10-08-2024  7:38 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

Wilmer Valderrama's 'American Story' is one of service to his family and his country

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wilmer Valderrama vowed to “never let his family down” the night that he landed his breakthrough role as foreign exchange student Fez on “That '70s Show.” “I have been given the chance to lift us all, and I won’t blow this incredible opportunity. Every...

A series of deaths and the 'Big Fight': Uncovering police force in one Midwestern city

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — It was the day of the “Big Fight” at the police academy, and rookie sheriff’s deputy Asson Hacker groaned as the hulking instructor pressed down on his chest. Playing the role of a combative suspect, the trainer challenged Hacker to battle like his life...

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,...

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 will hear a challenge to a Biden administration rule on ghost guns

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

Biden makes rare dip into battleground state fray with a 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: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired

The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut while the militant...

Water gushes through palm trees and sand dunes after rare rain in the Sahara Desert

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of...

German court acquits McCann suspect of unrelated sexual offense charges

BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany (AP) — A German court on Tuesday acquitted a man who is also under investigation in the...

German leader Scholz's party moves fast to replace an official in a key campaign post

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party moved quickly to replace a top official who stepped down...

Colleen Long and Verena Dobnik the Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City in the pre-dawn darkness Tuesday, evicted hundreds of demonstrators and demolished the tent city that was the epicenter of a movement protesting what participants call corporate greed and economic inequality.

The police action began around 1 a.m. and lasted several hours as officers with plastic shields and batons pushed the protesters from their base at Zuccotti Park. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said around 200 people were arrested, including dozens who tried to resist the eviction by linking arms in a tight circle at the center of the park. A member of the City Council was among those arrested during the sweep.

Tents, sleeping bags and equipment were carted away, and by 4:30 a.m., the park was empty. It wasn't clear what would happen next to the demonstration, though the new enforcement of rules banning tents, sleeping bags or tarps would effectively end an encampment that started in mid-September.

"At the end of the day, if this movement is only tied to Liberty Plaza, we are going to lose. We're going to lose," said Sandra Nurse, one of the organizers, referring to the park by the nickname the demonstrators have given it. "Right now the most important thing is coming together as a body and just reaffirm why we're here in the first place."

Hundreds of protesters marched through lower Manhattan as the workday began, chanting and looking for a new space to gather. A state court judge called an 11:30 a.m. hearing on the legality of the eviction, following an emergency appeal by the National Lawyers Guild, and issued a temporary restraining order barring the city from preventing protesters from re-entering the park.

As of midmorning, though, the park remained surrounded by police barricades and officers keeping everyone out. A few dozen demonstrators sat on the sidewalk just outside the police line, waiting. In the meantime, workers used power washers to blast the plaza clean.

The surprise action came two days short of the two-month anniversary of the encampment. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he ordered the sweep because health and safety conditions and become "intolerable" in the crowded plaza.

"From the beginning, I have said that the city has two principal goals: guaranteeing public health and safety, and guaranteeing the protesters' First Amendment rights," he said. "But when those two goals clash, the health and safety of the public and our first responders must be the priority."

He said that people would be allowed to return as soon as this morning, but that the city would begin enforcing the rules set up by the park's private owners banning camping equipment.

That left demonstrators wondering what to do next. There was talk among some Tuesday of trying to occupy another park or plaza, but there are no immediate plans to do so, Nurse said.

The eviction began in the dead of night, as police officers arrived by the hundreds and set up powerful klieg lights to illuminate the block.

Officers handed out notices from Brookfield Office Properties, the park's owner, and the city saying that the plaza had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous. A commander announced over a bullhorn that everyone had to leave. Many did, carrying their belongings with them. Others tried to make a stand, even chaining themselves together with bicycle locks.

In contrast to the scene weeks ago in Oakland, where a similar eviction turned chaotic and violent, the police action was comparatively orderly. But it wasn't entirely bloodless.

"The cops hit my legs with a baton," said demonstrator Max Luisdaniel Santos, 31, an unemployed construction worker, pulling up his pants to show some swollen scars on his calf. "Then they shoved my face into the ground."

He pulled open his cheek to show where his teeth had cut into the flesh as he hit the stone paving.

"I was bleeding profusely. They shoved a lot of people's faces into the ground," Santos said as he stood near the park Tuesday morning, looking shaken. He said he lost his shoes in the scuffle, but wasn't arrested.

One person was taken to a hospital for evaluation because of breathing problems.

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who has been supportive of the Occupy movement, was among those arrested outside of the park. Kelly, the police commissioner, said he was trying to get through police lines to reach the protesters.

Protesters were able to grab about $2,500 in cash that was at the plaza before police kicked them out, said Pete Dutro, who is in charge of the New York City movement's finances.

"We got all the dough," Dutro said. "It's on my person."

Bloomberg said the evacuation was conducted in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood."

"The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day," Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters, making it unavailable to anyone else."

He said the city would contest the motion filed by the National Lawyers Guild, a civil rights organization that has been representing arrested protesters.

Concerns about health and safety issues at Occupy Wall Street camps around the country have intensified, and protesters in several cities have been ordered to take down their shelters, adhere to curfews and relocate so that parks can be cleaned.

The surprise ouster at Zuccotti Park came as the movement was at its most vulnerable. A rift had been growing in recent weeks between the park's full-time residents and the movement's power players, most of whom no longer lived in the park.

The protesters who actually made things happen - the ones who planned marches and rallies and set plans into motion - held meetings in donated office space high above the park, in skyscrapers just like the ones housing the bankers they were protesting.

Some residents of Zuccotti Park have been grumbling about the recent formation of a "spokescouncil," an upper echelon of organizers who held meetings at a high school near police headquarters. Some protesters felt that the selection of any leaders whatsoever wasn't true to Occupy Wall Street's original anti-government spirit: That no single person is more important or more powerful than another person.

But other protesters felt that Occupy Wall Street needed to be bigger than Zuccotti Park - that they had, in a sense, outgrown it.

Occupy encampments have come under fire around the country and even overseas as local officials and residents have complained about possible health hazards and ongoing inhabitation of parks and other public spaces.

Anti-Wall Street activists intend to converge at the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday for a day of protests and another attempt to set up an Occupy Cal camp, less than a week after police arrested dozens of protesters who tried to pitch tents on campus.

The Berkeley protesters will be joined by Occupy Oakland activists who said they would march to the UC campus in the afternoon. Police cleared the tent city in front of Oakland City Hall before dawn Monday and arrested more than 50 people amid complaints about safety, sanitation and drug use.

In London, authorities said they were resuming legal action to evict a protest camp outside St. Paul's Cathedral after talks with the demonstrators stalled.

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Associated Press writers Meghan Barr and Karen Matthews contributed to this report.

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