Let’s crack open a can of Monday! It’s June 24, 2019, the first full week of summer, but that springtime cool is hanging on. Portland’s weather keeps our hoodies off the hangars with sub-50 temps overnight, and highs of 74 today but heading down a few degrees hereafter, with scattered showers joining the mix tomorrow. We’ll talk about the surprising extended summertime outlook in a bit. Sunrise 5:22 AM, sunset 9:03 PM.
Oregon is in the jaundiced national eye once again, as eleven Republican Senators–enough to field an American football team, or rob a casino in a George Clooney movie–are on the lam, racking up fines, and delighting the segment of Oregonians who see HB2020, the climate bill, as another cram-down tax from Portland Democrats. The climate in the Capitol is heating up considerably, with people in the online world mocking and barking at each other. It’s noted in national coverage that a Senator hinted at gun violence against police, and militia groups that rode in to aid the Bundys in Burns volunteered to saddle up again, and there are people talking about “occupying” the Capitol..this is going the wrong way in a hurry. Under the state Constitution, this session must end by June 30. That means HB2020 will die, and along with it, the funding bills for a number of state agencies, a bipartisan family leave proposal, and measures to address sexual harassment at the Capitol, unless, unless….Tom McCall, up there, any ideas?
The Portland Thorn-y United States Women’s Soccer Team plays Spain this morning at 9 in the World Cup’s Round of Sixteen. Our side is undefeated and even un-scored on, as they defend their title with several members having Portland roots, including iconic University of Portland legend Megan Rapinoe. She was quoted by soccer analyst Roger Bennett on NPR yesterday about the women’s simultaneous lawsuit over pay discrimination: “She said, we do not feel that we’re just trying to pioneer for women’s soccer. We feel we’re pioneering for women in all jobs in all offices around the world.”
News-watchers are massaging their whiplash over two Trump reversals: the called-back attack on Iran, and this week’s canceled sweep of millions of “illegal aliens.” The president himself may have caused the latter, having tweeted the plans days in advance. An official ICE statement noted, “Any leak [they might as well have said ‘tweet’] telegraphing sensitive law enforcement operations is egregious and puts our officers’ safety in danger.” Trump says his intention was to buy time for negotiations in Congress over immigration and border security, and we’d add that at least the Congresspeople are staying in town to do the work.
Fireworks sales are now underway in both Oregon (Pfffsssss) and Washington (Ka-BLAM!).
OK, disclaimers here..serious waffling…I hesitate to say anything at all…because it’s dependent on unpredictable variables…but at this point, the long-range forecast from the private meteorological firm Accuweather suggests that Portland may not hit 90 again this summer. Their summertime grid calls for temps in the low 80s next week, including July 4, then the high 80s for several days in late July and again in mid-August, but there is currently no mention of a single 90-degree day, let alone the 100s we’ve experienced in recent years. But this long-range outlook includes almost no rain at all–except for this week’s showers–until Labor Day. So fire danger will be a factor, and smoke is nasty whether it’s 77, 88, or 99.
With that in mind, today is the day Pacific Power begins an outreach campaign to let Oregon customers know about their new Public Safety Power Shutoff measure, “designed to help keep people and communities in high-risk areas safe, by proactively shutting off power during extreme and dangerous weather conditions that can result in catastrophic wildfires.”
They’re cutting down trees on Boones Ferry in Lake Grove to create an extra lane that people can turn from; that’s been a rear-ender zone practically ever since Daniel Boone’s grandson Alphonso built a plank road to carry customers to the 24-hour ferry he paid Tuality tribal oarsmen to run in 1846 to serve the burgeoning moonshine industry along the Willamette.
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The flying saucer era began this night in 1947 when a private pilot saw nine shiny objects zipping past Mt. Rainier at 1,200 MPH.
“The Liong King” is 25.
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Can you feel the love? If not, check out these stories in the old treasured DD Coffee Cup:
–“You heard it on the radio–now see the video! Firefighters in Colorado use duck calls on YouTube to talk frightened ducklings out of a storm drain”
–“College Student Donates $1,300 Worth of Groceries From His Meal Plan to Local Food Bank”
–“Father gets tattoo on chest to match son’s heart surgery scar”
–“Kitten survives 40-mile journey trapped under bonnet of neighbour’s car”
–“Toys ‘R’ Us, back from the dead, will open US stores in 2019”
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Happy Monday! Don’t let that be a contradiction in terms!
Portland's Daily Drip 