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February 3, 2016
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photo by K athy s treet , Courtesy of the o regon Z oo
The Oregon Zoo’s African pygmy hedgehog did not see her shadow Tuesday, indicating an early
spring may be in store.
Groundhog Day at the Zoo
Velda the hedgehog
calls for an early spring
Sure, Punxsutawney Phil may be calling for an
early spring, but more importantly for local resi-
dents, so is Velda, the Oregon Zoo’s African pygmy
hedgehog. Velda did not see her shadow on Ground-
hog Day Tuesday morning, meaning an early spring
could be in store here in the Northwest as well.
“Hedgehogs are the real weather experts of
the animal world,” said zoo curator Michael Illig.
“Punxsutawney Phil and his ilk are relative new-
comers to the game. When European immigrants
to the United States realized their new home didn’t
have hedgehogs, they turned to the groundhog out
The
Week in Review
of necessity. But Velda is bringing the holiday back to
its origins.”
Considering the track record of the zoo’s hedgehog
prognosticators though, tradition — and cuteness —
might have to count for a lot.
According to records from StormFax Weather Al-
manac, Phil’s predictions have been correct about
39 percent of the time. Oregon Zoo hedgehogs have
been slightly more successful with a 45 percent ac-
curacy rate.
Velda, one of ive hedgehogs born at the zoo in 2014,
is making her forecasting debut this year. Her name was
selected by a zoo fan who bid on naming rights during
a comedy night fundraiser that earned $28,000 for the
Portland Audubon Society and the Tanzania-based Ru-
aha Carnivore Project.
ing himself with methamphetamine while oficers
and others attempted to de-escalate the situation.
Diversity Wins at Screen Actors
Killed in Oregon Standoff
The 22nd Annual
Screen Actors Guild
Awards was a big
win for diversity
Saturday night, with
Idris Elba, Viola Da-
vis, Uzo Aduba, and
Queen Latifah all
collecting trophies.
The victories shone in sharp contrast to the Oscars,
which have been under ire for weeks for not nom-
inating a single person of color for the second year
in a row.
A group of militant ranchers
who took over the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge
were taken into custody last
week during a trafic stop.
Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum,
54, tried to elude police and
was shot and killed when he
reached for his gun, police
said. Other occupation pro-
testers remained at the refuge as of Tuesday night,
marking the 32nd day of the standoff.
Facebook Bans Gun Sales
On Monday President Barack Obama proposed a
new plan to push harder for a cure to cancer. He will
ask Congress for $755 million in his 2017 budget,
which will be released next week.
Both Facebook and Instagram, both widely used
social media sites, made moves last week to ban
private gun sales on their platforms. Facebook said
Friday it would remove posts and potentially ban
accounts that violate its regulated goods policies,
which now include the unlicensed sale of guns on
Facebook and Instagram.
Trainyard Crisis Resolved
Police and mental health crisis specialists ended a
four-hour standoff with a man climbing on trains
Saturday in the railyard along Northwest Yeon
Street. Matthew Joseph Medlin, 32, had jumped
into the bed of a dumpster-style rail car and, ac-
cording to police, refused to leave, instead inject-
Cancer Research Funding
City Hall Attack Arrest
Oficers arrested a man after he was accused of
throwing rocks to break nine windows at Portland
City Hall Sunday morning. Kevin Scott McQueen,
45, faces two charges of criminal mischief and was
booked into Multnomah County jail.
Safeway Discrimination Case
A black customer iled a $100,000 lawsuit this week
against Safeway and one of their employees, who he
says repeatedly called him the “n-word” at the gro-
cer’s downtown Lake Oswego location.