05-01-2024  8:07 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

What Marijuana Reclassification Means for the United States

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The Justice Department proposal would recognize the medical uses of cannabis but wouldn’t legalize it for recreational use. Some advocates for legalized weed say the move doesn't go far enough, while opponents say it goes too far.

US Long-Term Care Costs Are Sky-High, but Washington State’s New Way to Help Pay for Them Could Be Nixed

A group funded by hedge fund executive Brian Heywood is attempting to undermine the financial stability of Washington state's new long-term care social insurance program.

A Massive Powerball Win Draws Attention to a Little-Known Immigrant Culture in the US

An immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer won an enormous jumi.3 billion Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month. But Cheng “Charlie” Saephan's luck hasn't just changed his life — it's also drawn attention to Iu Mien, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.

City Council Strikes Down Gonzalez’s ‘Inhumane’ Suggestion for Blanket Ban on Public Camping

Mayor Wheeler’s proposal for non-emergency ordinance will go to second reading.

NEWS BRIEFS

April 30 is the Registration Deadline for the May Primary Election

Voters can register or update their registration online at OregonVotes.gov until 11:59 p.m. on April 30. ...

Chair Jessica Vega Pederson Releases $3.96 Billion Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025

Investments will boost shelter and homeless services, tackle the fentanyl crisis, strengthen the safety net and support a...

New Funding Will Invest in Promising Oregon Technology and Science Startups

Today Business Oregon and its Oregon Innovation Council announced a million award to the Portland Seed Fund that will...

Unity in Prayer: Interfaith Vigil and Memorial Service Honoring Youth Affected by Violence

As part of the 2024 National Youth Violence Prevention Week, the Multnomah County Prevention and Health Promotion Community Adolescent...

UCLA faces criticism for failure to act to stop attack on pro-Palestinian encampment

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Administrators and campus police at UCLA faced intense criticism Wednesday for failing to act quickly to stop an attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus by counter-demonstrators who threw traffic cones and chairs, released pepper spray and tore down barriers. ...

Appeals court rejects climate change lawsuit by young Oregon activists against US government

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday rejected a long-running lawsuit brought by young Oregon-based climate activists who argued that the U.S. government's role in climate change violated their constitutional rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

The Bo Nix era begins in Denver, and the Broncos also drafted his top target at Oregon

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — For the first time in his 17 seasons as a coach, Sean Payton has a rookie quarterback to nurture. Payton's Denver Broncos took Bo Nix in the first round of the NFL draft. The coach then helped out both himself and Nix by moving up to draft his new QB's top...

Elliss, Jenkins, McCaffrey join Harrison and Alt in following their fathers into the NFL

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Marvin Harrison Jr., Joe Alt, Kris Jenkins, Jonah Ellis and Luke McCaffrey have turned the NFL draft into a family affair. The sons of former pro football stars, they've followed their fathers' formidable footsteps into the league. Elliss was...

OPINION

New White House Plan Could Reduce or Eliminate Accumulated Interest for 30 Million Student Loan Borrowers

Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective

Op-Ed: Why MAGA Policies Are Detrimental to Black Communities

NNPA NEWSWIRE – MAGA proponents peddle baseless claims of widespread voter fraud to justify voter suppression tactics that disproportionately target Black voters. From restrictive voter ID laws to purging voter rolls to limiting early voting hours, these...

Loving and Embracing the Differences in Our Youngest Learners

Yet our responsibility to all parents and society at large means we must do more to share insights, especially with underserved and under-resourced communities. ...

Gallup Finds Black Generational Divide on Affirmative Action

Each spring, many aspiring students and their families begin receiving college acceptance letters and offers of financial aid packages. This year’s college decisions will add yet another consideration: the effects of a 2023 Supreme Court, 6-3 ruling that...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Advocates say Supreme Court must preserve new, mostly Black US House district for 2024 elections

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Voting rights advocates said Wednesday they will go to the Supreme Court in hopes of preserving a new majority Black congressional district in Louisiana for the fall elections, the latest step in a complicated legal fight that could determine the fate of political careers and...

