Oregon County Plants Trees to Honor Victims of Killer 2021 Heat Wave
Family members of people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. Authorities say more people died from the heat in the greater Portland area that June than in the entire state over the past 20 years.
Washington State Bar Association OKs Far Lower Caseloads for Public Defenders
The Washington State Bar Association has approved far lower case limits for public defenders in an effort to stop them from quitting, to help with recruiting and to fairly represent defendants. Skeptics agree the system is breaking down but are concerned about finding more attorneys to hire. Many counties, especially rural ones, already struggle to employ enough public defenders and get almost no state funding, which some say should change.
Portland Establishes Monument Review Process
City Council unanimously votes to create policy for questioning public monuments, now classified as separate from public art.
Lawsuit Accuses Portland Police Officer of Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black Man in the Back
According to the complaint, in 2022, the officer shot Immanueal Clark in the back as he ran away.
Black Girls Do Engineer is a nonprofit dedicated to getting more Black and brown girls into STEM ...
Rose Festival Princess From Grant High School Selected
On March 14, Daniela Gray was named a Princess of this year's court. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Cleveland High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Cleveland High School, Zora Forsberg, was selected March 14. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Central Catholic High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Central Catholic High School, Jayda Jackson, was selected March 8. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Lincoln High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Lincoln High School, Isabelle Muresan, was selected on March 12. ...
Oregon man found guilty of murder in 1980 cold case of college student after DNA link
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man living in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, has been found guilty in the 1980 cold case murder of a 19-year-old college student. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Amy Baggio on Friday found Robert Plympton, 60, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of...
Oregon county plants trees to honor victims of killer 2021 heat wave
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Family members of some of the people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland, Oregon, area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. The event, coordinated by county and local officials...
Georgia ends game on 12-0 run to beat Missouri 64-59 in first round of SEC tourney
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Blue Cain had 19 points, Justin Hill scored 17 off the bench and 11th-seeded Georgia finished the game on a 12-0 run to beat No. 14 seed Missouri 64-59 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Cain hit 6 of 12 shots,...
Georgia faces Missouri in SEC Tournament
Missouri Tigers (8-23, 0-18 SEC) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) Nashville, Tennessee; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bulldogs -3; over/under is 147 BOTTOM LINE: Georgia plays in the SEC Tournament against Missouri. ...
OP-ED: Congress Is Right: Federal Reserve’s Reg II Will Hurt Minority Communities in America
The Fed is taking every effort to promote income equality and workplace diversity and inclusion, but Regulation II would undercut its great work in this respect and cause potential harm to millions of minority families. Now that a congressional coalition has...
OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More
Data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of developing...
Message from Commissioner Jesse Beason: February is 'Black History and Futures Month'
I am honored to join the Office of Sustainability and to co-sponsor a proclamation to mark “Black History and Futures Month” ...
Ending Unfair Contracts Harming Minority Businesses Will Aid Gov. Kotek’s Affordable Housing Goals
Senate Bill 1575 will protect small businesses from state and local government’s unfair contract practices while also allowing the building industry to help the governor meet her affordable housing project goals. ...
Supreme Court appears receptive to NRA free-speech lawsuit against a former New York state official
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices appeared receptive Monday to National Rifle Association claims that a former New York state official violated its free-speech rights by pressuring banks and insurance companies to blacklist the group after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida. ...
Descendant of judge who wrote infamous Dred Scott decision pens a play about where we are now
NEW YORK (AP) — Writer and actor Kate Taney Billingsley has been thinking a lot about America's racial history and her family's part in it. One of her ancestors had an outsized role. Billingsley's great-great-great-great uncle was Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, who made arguably...
Sculpture park aims to look honestly at slavery, honoring those who endured it
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Visitors to the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park wind a serpentine path past art pieces depicting the lives of enslaved people in America and historic exhibits, including two cabins where the enslaved lived, before arriving at a towering monument. Stretching...
The Lionheart: Dan Wheldon documentary covers grief, loss, love and familial legacy
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — It was 10 years after the death of their father that associates of filmmaker Laura Brownson brought her an article to read about the late Dan Wheldon. Standing below the monument on Dan Wheldon Way along the downtown St. Petersburg race course that honors...
Music Review: Kacey Musgraves’ 'Deeper Well' trades country-pop hooks for deep, folk-y meditation
Just over a decade ago, Kacey Musgraves emerged as a fresh new voice in country music – a mid-tempo storyteller with an incredible acuity both in her lyrics and in her instrumentation, knowing just when to pick up the harmonica, whistle a tune or break out the vocoder. In the years...
A new generation of readers embraces bell hooks' 'All About Love'
NEW YORK (AP) — In the summer of 2022, Emma Goodwin was getting over a breakup and thinking hard about her life and how to better herself. She decided to try a book she had heard about often, bell hooks’ “All About Love: New Visions." “I loved it. It takes seriously a subject...
Housing Secretary Fudge Resigning. Biden Hails Her Dedication to Boosting Supply of Affordable Homes
'Art and science:' How bracketologists are using artificial intelligence this March Madness
College hoops fans might want to think again before pinning their hopes of a perfect March Madness bracket on...
