10-14-2024  9:55 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Washington State Voters will Reconsider Landmark Climate Law

Supporters of repealing the Climate Commitment Act say it has raised energy costs and gas prices. Those in favor of keeping it say billions of dollars and many programs will vanish if it disappears. The law is designed to cut pollution while raising money for investments that address climate change. 

In Pacific Northwest, 2 Toss-up US House Races Could Determine Control of Narrowly Divided Congress

Oregon’s GOP-held 5th Congressional District and Washington state’s Democratic-held 3rd Congressional District are considered toss ups, meaning either party has a good chance of winning. If Janelle Bynum wins in November, she'll be Oregon’s first Black member of Congress. 

Salmon Swim Freely in the Klamath River for 1st Time in a Century After Dams Removed

“It’s been over one hundred years since a wild salmon last swam through this reach of the Klamath River,” said Damon Goodman, a regional director for the nonprofit conservation group California Trout. “I am incredibly humbled to witness this moment and share this news, standing on the shoulders of decades of work by our Tribal partners, as the salmon return home."

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.

NEWS BRIEFS

Senator Manning and Elected Officials to Tour a New Free Pre-Apprenticeship Program

The boot camp is a FREE four-week training program introducing basic carpentry skills to individuals with little or no...

Prepare Your Trees for Winter Weather

Portland Parks & Recreation Urban Forestry staff share tips and resources. ...

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...

Washington state's landmark climate law hangs in the balance this election

SEATTLE (AP) — A groundbreaking law that forces companies in Washington state to reduce their carbon emissions while raising billions of dollars for climate programs could be repealed by voters this fall, less than two years after it took effect. The Climate Commitment Act, one of...

AP Top 25: Oregon, Penn State move behind No. 1 Texas. Army, Navy both ranked for 1st time since '60

Oregon and Penn State each moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday following thrilling wins in high-profile games, and Top 25 newcomers Navy and Army are in the rankings together for the first time since 1960. Texas strengthened its hold on No. 1 with...

Luther Burden's long TD run gets No. 21 Missouri started in 45-3 rout of Minutemen

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Missouri receiver Luther Burden scored on a 61-yard jet sweep less than a minute into the game, and the 21st-ranked Tigers went on to beat Massachusetts 45-3 on Saturday. “The first play Luther scored on I thought set the tone,” Missouri coach Eliah...

After blowout loss to Texas A&M, No. 21 Missouri hopes to bounce back against struggling UMass

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz is hoping his No. 21 Tigers can make people forget about their embarrassing 41-10 loss to then-No.25 Texas A&M. And that’s bad news for UMass (1-4). Mizzou (4-1) heads to Amherst, Massachusetts, on Saturday for...

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

Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated with an eye on the election

As Native Americans across the U.S. come together on Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate their history and culture and acknowledge the ongoing challenges they face, many will do so with a focus on the election. From a voting rally in Minneapolis featuring food, games and...

Most AAPI adults think legal immigrants give the US a major economic boost: AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults are more likely than the overall U.S. population to view legal immigration as an asset to the country's economy and workforce, according to a new poll. When it comes to the risks posed by illegal...

Former President Bill Clinton travels to Georgia to rally rural Black voters to the polls

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton urged churchgoers in Albany, Georgia, on Sunday to rally behind Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign for the office he once held. “Uniting people and building, being repairers of the breach, as Isaiah says, those are the things...

ENTERTAINMENT

Music Review: James Bay's 'Changes All the Time' is soulful folk-pop for the stomp and holler crowd

“Talk,” like much of British troubadour James Bay 's latest album, “Changes All the Time,” ends with a rousing chorus sung above a guitar melody. To get there, he starts with a confession: “I don’t know how to talk to you/I gotta give you something true.” The truth is,...

Book Review: Deborah Levy's 'The Position of Spoons' may be just for the diehard fans

Deborah Levy is a celebrated novelist, memoirist and playwright whose latest book — “The Position of Spoons” — is a petite collection of essays spanning the last few decades of her career. Though Levy calls the entries in her book “intimacies,” at times that feels like the wrong word,...

Book Review: Paula Hawkins returns with psychological thriller ’The Blue Hour'

Since bursting on the scene in 2015 with “The Girl on a Train,” Paula Hawkins has established herself as a reliable writer of psychological thrillers set in the U.K. “The Blue Hour” doesn’t plow any new ground on that front, but it’s a tight story with interesting characters that keeps...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Republican lawsuits target rules for overseas voters, but those ballots are already sent

ATLANTA (AP) — The latest method of voting to fall into the political crosshairs is the way overseas voters —...

Trump's protests aside, his agenda has plenty of overlap with Project 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump insists that Project 2025, a nearly 1,000-page blueprint for a hard-right turn in...

