10-08-2024  3:08 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Taxpayers in 24 States Will Be Able to File Their Returns Directly With the IRS in 2025

The pilot program in 2024 allowed people in certain states with very simple W-2s to calculate and submit their returns directly to the IRS. Those using the program claimed more than million in refunds, the IRS said.

Companies Back Away From Oregon Floating Offshore Wind Project as Opposition Grows

The federal government finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast in February. But opposition from tribes, fishermen and coastal residents highlights some of the challenges the plan faces.

Preschool for All Growth Outpaces Enrollment Projections

Mid-year enrollment to allow greater flexibility for providers, families.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden Demands Answers From Emergency Rooms That Denied Care to Pregnant Patients

Wyden is part of a Democratic effort to focus the nation’s attention on the stories of women who have faced horrible realities since some states tightened a patchwork of abortion laws.

NEWS BRIEFS

PSU’s Coty Raven Morris Named a Semifinalist for GRAMMY 2025 Music Educator Award

Morris, the Hinckley assistant professor of choir, music education and social justice, is one of just 25 music teachers selected as...

Washington State Fines 35 Plastic Producers $416,000 For Not Using Enough Recycled Plastic

The Washington Department of Ecology issued the first penalties under a 2021 state law aimed at reducing waste and pollution from...

Oregon’s 2024-25 Teacher of the Year is Bryan Butcher Jr. of Beaumont Middle School

“From helping each of his students learn math in the way that works for them, to creating the Black Student Union at his school,...

Burn Ban Lifted in the City of Portland

Although the burn ban is being lifted, Portland Fire & Rescue would like to remind folks to only burn dried cordwood in a...

Midland Library to Reopen in October

To celebrate the opening of the updated, expanded Midland, the library is hosting two days of activities for the community...

Oregon strikes an additional 302 people from voter rolls over lack of citizenship proof

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon authorities said Monday they had removed another 302 people from the state's voter rolls after determining they didn't provide proof of citizenship when they were registered to vote, in the latest revelation of improper voter registrations stemming from clerical...

Salmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed

HORNBROOK, Calif. (AP) — For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed. ...

Moss scores 3 TDs as No. 25 Texas A&M gives No. 9 Missouri its first loss in 41-10 rout

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Le'Veon Moss was asked if he thought No. 25 Texas A&M shocked ninth-ranked Missouri after his big game propelled the Aggies to a rout Saturday. The running back laughed before answering. “Most definitely,” he said before chuckling...

No 9 Missouri faces stiff road test in visit to No. 25 Texas A&M

No. 9 Missouri hits the road for the first time this season, facing arguably its toughest challenge so far. The Tigers (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) know the trip to No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) on Saturday will be tough for several reasons if they want to extend their...

OPINION

The Skanner News: 2024 City Government Endorsements

In the lead-up to a massive transformation of city government, the mayor’s office and 12 city council seats are open. These are our endorsements for candidates we find to be most aligned with the values of equity and progress in Portland, and who we feel...

No Cheek Left to Turn: Standing Up for Albina Head Start and the Low-Income Families it Serves is the Only Option

This month, Albina Head Start filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to defend itself against a misapplied rule that could force the program – and all the children it serves – to lose federal funding. ...

DOJ and State Attorneys General File Joint Consumer Lawsuit

In August, the Department of Justice and eight state Attorneys Generals filed a lawsuit charging RealPage Inc., a commercial revenue management software firm with providing apartment managers with illegal price fixing software data that violates...

America Needs Kamala Harris to Win

Because a 'House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand' ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

What polling shows about Black voters' views of Harris and Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Black registered voters have an overwhelmingly positive view of Vice President Kamala Harris, but they’re less sure that she would change the country for the better, according to a recent poll from the  AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll,...

Defendant pleads no contest in shooting of Native activist at protest of Spanish conquistador statue

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man pleaded no contest Monday to reduced charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting of a Native American activist during demonstrations about abandoned plans to reinstall a statue of a Spanish conquistador. ...

