Yesterday afternoon hundreds of Benson High School students gathered to protest plans to turn the four-year vocationally focused high school into a two-year vocational center. Juniors and seniors would attend the school part time. The change is part of a proposed Portland Public Schools high school rolled out on Monday. As things are now, Benson students get to splash around in media, broadcasting, software design and engineering. The school serves mostly students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Last year it boasted a 93 percent graduation rate.
The winds have shifted and it looks like the enormous oil slick covering the Gulf of Mexico is not heading off into the wild blue yonder – as hoped. No. Now it’s heading for prime beachfront real estate ands officials are scrambling to do something before the foetid mass reaches sandy shores. There is a plan to cap the leak on the ocean floor and pump the oil to the surface. But that’s three weeks – at least – in the future. So for now let’s cut to the chase: the stuff is going to wind up in the atmosphere anyway, so why not cut out all the selling gas, buying gas, driving around part and just drop a match on it and send it up in smoke? All 42,000 gallons of oil are leaking every day. Alas, no plans so far, as for putting this fire out – but c’mon…these are smart guys. They’ll figure something out... And if you happen to be a nervous BP or Halliburton shareholder, the CFOs say profits will bounce back faster than you can say ‘Filler up!’
Meanwhile, back in Cascadia...
Tribal fishers from the Yakama Nation, Warm Springs, Umatilla, and Nez Perce tribes open the commercial sales of the coveted spring Chinook fresh from the Columbia River and directly to the salmon-loving public. Salmon-loving seals apparently survived open season - Co-evolution being native to Tribal fisheries.
- KBOO