Ailing and silenced in prison, Belarus activist symbolizes the nation's repression

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The last time any of Maria Kolesnikova's family had contact with the imprisoned...

Netanyahu mulls plan to empty northern Gaza of civilians and cut off aid to those left inside

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to...

In Denmark, 50 well-preserved Viking Age skeletons have been unearthed, a rare discovery

AASUM, Denmark (AP) — In a village in central Denmark, archeologists made a landmark discovery...

France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen faces court on charges of embezzling EU funds

PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen strongly denied committing any wrongdoing at a Paris court...

Greg Botelho CNN

(CNN) -- The final, violent moments in the life of their son, Trayvon Martin, no longer dominate the national news, as they once did. Tens of thousands no longer attend rallies demanding justice for the slain teenager; pundits no longer debate the case on every media platform imaginable. What once had been the big story has increasingly become yesterday's news.

But Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin haven't stopped fighting.

One year ago Tuesday, they were grieving and relatively anonymous parents, trying to come to grips with the sudden death of their 17-year-old son. But in time, they became celebrities of sorts in a world of gun violence and vigilante justice.

To their supporters, they were the faces and the voices of victims of racial profiling.

While the spotlight largely has faded since then, they say their commitment has not.

"We (want to) make sure that no other parents have to go through what we have gone through in the last year," Fulton told CNN's Piers Morgan on Monday night.

On February 26, 2012, her teenage son was walking back to the Sanford, Florida, home of his father's fiancee after picking up some Skittles and an iced tea at 7-Eleven. That's when, and where, then-28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman spotted him.

What happened between then and when Zimmerman fatally shot the teen is subject to dispute, one that could be settled by a jury starting June 10, when Zimmerman is set to go on trial on a second-degree murder charge.

As the prosecution and defense lawyers battled in court in the weeks and months that followed, Trayvon Martin's parents became less visible on the national scene.

But they've still been active, said Fulton, including continuing to work on behalf of the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation, which they started.

They held a benefit dinner for the nonprofit organization, as well as a peace walk in Miami "to let teenagers know they have a right to walk in peace," she said Monday. On Tuesday, the anniversary of their son's death, they'll be in New York for a candlelight vigil.

Their efforts include continuing to speak out on issues. Among them is gun violence, a debate over which is brewing in Washington and nationwide after several grisly mass shootings, including one that left 20 children and 6 adults dead at a Connecticut elementary school last December.

"It's just too much senseless violence; it's overwhelming the homes right now," Tracy Martin said Monday, referring to the Newtown massacre as well as murders in places like Chicago. "We, as parents, certainly feel the pain."

Even as they continue to fight, Trayvon Martin's parents acknowledge that -- after months in the spotlight, trying to ramp up pressure on authorities to go after Zimmerman -- much about their son's case is now out of their hands.

Their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, on Monday asked rhetorically if Zimmerman is "not held accountable, what message does that send to the next child that's killed, unarmed, on the ground?"

Still, Sybrina Fulton said that, to a large extent, she and her ex-husband have gotten what they asked for. Zimmerman was arrested and, unless something unforeseen happens, he will stand trial.

"We just want to have that trial, and let the jury decide," she said. "And whatever decision comes out of that, we're going to accept that.

"We may not like it, but we're going to accept it."

The jury will have to decide between two starkly different versions of what happened that night.

Zimmerman told police that, after the two exchanged words, Martin went after him. According to his account, the teen, who didn't have any weapons on him, punched him, forced him to the ground, and slammed his head on the concrete. That's when Zimmerman shot Martin in self-defense, he claims.

Martin's family and supporters, though, have long had a different story.

One of the first to tell it was Tracy Martin, who initially addressed reporters last March 8, trying to raise the case's profile and hike pressure on authorities. He and, soon, others suggested Zimmerman had targeted his son, an African-American youth wearing a hooded sweatshirt, because of his race.

The parents' legion of supporters grew exponentially as the weeks wore on after the shooting, with no one charged. They created a petition on the website Change.org calling for Zimmerman's arrest. Within a week, it was the second most-popular petition in the website's history, with 877,110 signatures.

Protests drawing thousands of people sprung up nationwide demanding "Justice for Trayvon" and blasting local authorities' response. As their reason for not immediately arresting Zimmerman, police cited Florida's "stand your ground" law, which states that people who feel threatened don't have to retreat from danger and can use deadly force to protect themselves.

Zimmerman was charged on April 11, with a probable cause affidavit stating he "profiled" Martin and disregarded a 911 dispatcher's request that he wait for police.

The weeks that followed produced more news. For example, Zimmerman posted $150,000 bail, only to have it revoked after the judge said he'd mislead the court about his financial situation, including tens of thousands of dollars he'd raised online for his defense fund.