Greetings, everybody! It’s Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Portland’s weather could bring a smidge of rain today, not much, with a high in the mid-60s, and tomorrow is back on track to be sunny and 70, perhaps 75. Sunrise 6:21 AM, sunset 7:59 PM.
Well, that was sweet! Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum ran a clinic on the Oklahoma City Thunder, shushing Russell Westbrook so thoroughly that he retreated to the locker room well before the final buzzer in the Blazers’ 114-94 win before a seismic crowd in the Moda Center. Our guys take a 2-0 lead on the road, with the next game Sunday at 6:30 in OKC. Rip City is in a good mood today!
Here’s a score we don’t much like….the environmental group American Rivers has ranked our Willamette the 5th most endangered river in America. Their summary: “The US Army Corps of Engineers must immediately improve 13 dams to save wild chinook salmon and steelhead from going extinct.” The Corps says it’s spent hundreds of millions improving fish passage, but they need more–while the Trump budget instead proposes to slash funding. Those dams saved us from some serious flooding just last week.
At the same time, there’s a report from NOAA saying migrating juvenile salmon that travel, rest, and feed along the west banks of the Willamette are exposed to such high levels of DDT in the industrially-contaminated North Portland Superfund site that many “do not survive the journey downriver of Portland Harbor.” Their DDT levels are as much as 35 times higher than the young fish lucky enough to choose the east bank. The report adds that “… downtown is safe. It is the Portland harbor, particularly the west bank, that is contaminated to fish spending extended periods in the water.”
A 4-year-old boy was badly hurt when fell out a second-floor window onto hard concrete in the Bethany neighborhood,
Portland school officials are at a loss to explain how a $790 million school renovation project will wind up costing a billion dollars. The school board has to decide whether to scale back the project or come to the voters for more.
School’s been called off in Portland on Wednesday, May 8, because of an anticipated one-day teacher walkout.
Twenty schools in Denver are closed today while authorities search for a woman who is obsessed with Saturday’s 20th anniversary of Columbine. She’s purchased weapons and made threats.
The white supremacist ex-prison gang member who ran over and killed a black man with his Jeep in Gresham three summers ago–while his girlfriend egged him on–has been sentenced to life in the penitentiary with a 28-year minimum. The family of victim Larnell Bruce gathered in the park across from the courthouse and released helium balloons into the sky to symbolize the five lives he saved by donating his heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys.
TriMet vows to be done with diesel by the year 2040. They now have one electric bus–and that’s a start. Starting today the battery-electric bus will be in regular service on Line 62, between Sunset Transit Center and Washington Square.
Oregon makes a return appearance in a Netflix documentary, following the Emmy-winning “Wild Wild Country.” This one is called “Grass is Greener,” it’s about cannabis, and it drops on April 20 for some reason.
Did you know that when the Portland Timbers’ home stadium finally opens on June 1 (against LA) from their big expansion, it will have 4,000 additional seats that will bring the capacity to 25,000, attracting an estimated 1,120 more cars to the neighborhood on game days? Great for the Timbers, not so great for Goose Hollow, so all sides have been hammering out an updated Good Neighbor Agreement which will be presented today to the City Council. Features of the agreement include extra MAX trains after the games, discounts for Smart Park garages (underused on game nights, which is not so smart), and special zones for Uber/LYFT dropoffs and pickups.
We lost Barbara Bush one year ago today. The classiest of people.
*****
Uplifting stories worth reading…fun videos worth watching…all at the Daily Drip Coffee Cup, the first item in the comments below!
–“Dog Saves Dog From Getting Hit By Car”
–“Blind Man Falls On Tracks Seconds Before Train Arrives & Hero Commuters Jump To Save Him”
–“Couple stranded on fishing trip in crocodile-infested area for 26 hours rescued after etching “HELP” in mud”
–“Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach In Shadow Of Border Crossing”
–“Surfing is Now One of the First Sports Requiring Equal Pay for Women – Lawmakers Are Following Suit”
******
Ah…I hear the FedEx flight overhead, vectoring in to its 4 AM landing in Portland. That means it’s time to sign this off and hit the road. Talk with you on the radio!
Portland's Daily Drip 