And the happiest of Happy Fridays to you! Portland’s weather is staying nice, as we hoped it might, with highs of 65 today–a slight decrescendo from yesterday’s 74–and only a 20% chance of a Saturday shower providing a negligible imperfection to the weekend. Today is April 26, 2019. Sunrise 6:06 AM, sunset 8:11 PM.
Quick sports note–San Antonio and Denver are going to game seven tomorrow night, and the winner plays the Blazers on Monday. Knock your selves out, guys!
Say ‘bye to plastic bags at the grocery checkout counter, maybe…the Oregon House passed a statewide ban 42-18, and now it’s the Senate’s turn. We’d become the third state to prohibit these cluttering, fluttering suburban tumbleweeds that clog drains and choke wildlife. Some local communities–Portland, for one, along with Salem, Corvallis, and Silverton–have already made the move.
Welp, those electric scooters are back today darting around Portland for a year-long pilot project, with tighter regs, after a 4-month audition in 2018. City Hall likes them because they have the potential to reduce pollution and congestion; pedestrians don’t like having to flatten themselves against buildings as they zip by illegally on sidewalks. Riders say they sure beat the bus.
A brawl broke out in Holladay Park near Lloyd Center last night, injuring two women, and forcing police to shut the park down for the night.
Police have arrested in the suspect in the hit and run death of a woman in the Garden Home area last week. He was burglarizing a home in North Portland.
Aw, man, just when the measles outbreak was this close to being declared over, three more cases were confirmed in Clark County, bringing the total to 63. Meantime quarantines are in place at UCLA and California State in Los Angeles, where hundreds of students and staff may have been exposed to measles.
Conservation groups are appalled by Governor Kate Brown’s appointment of a big-game trophy hunter, who’s posted photos of himself with hippopotamus, crocodiles, and other animals he’s shot, to the Oregon Wildlife Commission. Opponents of James Nash’s appointment said the Governor promised to name a “science-oriented” slate to the panel; her office replies that the commission should represent a mix of rural and urban voices.
A shout out this morning from your radio daddio and his on-air buddies to the students and staff of Chief Joseph Elementary, home of this month’s K103 Honor Roll Award Winner. She’s 4th-grade teacher Dayna Strozinsky, loved and respected by all, who’s in her 27th year there.
The Washington state senator who claimed that nurses “probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day” has been getting decks of cards in the mail–1,700 decks so far. I’m betting she regrets making that crack against some of the hardest-working people anywhere.
This was the day of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, which spread radioactivity across Europe and western Asia.
Author Bernard Malamud was born this day in 1914. He taught English to undergrads at Oregon State University, which is now a great baseball powerhouse–where he wrote “The Natural.” (Hollywood took liberties with the story; in the book, Roy Hobbs strikes out and dies alone).
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Let’s jump into some good news right here:
–“Shelter dog who loves his food bowl gets adopted after story goes viral”
–“Rodney Robinson, Who Teaches Civics to Students in Juvenile Detention, Wins 2019 National Teacher of the Year”
–“Girl who escaped child marriage in India scores 90% in exam”
–“Coffee grounds could replace palm oil, saving rainforests”
–“‘Water is life’: unexpected rainfall revives Iraq’s historic marshlands”
Just find the coffee cup for the story links–first item in comments, which may require some scrolling up!
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A couple more things: tomorrow’s the day of the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, celebrating “Roses in the Heart of Portland.” It starts at 9:30 AM by Eastport Plaza, heads north to Yamhill, turns west there and finishes at 78th Avenue. Then all day, folks are invited to celebrate Cambodian, Lao, Thai and Burmese New Year at Glenhaven Park at 82nd and Siskiyou all day long.
And tomorrow night, the K103 morning team including this guy will be having a very fine time at iHeartRadio Portland’s first annual CORKS + CARTS, at The Redd on SE Salmon Street, featuring all the good things that come from corks–namely, Oregon wine—and carts, namely…food! We’ll enjoy hearing the featured performing artists, McMinnville’s own We Three, stars of America’s Got Talent, and with an album of their own. I don’t know if any tickets are still available, but check the K103 web site. I guarantee it’ll be a hoot!
Portland's Daily Drip 