Hello, Wednesday people! It’s Hey, 19 Day! June 19, 2019, another one of our land-of-the-almost-midnight-sun days, with sunrise 5:21 AM, sunset 9:02 pm, and the typical combo of morning clouds and afternoon clearing. Highs will be around 70, and if they’d just stay right there all summer long, wouldn’t it be nice?
It’s the last day of school in Vancouver! The academic calendar was scooted a week by a teacher strike around last Labor Day, remember? School starts anew on Tuesday, August 27. Camas finishes up tomorrow–and then I think it’s summer for everyone!
***
I admit it, I spent last evening on the deck hearing birds and the occasional Alaska 737 finishing a flight from California, so I didn’t watch the Trump reelection launch. Lemme scan some of the coverage.
ABC: President Trump breaks out 2016 playbook in 2020 campaign kickoff. Fake news. Hillary. Lock her up. Build the wall. Trump played the hits.
Fox News: President can’t resist jab at Clinton during 2020 kickoff rally, debuts new impersonation
CBS: Pres says “America will never be a socialist country,” but then says Republicans will defend Medicare and Social Security “like nobody else.”
Politico: Trump stages his greatest show yet. The president’s elaborate reelection rally in Florida is designed to project success at a moment of internal chaos and tepid polling.
Huffpost: President Donald Trump formally launched his reelection campaign at a packed-to-the-rafters rally in Orlando, officially moving to continue one of the most divisive administrations in modern history for four more years.
Breitbart: Sarah Sanders on Trump: ‘He’s Going to Have an Incredible Six More Years’
Orlando Sentinel: A group of protesters standing near the Amway security checkpoint was asked to leave after holding signs that read, “Liar, liar, comb-over on fire.”
***
Back home:
“Stop” could soon mean “Yield” for bicyclists in Oregon, where the Senate voted 21-8 to allow folks on bikes to cruise on through stop signs as long as they slow down and stop for pedestrians and motor traffic already in or approaching the intersection. They’ve been doing it this way in Idaho for 35 years. Truth be told, they’re doing it in Oregon too.
Undocumented individuals would be able to get an Oregon driver’s license under a bill that passed 39-21 in the Oregon House and sent to the Senate. They’re driving anyway, the reasoning goes; this requires that they at least know the rules of the road.
One year ago today the Occupy ICE PDX protest began, as hundreds of demonstrators set up a camp blockading the immigration agency’s headquarters off Macadam, to protest the policy of separating detainees from their children along the Mexican border. The Portland protest inspired demonstrations that followed in cities across the nation. A little over a month later–on July 23–Mayor Ted Wheeler lifted his order that the city not interfere with the protest, and police swept the camp.
Portland City Council takes a final vote this afternoon on changes to rental laws to make tenant screening criteria more forgiving to applicants with low incomes and criminal histories.
The Oregon Health Authority wants us all to resist the tempting waters of Cannon Beach, where high bacteria counts have been recorded, and nothing will spoil a day at the beach like a serious fling with tummy trouble.
A different kind of coastal danger nearly took the life of a juvenile brown pelican, who was found at Devil’s Punch Bowl tangled up in a fishing line and in serious distress from an embedded hook. The bird is now gaining weight and taking nourishment at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Legendary Portland auto racer and high-end car dealer Monte Shelton has died at 85. I rode with him at the wheel once–doing about 5 miles an hour, in the pace car for the Starlight Run in 1998.
Lots of unhappy campers on the Sunset Highway, after a travel trailer came off its frame and rolled over, leaking propane in the westbound lanes at Cedar Hills Boulevard. The homeward commute was backed up to the Willamette.
It’s commencement Day at Clark College in Vancouver, and the Columbian says one of the graduates set to walk is a woman who’s earned a certificate in culinary fundamentals…despite being nearly totally blind.
Anybody missing a cat wearing a Superman outfit? One such caped critter was spotted on the loose around SE 20th and Morrison, and taken into a vet for a chip-check. No chip.
****
Let’s happy-up this Wednesday with some stories and videos that’ll make you smile…
–“Good dog saves little girl and her ball”
–“Nine-year-old drums with Lenny Kravitz”
–“Since Father-Son Duo Designed Revolutionary ‘Honey on Tap’ Beehive, There Are 51,000 New Bee Colonies”
–“Texas senior throws pizza party for homeless instead of graduation celebration”
–“Every Day at 5:00, Japan Tests Its Disaster Warning System With Folk Tune”
Portland's Daily Drip 