The WestSouth Journal

    The Pacific Northwest, from Northern California to Alaska, is experiencing a climate-change enhanced heat wave this week.  Compare the highs from around the country and the picture is clear. It is hot. Things are changing. On Tuesday, the Oregonian reported that Portland broke it’s previous record of 107° set in 1965 with a new, all-time record of 116°. This was above the predicted high of 114° given by the National Weather Service (NWS). Thermometers across the Pacific Northwest and British Colombia had measurements well above average high temperatures for the region.  According to climatologist Brian Brettschneider, Layton, BC, reached an astounding, 121°f, higher than the records of most of the North American continent. His map below shows the scant few stations in North America that have ever recorded a temperature that high. In Southeast Alaska, glacial melting accelerated due to the heat wave. The NWS there moved the Taku River Flood Watch...

    California     The year was 1976.  I lived in Los Angeles. I was five.      The United States was stoking American patriotism by celebrating its 200th year with Bicentennial celebrations. Newly-minted quarters, parades, and an election year helped push us beyond the Nixon and the Vietnam era.      I had two favorite things: going to the beach and, oddly, the NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor.       The Nightly News was my favorite show, even after The Muppet Show aired later that year.  I thought of it as a live version of National Geographic magazine. And, although many of the news stories seemed far away, I followed them closely.       A man named Bruce Jenner won a gold medal at the Montreal Olympic Games. The Space Shuttle Enterprise was unveiled, and, as my Republican father bemoaned, Jimmy Carter became President. There was even a mass shooting nearby my home town at Cal St...