Good morning, Blazermanical people! It’s Thursday, April 25, 2019, and the weather here in Rip City is fan-tastic. Sunny with a high 72, before we lapse into cool and showery days and nights for the weekend. Sunrise 6:08 AM, sunset 8:09 PM.
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It was dark in the University of Portland’s Chiles Center arena, with just a spotlight illuminating the red, white, and blue-adorned casket of Justin DeRosier, the Cowlitz County deputy whose life ended at age 29. Stories were told of the young officer’s buoyant personality, his humor, eloquence, and great physical strength, his unshakeable love for his wife, baby daughter, and all of his family and friends, and his lifelong commitment to the profession of law enforcement. We learned from Woodland Police Chief James Kelly that he was the one tasked with delivering the devastating news to DeRosier’s parents. Chief Kelly was Justin’s T-ball coach when he was 5. Thousands of people including law enforcement officers from across the Northwest and Canada were there, and they left the two-hour service as the chaplain urged them–with heads held high, and tears perfectly okay.
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With this tweet, and an accompanying video, Joe Biden made his presidential announcement today: “The core values of this nation… our standing in the world… our very democracy…everything that has made America — America –is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.” He’s the front-runner in the polls, for sure, though his support is heaviest at the top end of the demographic spectrum, while the younger end skews to Bernie Sanders. Biden is the 20th Democratic candidate, and the others have plenty of time to loom brighter or fade.
So…I’ll bet you’ve watched Damian Lillard’s highlight-of-the-decade shot about thirty times. It’s got to be the most-played video on network and cable TV over the last 24 hours. Headline in Slate today: “One of the Most Incredible Buzzer-Beaters in NBA History Happened Tuesday and It Is Going to Inspire a Lot of Future Airballs.”
Tweet from Mayor Ted Wheeler: “@Dame_Lillard I hereby declare you with the zero authority I have to do this, King of Rip City.”
We could find out tonight if Portland will play Denver in the next round of the NBA playoffs: the Nuggets are up 3-1, and if they beat the Spurs tonight in San Antonio. then Denver it is.
TriMet has let it be known that for the duration of the NBA playoffs, MAX and bus operators can wear Blazers gear if they choose. Nice. Love the community that we become during a deep playoff run!
Fun fact: Today we’ll reach exactly fourteen hours of daylight, and we’ll add nearly two hours more by the Solstice. It may seem odd, but our fourteen hours of daylight today is longer than tropical cities get on their longest day of the year. Honolulu, for instance, will have around 13 hours of sun at the Solstice. It just doesn’t change much, closer to the equator. But up here at the higher latitudes, we’re in a land of extremes, so we go from wayyy short days to wayyy long. Second fun fact: Portland is the northernmost city with an NBA franchise. Farther north than Minneapolis. Farther north than Toronto. Not farther north than Seattle, but, ooooh. Sore subject. Nice to have Seattle fans rooting for the Blazers especially against OKC, those franchise thieves. Stay aboard–the Blazers , like the Seahawks and Mariners, are the Northwest’s team!
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TriMet’s board has voted to extend the MAX Red Line to Hillsboro; it currently terminates in Beaverton.
You can add Beaverton to the school districts that are closing for the Wednesday, May 8 Oregon Education Association Day of Action. Portland, Gresham-Barlow, and North Clackamas are doing the same. Hillsboro’s thinking about it.
For its entire history, Portland’s Freightliner truck manufacturing story has been one of change and evolution: it began in the 1930s because Consolidated Freightways needed trucks that were powerful enough handle the steep mountain grades in the west; it nearly died in ’08 when 800 workers lost jobs as manufacturing shifted to Mexico. But now the future is glowing like a light bulb as parent company Daimler Trucks North America announced yesterday it will begin building electric Freightliner trucks in Portland starting in 2021.
Good news from the Coos County Sheriff, who says Odin the German Shepherd is back at work as a police dog, after taking a muzzle full of porcupine quills.
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Kenny Loggins plays the Cowlitz Ballroom at Ilani Resort and Casino in Ridgefield tonight. He wrote “House at Pooh Corner” during finals at the end of his senior year in high school. “We were coming on graduation,” he reminisces, “and it reminded me of the last chapter of the book House at Pooh Corner, where Christopher Robin is about to head out and leave the Hundred Acre Wood behind.” We’re at that time of year in households all over. If you’re lucky, they come back!
Three great radio people were born on this day: Guglielmo Marconi, an inventor of radio, in 1874; Edward R. Murrow, an inventor of radio news, in 1908; and my Dad in 1928. He founded the radio station at Grinnell College in Iowa and glued me to stories about his college radio days, when I was nine and was laid up all summer after wrecking my future as a pitcher for the Cubs by jumping off a high swing and jamming my arm straight into the ground. The truth is, I’m living his dream and mine too. Happy birthday and thanks, Dad, wherever you may be!
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Here’s the good stuff!
–“Hospital Patient’s Plea For Pizza Answered — 18 Times”
–“Men eat dinner with elderly woman who was sitting by herself at restaurant–and they had no idea what a special day it was.”
–“Parkinson’s results beyond researchers’ wildest dreams”
–“Man saves over 20,000 animals with custom-made prosthetics”
–“Man offers to sell his car to save his dog’s life before community comes to the rescue”
Details in the Coffee Cup! Have a wonderful day, friends!
Portland's Daily Drip 