Hello everybody wherever you may be! (copyright Bill Schonely). Here’s the Daily Drip for Tuesday, May 14, 2019. The weather deities have deemed that a month is long enough for Portland to put up sunshine and warmth, so today will be rainy and cooler with highs around 60. We’re entering a pattern of showery and cool weather. Sunrise 5:41 AM, Sunset 8:33 PM.
Looks like the logjam is broken in the Oregon Senate, where hardball-playing Republicans returned yesterday following a five-day walkout, thus allowing a quorum and a vote on the “Student Success Act.” That billion-dollar-a-year boon for schools then passed on an 18-11 party-line vote and goes on to the governor for her signature. But it comes at a heavy cost to the Democrats’ agenda: as part of the deal, they reportedly agreed to kill HB 3063, which would have ended nonmedical exemptions for vaccination requirements, and also apparently SB 978, which would have strengthened gun laws. (Anticipating a question: Minority democrats in the United States Senate don’t have the same power-of-the-quorum to wield over the majority party. All that’s required there for a quorum is 51 votes).
As student groups chanted their displeasure, the PSU Board of Trustees voted 6-3 to hike resident undergraduate tuition by 11%.
OK! Blazers-Warriors, Game One, 6 PM on ESPN, and on Rip City Radio 620, which is a great way to experience the game if you’re caught in the homeward crunch at tipoff time. Travis Demers and Michael Holton do an outstanding job. And here’s another fun option: Games 1 and 2 will be shown on a 30-foot outdoor screen at free official Watch Parties in the Rose Quarter Commons. Pregame festivities begin at 5, rain or no, so bring a lawn chair and a bumbershoot. Quick memory-refresher: these teams met four times in the regular season and each won two, one at home and one away. That was before Nurk’s season crashed to an end for the Blazers. Golden State’s Kevin Durant is currently out with a calf injury, but their fans are not cowed…he might come back next week. You know Durant; the Blazers passed him up in the 2007 draft. That was then. Tonight for the Blazers, red-hot 6th-man Rodney Hood’s injury turns out to be a bone bruise, and he’ll play. MRI was negative. The last time Portland and Golden State met, it was here in Rip City, and as I recall, things got, um, testy between our guys and theirs. And there’s a brother vs. brother thing going on. That’ll be fun, but bad blood will boil before this one is through!
A 36-year-old Clatsop County man who admits making over 20 phony mayday calls on his father’s marine radio because he was bored has been sentenced to probation by a federal judge–but he also may be required to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to fire departments on the Oregon Coast.
People are noticing a particularly lovely flowery bloom along one of our local freeways. I’ve received several messages like this one from Daily Drip reader Reveleen, who writes: “..If you have the chance, drive north on 205 between 224 and Otty Rd. Check out the center median with all the multicolored Lupine in bloom. They are beautiful! Any idea who planted them?” The answer appears to be ODOT, which is in a statewide partnership with the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs, and perhaps others, to plant flowers for ground cover that double as habitat for essential pollinators like bees and butterflies. Nice!
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Jimmy Carter is resting comfortably after falling and breaking his hip while turkey-hunting. His main concern, according to a statement, is that the season ends this week, and he has not reached his bag limit.
The Dow is opening this morning at 25,324.99, after yesterday’s 600-point drubbing, collateral damage in a mutually-destructive trade war between the US and China.
A midair collision in Alaska between two sightseeing aircraft has killed at least four people and injured 10; two others are missing. Both planes were carrying tourists from a Royal Princess cruise ship, which was on a seven-day voyage that left Vancouver on May 11.
There’s apparently a worldwide outage in the airline servation system known as Sabre, resulting in major delays, at least on JetBlue.
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We lost journalist Tom Wolfe last year on this date. He brought fame to Oregon author Ken Kesey’s Merry Prankster days.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition left St. Louis on this day in 1804, bound for Oregon.
Frank Sinatra died and Seinfeld came to an end on the same day, this date, in 1998.
The Irish/Scottish rock band Snow Patrol (“Chasing Cars” and other really tuneful songs) is at the Roseland Theater tonight.
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Good stuff in the Coffee Cup today!
–“Russell Wilson’s mum sheds tears of joy as he gifts her a house on Mother’s Day.”
–“‘Pink drink’ brain cancer treatment could save thousands of lives”
–“Notre Dame could provide energy for Paris with new roof”
–“Five ducklings rescued from a storm drain while mom paces nearby”
–“Australian family finds gold nugget while walking dog named ‘Lucky'”
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And that, my friends, is the early Drip for a showery Tuesday. My mission to improve sleep continues to go well–over 6 hours last night. Working on more. What’s on your agenda today?
Portland's Daily Drip 