Federal court reviews civil rights lawsuit alleging environmental racism in a Louisiana parish

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appellate court is reviewing a civil rights lawsuit alleging a south Louisiana parish engaged in racist land-use policies to place polluting industries in majority-Black communities. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard oral...

ENTERTAINMENT

Movie armorer's conviction upheld in fatal ‘Rust’ set shooting by Alec Baldwin

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.” Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her...

Frank Fritz of the reality TV Show 'American Pickers' dies at 60

Frank Fritz, part of a two-man team who drove around the U.S. looking for antiques and collectibles to buy and resell on the reality show “American Pickers,” has died. He died Monday night at a hospice facility in Davenport, Iowa, said Annette Oberlander, a longtime friend. She...

Music Review: black midi's Geordie Greep aims for 'The New Sound' on his solo debut. And he hits it

Geordie Greep’s “The New Sound” is not going to be for everyone. Fans of his former act, the experimental British rock band black midi, which disbanded in August, have never been faint of heart. And Greep’s solo debut further pushes the envelope. Reminiscent of Frank Zappa’s...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Supreme Court to hear challenge to ghost-gun regulation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing a challenge Tuesday to a Biden administration regulation on ghost...

Biden makes rare dip into battleground state fray with visit to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is making a rare jump into the 2024 political battleground fray since...

Middle East latest: Israeli military says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut strike

The Israeli military said Tuesday it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut, a day after...

Kenya’s deputy president defends himself before impeachment

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s deputy president, facing an impeachment motion in which he's accused of...

Ukraine strikes a Russian oil hub as Zelenskyy says the war is in 'a very important phase'

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military said it struck a major oil terminal Monday in Crimea that provides...

Tunisia's Kais Saied wins landslide reelection, entrenching his power in Arab Spring's birthplace

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — President Kais Saied won a landslide victory in Tunisia's election Monday, keeping his...

Lisa Leff the Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday upheld a gay judge's ruling that struck down California's same-sex marriage ban, noting that his fellow jurist could not be presumed to have a personal stake in the case just because he was in a long-term relationship with another man.

In a 19-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker had no obligation to divulge whether he wanted to marry his own gay partner before he declared last year that voter-approved Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.

Ware called it the first case in which a judge's same-sex relationship had led to calls for disqualification. He said there probably were similar struggles when race and gender were the issues.

The ruling does not settle the legal fight over Proposition 8. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether Walker properly concluded that denying gays and lesbians the right to marry violates their rights to due process and equal protection.

In his ruling, Ware cited previous cases dealing with women and minority judges in concluding that his predecessor had acted appropriately.

"The sole fact that a federal judge shares the same circumstances or personal characteristics with other members of the general public, and that the judge could be affected by the outcome of a proceeding in the same way that other members of the general public would be affected, is not a basis for either recusal or disqualification," he wrote.

Lawyers for backers of the ban argued at a hearing Monday that Walker should have recused himself or disclosed his relationship because he and his partner stood to personally benefit from the verdict.

Walker publicly revealed after he retired in February that he is in a 10-year relationship with a man. Rumors that he was gay had circulated before and after he presided over the trial in early 2010.

Ware crisply rejected the idea that judges who are members of minority groups have more of a vested interest in the outcome of civil rights cases based on the U.S. Constitution than anyone else.

"We all have an equal stake in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a restriction on a fundamental right," Ware wrote. "The single characteristic that Judge Walker shares with the plaintiffs, albeit one that might not have been shared with the majority of Californians, gave him no greater interest in a proper decision on the merits than would exist for any other judge or citizen."

Many legal scholars had not expected Ware to overturn Walker's decision. They said having a judge's impartiality questioned because he is gay is new territory, but efforts to get female judges thrown off gender discrimination cases or Hispanic judges removed from immigration cases have failed.

Walker did not attend Monday's hearing on the matter.

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