped it.”
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It’s the final night of the NBA regular season, and the Blazers are at home against the Sacramento Kings. They beat the Lakers on a Moe Harkless buzzer-beater three in LA last night, securing home court in the first round of the playoffs, on the same night that Magic Johnson announced he’s quitting as team president of basketball operations. They’ve missed the playoffs six years in a row, and he’s been frustrated by the job: every time he reaches out to congratulate some non-Laker player for having a great game, he gets busted for tampering.
This was the day in 1970 when Paul McCartney announced that he’s leaving The Beatles, and that was that for the Fab Four.
In our Small World Department: The Alan Parsons Live Project plays at Portland’s Revolution Hall tonight. This is the latest iteration of the performer and sound artist who began as an assistant engineer on Beatles albums at Abbey Road Studios, and continued as the lead engineer on Pink Floyd and Al Stewart and other albums before devoting his career to performance, with hits through the 80s including his biggest smash, “Eye in the Sky.” And here’s where the small world factors in…Stewart, whose “Year of the Cat” was recorded at Abbey Road with Parsons at the controls, is playing at the Aladdin Theater tonight while Parsons is a few blocks away. Wonder if they’ll meet for a pint.
Speaking of the Aladdin…it’s been announced that Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin will perform together on December 12, and tickets go on sale today.
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Stories to bring a smile?
–“Only Slightly (More) Exaggerated–Travel Oregon’s sequel to last year’s Whales in the Sky” video”
–“18-Year-Old Starts Having A Seizure On The Train, Receives Help From Total Stranger Who Later Shares The Whole Story On Twitter”
–“Spirit Airlines employee dances with New Jersey cheer team during flight delay”
–“Man on road trip finds lost dog, months later returns to Colorado to adopt her”
–“‘Lucky’ kitten survives 30-minute washing machine cycle”
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Bruce Murdock is back in the host seat…Janine Wolf is back in the traffic center…I’m staying on top of the headlines…and the very same K103 morning show that you see advertised on the Alpenrose milk cartons is back together again. All we need is you!
It’s the 100th day of 2019! How’s it going so far?
Portland's Daily Drip 