Bright and early! Here’s the predawn (and a chilly one at that) edition of the Daily Drip for Tuesday, December 17, 2019. Portland’s weather is cloudy and dry with highs of 45, and like the ten pins in a bowling alley, we’re just waiting for a strike from a big ol’ rainstorm that’ll come rolling our way later in the week. Will we be spared? I’ll let the National Weather Service deliver its pithy synopsis: “Fairly benign weather through Wednesday will likely give way to a multi-day stretch of notably wet and active weather by late this week. (Like up to five inches here in the valley. Whoa). Heavy Cascade snow with pockets of freezing rain are possible for the Upper Hood River Valley. River flooding is possible late Thursday through Saturday. High winds will be possible along the coast Thursday. Conditions ease up by Sunday.”
Also from the Old Dripster’s Almanac: Sunrise today is at 7:45 AM, sunset 4:28 PM. Those of us who lean toward the idea of year-round daylight time should use this moment to imagine what that would be like at this point in the year. The sun would be coming up at a quarter til 9 PDT.
A prostitution crackdown on 82nd Avenue has led to six arrests–but not of hookers or customers, as far as I can determine. In fact, Victim Advocates were on hand to offer help and resources for young people caught up in human trafficking.
The hot-potato topic of widening I-5 at the notorious Rose Quarter chokepoint–at the expense, some say, of air quality in that immediate inner-city neighborhood–hits the Oregon Transportation Commission agenda at 10:35 this morning. They’re meeting in Lebanon, eighty miles south of the bottleneck in question, and community groups are emphatically demanding a full environmental impact statement. Governor Kate Brown has stepped in to order a delay, and she’ll get it, inasmuch as she’s the one who appoints the Commission members.
Tomorrow’s the day of the House vote on impeaching President Trump–we all aired our views in Saturday’s thread, which got 4 stars on the 5-star civility meter–and this evening, there will be an “Impeach and Remove” rally at 5:30 at the North end of Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
Barack Obama speaking to a private event in Singapore: “I’m absolutely confident that if for two years every nation on Earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything.” I’d be good with that. Who’s in?
There were deadly tornadoes in Mississippi and Louisiana last night, and now that storm system is delivering freezing rain and snow to the eastern seaboard.
If you know anyone who missed the health care signup deadline, this could be a lifesaver. The sign-up period to buy insurance for 2020 has been extended until 11:59 tonight. It’s because the website Healthcare-dot-gov crashed hours before the stroke of midnight. Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden jumped on it and leaned on the Trump admin to extend, and they did. Good on all of them.
Happy birthday to my dear friend, an influence in my life for decades, Sen. Lew Frederick!
’twas on this night 30 years ago that “The Simpsons” first premiered as a series on television with the episode “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.”
We lost Penny Marshall a year ago today.
OMG Judy Collins is at the Aladdin tonight. One of my greatest concert memories is watching her perform at the height of her crystalline powers at Red Rocks in Colorado. Her setlist tonight includes much of what she did then, from “Send In The Clowns” to Joni Mitchell covers including “Both Sides Now” (of course) and “Chelsea Morning.” And “Someday Soon” and Christmas songs and, well she’s Judy Collins. Some tickets are still available. If you’re going, I’d love to hear a review, please!
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Good news for people who like good news!
–“‘Santas’ subdue stabbing suspect on train after New York City’s SantaCon”
–“They thought their dog was gone forever. Meanwhile, prison inmates were treating him like a king”
–“Navy Chief from New York raises money to send junior sailors home for holidays”
–“YouTuber gives away thousands of dollars in heartwarming Christmas spree”
–“Scientists reverse dementia…in mice. Could people be next?”
Details in the Cup!
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Oh! Golden invitations go out today to a limited number of folks coming to the cozy iHeart Lounge for Friday’s farewell Christmas broadcast. There are magnitudes more people wanting to attend than the room can hold, and while that gives me a warm and grateful feeling, I’m sad about turning away anybody at all. So Bruce and I asked the folks in charge if we could keep the doors open after the broadcast for people who’d like to just come in and say hello (or goodbye), and mingle and meet and greet Bruce and me…and they said, sure! There probably won’t be any refreshments, and the choirs will be long gone, so it’ll be just us, from, like, 10:00 to noon. We’ll nail that down a little more between now and then. But if you don’t a magic ticket, I’d love to see you anyway. And some women’s socks for the shelter, if possible!
(Sounds an awful lot like a spontaneous Dripstock IV, I’m just thinkin’.)
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