Hi there, friends, and welcome to the Mondayest Tuesday of the year! It’s May 28, 2019, a day and a week that promise to be partly sunny and mostly dry with highs in the 70s. Portland only made 69 on Memorial Day; I remember hearing (and spreading) reports of a possible 80. But summer is tuning up in the green room, and June begins on Saturday. Sunrise 5:28 AM, sunset 8:48 PM.
Before we get into the day’s news and troubles and such, I just want to thank everyone who participated so thoughtfully in the Memorial Day discussions here. There are heartfelt treasures posted by people who have seen combat, and who have seen combat touch those they love, and the profound experiences that are expressed in the threads herein are, to me, the literary equivalent of the Oregon National Guard flyovers on Memorial Day morning: removed from our direct sight by clouds, perhaps, but delivering an unmistakable rumble to our souls.
Folks around the country are dealing with harsh and violent weather, including historic flooding in Oklahoma, and tornados smashing into Dayton, Ohio, a state where countless customers are out of power and snowplows were called to clear debris from the freeways. There have been tornadoes for thirteen consecutive days in the US, which hasn’t happened since 1980, and they’re not done.
The owners of a Noah’s Ark replica in Kentucky are suing their insurance because of rain damage.
This is the week we make the turn into summertime-Portland. The Starlight Run is this town’s most popular event of the year, and it’s on Saturday night. And that’s when the Portland Timbers play their opening home match in a stadium whose $85 million dollar upgrade makes the statement that this is a serious, major league soccer city. Those three new levels on the east side, with 4,000 seats looking down upon a sparkling new turf field, say to me: this ain’t left field anymore.
The Oregonian’s Maxine Bernstein reports that a federal judge Friday ordered the Portland company Scribe X to pay a woman named Brittany Frisby $80,000–for rescinding a job offer after learning she was pregnant.
Eagles are preying on lambs in Clatsop County, according to ranchers in the unincorporated community of Brownsmead. Not much they can do about it–the glorious birds are a protected species.
If you’re downtown, venture on over to Pioneer Courthouse Square and take in the fragrant rainbow of the Festival of Flowers: 24,000 of the beauties are arrayed in a design that reflects the Square itself, in celebration of this spring’s 35th anniversary of Portland’s Living Room.
In case you missed it over the weekend, the Oregon International Air Show announced that they’re moving to the McMinnville Airport this year, because of a major runway construction project at Hillsboro. Interestingly, the Air Show folks won’t say if they’ll be back in Hillsboro next year. It’ll still be a spectacular air show–although with a shorter runway, the visiting F-35 Lightning II with stage out of PDX and zoom over to Mac to do its stuff. And the spectator capacity is less, so grab some tickets when you hear they’re on sale–which should be soon. Dates are September 20-22. Now wouldn’t it be cool if they dragged out the Spruce Goose and lumbered that big guy over the highway and cranked it up?
Portland International Airport is the sixth-best in the country for on-time arrival and departure, according to a 10-year data analysis by the financial web site Magnify Money, which says the PDX on-time rate is 81.4%. Honolulu is best at 86.7, and Newark is worst–with only 67% of its flights sticking to schedule.
You know what? I think I’ll wrap it there. Does it feel weird to anyone to have a full week of May left after Memorial Day? I want an investigation. Anyway, we’ll gather shortly on radio 103.3, and back here in the fullness of time.
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You know what’s next!
–“Groundbreaking World War II unit of black women honored decades after their service”
–“A Beloved Mail Carrier Retired And The Whole Neighborhood Turned Out To Say Goodbye”
–“Teens Put Pokemon Hunting On Hold To Help Struggling Elderly Man”
–“Man Saves 2-Year-Old Boy Falling From 5th-Floor Window”
–“Discovered a treasure: a very young Elton John breaks down a new song that he’s just written.”
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That last one is my favorite, by the way. A teenage-looking Elton John, singing a classic off the scrap paper it was written on. We’ll have a busy day today!
Portland's Daily Drip 