"At a certain point the train wobbled for a second, and the next thing we knew we were being sort of catapulted into the seats in front of us.” You've seen the images by now. A dramatic Amtrak derailment north of Olympia yesterday left three people dead, dozens injured, and enormous train cars littering Interstate 5.
The "preliminary" cause of the crash at this point: The train was going far faster than the intended speed for that section of track, which followed a sharp curve. The National Transportation Safety Board confirms the train had been traveling more than 80 miles per hour in a segment of track with a 30 mph speed limit. (Others are, yep, blaming left-wing demonstrators.)
This is the worst start imaginable for this new track: The train that derailed, Amtrak 501, was Amtrak's very first to take passengers along the new Seattle-Portland route. In good news: An OHSU neurosurgeon who was driving on I-5 during the crash was able to help.
The City of Salem is still pulling water from a secondary groundwater supply after a tanker truck crash this weekend spilled an unknown quantity of fuel into the Santiam River. Officials suspect the spill could harm salmon.
Not Good: FamilyCare, the state's second largest carrier for Medicaid patients, appears ready to go belly up after years of acrimony with the state over what it says are low reimbursement rates. Medicaid enrollees will have to be shifted to another provider if this happens.
Twitter is finally getting rid of a fraction of its most-virulent bigots.
Today In Welcomes: The Timbers have a new head coach, and it's Giovanni Savarese. As our Abe Asher writes: "Like [former Head Coach Caleb] Porter, Savarese is relatively young. He's known for playing attacking, possession-based soccer. He's intense."
Also: Portland Public Schools have a new deputy superintendent. It's Forest Grove's old superintendent.
Despite its grousing about how unsafe and unsightly downtown sidewalks are, a new report from Portland Business Alliance-affiliated Clean & Safe says that foot traffic is up 40 percent this holiday season. (Expect those numbers to be cited at some point as rationale for why the city should adopt more no-sit sidewalks.)
The man who tried to set off a bomb in a New York subway station had recently traveled to Bangladesh to aid the desperate situation of Rohingya refugees. So that's something.
The Trump administration's war on bears continues.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley says someone impersonated him in a comment in opposition to net neutrality filed with the FCC. It was clearly the deciding factor in last week's vote, too. Rats!
Rain's back. For today at least.
Speaking of: OH YOU THOUGHT I FORGOT? Never.