Germans thought they were immune to nationalism after confronting their Nazi past. They were wrong
BERLIN (AP) — When Sabine Thonke joined a recent demonstration in Berlin against Germany's far-right party, it...
In Vermont, 'Town Meeting' is democracy embodied. What can the rest of the country learn from it?
ELMORE, Vt. (AP) — Julie wants more donations to the food pantry. Kipp is busy knitting a sweater. Shorty is...
With the election behind him, Putin says Russia aims to set up a buffer zone inside Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after extending his rule in an election that stifled opposition that Moscow...
Croatia's top court rules that the president can't run in the parliamentary election unless he quits
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian's president can't run for prime minister, take part in the upcoming...
The Latest | Israeli military raids Gaza's main hospital, claiming Hamas is using it as a base
Israeli forces launched a raid on Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday, accusing Hamas militants of using it as a...
I’ve lived in Charlotte, N.C. with my family now for the past 15 years and owned season tickets to the Bobcats games for the first three seasons of the new basketball franchise. In a small, communal city like Charlotte, we all know the sons and daughters of the professional athletes in basketball as well as from the Carolina Panthers football team. A decade ago, I missed a chance to see young Stephen Curry play in person at his father Dell Curry’s Bojangles High School Basketball Tournament, featuring nationally ranked teams, because Steph’s local Charlotte Christian team was not ranked high enough to make it into the national draw at his dad’s tournament.
At the time, Steph Curry was an average-sized point guard at 6 foot with a slim, lightweight frame and average projections. Curry couldn’t even get a scholarship offer to his mom and dad’s alma mater, Virginia Tech. He signed with the local Davidson University Wildcats in 2006. That’s when Steph’s exciting transformation began.
Understanding the Curry pedigree, Davidson Head Coach Bob McKillop moved Steph off the ball and allowed him to use more of his long-range shooting as an undersized 2-guard at 6 foot 1. With a green light as a freshman, Curry helped Davidson to a 29-5 record, winning the Division 1 Southern Conference with a 21.5-point average a game and the conference MVP Award, while breaking a national 3-point shot record for a freshman. He came in second in freshman scoring in the nation that year behind Kevin Durant at Texas. Curry then dropped 30 on a fourth-seated Maryland team in an 82-70 loss in the opening round of the NCAA tournament – a game that I got to watch on national TV – and a new star was born.
In his sophomore year, Steph Curry grew two more inches to his current height of 6 foot 3 with all eyes on him at a little-regarded Mid-Major college. Curry stepped up his scoring average to 25.5 points a game for a 26-6 Davidson record, going 20-0 in the Southern Conference, where every Davidson game was sold-out with fans eager to see the scoring phenom.
Curry did not disappoint, leading his Wildcats team to another NCAA tournament, where he dropped 40 on Gonzaga, hitting 8 out of 10 on his 3s in an 82-76 win. His team went on to beat the mighty Georgetown Hoyas and Roy Hibbert in a 74-70 comeback win after trailing by 17 points. Rolling forward, Davidson demolished a third-seated Wisconsin team 73-56 behind 33 points from Curry, with the sensational sophomore breaking more scoring and 3-point records along the way.
By the Elite Eight game against Kansas his sophomore year, the whole world was watching Curry as his Davidson Wildcats pushed the Jayhawks to the wall in a nail-biting, 59-57 loss, where Curry dropped another 25.
After winning a half-dozen collegiate awards and recognitions, Curry returned his junior year as a solidified collegiate star with NBA conversations on whether he could still play the point guard position at the professional level. So Curry slid back over to his initial position at the point to prepare himself for the NBA.
Failing to reach the NCAA tournament in his junior year, Curry averaged 28.6 points a game with a pair of 44-point games and ended his college career after an 80-68 loss to Saint Mary’s Gaels and Patty Mills in the 2009 NIT Tournament. Curry hit another 26 in final college game.
Snatched up by the Golden State Warriors in the seventh round of the 2009 NBA draft, we all knew that Steph Curry could shoot, but few of us saw him as a budding superstar. He looked more like a designated scorer, who still needed to bulk up. Curry could barely guard anyone in the league, outside of stealing a few loose balls in transition and such. Nevertheless, his ability to shoot solidified him as an up and coming NBA star, even getting invitations to play on the USA World Cup teams, winning gold medals in 2010 and again in 2014.
After struggling through a few early NBA seasons with ankle injuries, team chemistry issues, an All-Star snub, and a fired inspirational coach, who guided the Warriors to two consecutive playoff runs, Curry set the league on fire this year with the best team record, his first 3-point shooting title at the NBA All-Star weekend, and the grand daddy of them all, the MVP Award of the entire NBA. Not only that, Curry’s young Warriors team, with their baby face new coach, Steve Kerr, are in the running to win the NBA title this year.
Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author, an NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Fiction, and a professional journalist, who has published 27 books, including co-authoring Mayor For Life; The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr. View more of his career and work @www.OmarTyree.com