House passes bill to expand definition of antisemitism amid growing campus protests over Gaza war

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Wednesday that would establish a broader definition of antisemitism for the Department of Education to enforce anti-discrimination laws, the latest response from lawmakers to a nationwide student protest movement over the Israel-Hamas war. ...

Ethan Hawke and Maya Hawke have a running joke about ‘Wildcat,’ their Flannery O’Connor movie

Ethan Hawke and his daughter Maya Hawke have a running joke about their Flannery O’Connor movie. “Wildcat,” which Ethan directed and Maya stars in as O’Connor, was made with complete sincerity. It’s a deeply creative investigation into the Southern Catholic novelist and...

ENTERTAINMENT

Music Review: Neil Young delivers appropriately ragged, raw live version of 1990's 'Ragged Glory'

The venerable Neil Young offers a ragged and raw live take of his beloved 1990 album “Ragged Glory” with a new album, titled “Fu##in’ Up.” Of course, the 2024 version doesn't have the same semi-youthful energy that the 44-year-old Young put into the original. Maybe his voice...

Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi is 'tickled pink' to inspire a Barbie doll

Like many little girls, a young Kristi Yamaguchi loved playing with Barbie. With a schedule packed with ice skating practices, her Barbie dolls became her “best friends.” So, it's surreal for the decorated Olympian figure skater to now be a Barbie girl herself. ...

Book Review: Rachel Khong’s new novel 'Real Americans' explores race, class and cultural identity

In 2017 Rachel Khong wrote a slender, darkly comic novel, “Goodbye, Vitamin,” that picked up a number of accolades and was optioned for a film. Now she has followed up her debut effort with a sweeping, multigenerational saga that is twice as long and very serious. “Real...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

This Texas veterinarian helped crack the mystery of bird flu in cows

The first calls that Dr. Barb Petersen received in early March were from dairy owners worried about crows, pigeons...

United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy...

Appeals court rejects climate change lawsuit by young Oregon activists against US government

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday rejected a long-running lawsuit brought by young...

Biden administration weighing measures to help Palestinians bring family from region

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is weighing measures to help Palestinians living in the United States...

The UN's nuclear watchdog chief will visit Iran next week as concerns rise about uranium enrichment

JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran next week as Tehran's...

United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy...

Terry Frieden and Deirdre Walsh CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder agreed Monday to meet with the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, but sought to add top congressional Democrats in the latest step of a showdown over the panel's push for more Department of Justice documents on the botched Fast and Furious gun-running sting operation.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the chairman of the House committee, has scheduled a vote later this week on a measure citing Holder for contempt for failing to turn over the documents he seeks.

However, Issa offered Friday to postpone the vote if Holder followed through on an earlier pledge to turn over some of the documents.

Issa also agreed last week to a meeting on the issue, as requested earlier by Holder, but made clear he wanted the documents ahead of time and also wanted Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa -- the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a leading critic of Holder -- to take part.

In a letter Monday responding to Issa, Holder agreed to a meeting on Tuesday. However, Holder said the meeting should also include the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- Pat Leahy of Vermont -- and the ranking Democrat on Issa's panel -- Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

Holder also indicated he would turn over the documents at the meeting, rather than ahead of time.

His letter said the purpose of the meeting would be to reach an agreement that would avoid a "constitutional confrontation" -- a reference to the committee's planned vote on the contempt measure.

Justice officials and Issa's committee have been battling for months over the materials sought by the chairman, with Issa accusing the attorney general of stonewalling the investigation into Fast and Furious.

The Justice Department says it already has handed over more than 7,000 pages of records to House investigators, and says the remaining material Issa wants could jeopardize criminal prosecutions.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives launched Operation Fast and Furious out of Arizona to track weapons purchases by Mexican drug cartels.

However, it lost track of more than 1,000 firearms that the agency had allowed straw buyers to carry across the border, and two of the lost weapons turned up at the scene of the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Issa and Grassley have accused Holder and other top Justice Department officials of withholding requested documents and misleading them about when they first learned of the program.

Holder fended off a call for his resignation last week at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, accused him of misleading Congress over the Fast and Furious program and other misdeeds.

Holder called Cornyn's complaint "almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy" and added, "I don't have any intention of resigning."

CNN's Tom Cohen and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast