Good morning, friends, and welcome back to some reasonably nice Northwest autumn weather! It’s Wednesday, November 13, 2019, and today’s forecast says we’ll enjoy some actual vitamin-D-rich sun, after patches of dense fog, and highs of 58. Compare that to the meatlocker chill that’s chattering teeth from Boulder to Birmingham to Burlington and everywhere between. Air quality’s still a bit raggedy….the Portland AQI at 0400 is a moderate 67. Sunrise 7:06 AM, sunset 4:42 PM.
A line of cars and motorcycles wound down and around the roads up to Willamette National Cemetery, where the good people of Portland gathered yesterday to pay respects to Douglas Walls, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Danny Mendenhall, a U.S. Navy veteran. They died here with nobody to mourn them….except a whole community, grateful for their service.
As a headline in Slate put it, “Impeachment isn’t real till it’s on TV.” Whether it’s your patriotic duty to watch, or your sanity-protective instinct to avoid, televised impeachment hearings begin today at 7 AM Pacific. At-bat today, side by side, are Ambassador Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, who said it was his “clear understanding” that President Trump wouldn’t release military aid to Ukraine until its president promised to conduct investigations Trump wanted; and Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, who has said that Trump wanted the Ukrainian prez to go to the mic and say the words: “investigations, Biden and Clinton.” The Republican defense may be that all this was Rudy Guliani’s deal, not Trump’s. And whether it’s enough to impeach, or whether other aspects of this president’s body of work should be considered as well, is not yet known.
If you’re fortunate enough to be Novembering on the Oregon Coast, be aware that the ingredients are there for sneaker waves on the beaches, particularly along the southern Oregon coast into California, and especially tomorrow, when a long-period ocean swell could combine with other waves to toss giant logs around sticks.
A log truck dumped its load yesterday on the Wilson River Highway, right at the summit of the Coast Range near the Tillamook and Washington County line. Let me check with ODOT….yep. All clear.
A PSU study finds that practically all of the razor clams and oysters collected by researchers along the Oregon coast contained tiny bits of microplastic–most likely from synthetic textiles used in many modern articles of clothing, which shed particles into the laundry that get washed out to sea.
Something terrible happened in Portland 31 years ago tonight that revealed the ugly existence of murderous white supremacists in our supposedly tolerant city. Three members of the national White Aryan Resistance–including a just-crowned homecoming king at Grant High School–attacked and beat to death a 28-year college student from Ethiopia named Mulugeta Seraw, in the street at SE 31st and Pine, two blocks west of Laurelhurst Park. Goaded by their girlfriends, these three used a baseball bat and steel-toed boots to take the life from the bespectacled young man, because he was black, and because he was an immigrant.
So you’re not hit with sticker shock…Oregon’s vehicle registration fees go up January 1, with fuel-efficient cars costing more than the gasoline-thirstier vehicles. The reason is that Priusi and their ilk chip in a lot less money in gas taxes, and that’s what pays for maintaining highways that we all drive on.
The Oregon Ducks are up to number #6 in the college football polls…they play Arizona Saturday night on ESPN.
The Blazers lost to the Sacramento Kings 107-99 last night, and host the Toronto Raptors tonight.
Whoopi Goldberg was born this date in 1955. She’s famous for so much, including her role as a medium in “Ghost,” which was odd because in her pre-comedy days, she worked in Southern California…as a mortuary cosmetologist.
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Let’s see what’s in the Good News Coffee Cup today!
–“9-year-old boy obtains Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering”
–“Australia bushfires: ‘We owe you milk’ say firefighters who saved man’s house”
–“Two sisters raise thousands to buy dinners Thanksgiving for families in need”
–“College Freshman Ditches Student Debt The Easy Way—By Sinking Half-Court Shot For Free Tuition”
–“Lone Employee At Waffle House Was Swamped. So Customers Jumped In To Help”
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Have a wonderful Wednesday, group!
Portland's Daily Drip 