04-26-2024  6:13 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

A Conservative Quest to Limit Diversity Programs Gains Momentum in States

In support of DEI, Oregon and Washington have forged ahead with legislation to expand their emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in government and education.

Epiphanny Prince Hired by Liberty in Front Office Job Day After Retiring

A day after announcing her retirement, Epiphanny Prince has a new job working with the New York Liberty as director of player and community engagement. Prince will serve on the basketball operations and business staffs, bringing her 14 years of WNBA experience to the franchise. 

The Drug War Devastated Black and Other Minority Communities. Is Marijuana Legalization Helping?

A major argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis after 75 years of prohibition was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in Black, Latino and other minority communities. But efforts to help those most affected participate in the newly legal sector have been halting. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Mt. Tabor Park Selected for National Initiative

Mt. Tabor Park is the only Oregon park and one of just 24 nationally to receive honor. ...

OHCS, BuildUp Oregon Launch Program to Expand Early Childhood Education Access Statewide

Funds include million for developing early care and education facilities co-located with affordable housing. ...

Governor Kotek Announces Chief of Staff, New Office Leadership

Governor expands executive team and names new Housing and Homelessness Initiative Director ...

Governor Kotek Announces Investment in New CHIPS Child Care Fund

5 Million dollars from Oregon CHIPS Act to be allocated to new Child Care Fund ...

Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to restore “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others. The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the...

Biden celebrates computer chip factories, pitching voters on American 'comeback'

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday sought to sell voters on an American “comeback story” as he highlighted longterm investments in the economy in upstate New York to celebrate Micron Technology's plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with...

Missouri hires Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch for the same role with the Tigers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri hired longtime college administrator Laird Veatch to be its athletic director on Tuesday, bringing him back to campus 14 years after he departed for a series of other positions that culminated with five years spent as the AD at Memphis. Veatch...

KC Current owners announce plans for stadium district along the Kansas City riverfront

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The ownership group of the Kansas City Current announced plans Monday for the development of the Missouri River waterfront, where the club recently opened a purpose-built stadium for the National Women's Soccer League team. CPKC Stadium will serve as the hub...

OPINION

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...

OP-ED: Embracing Black Men’s Voices: Rebuilding Trust and Unity in the Democratic Party

The decision of many Black men to disengage from the Democratic Party is rooted in a complex interplay of historical disenchantment, unmet promises, and a sense of disillusionment with the political establishment. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Dozens of deaths reveal risks of injecting sedatives into people restrained by police

Demetrio Jackson was desperate for medical help when the paramedics arrived. The 43-year-old was surrounded by police who arrested him after responding to a trespassing call in a Wisconsin parking lot. Officers had shocked him with a Taser and pinned him as he pleaded that he...

Takeaways from AP's investigation into fatal police encounters involving injections of sedatives

The practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. At least 94 people died after they were...

South Africa will mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, South Africa, she recalls the joy she and many others felt 30 years ago when they voted for the first time. It was at this school on April 27, 1994, that Kunene joined...

ENTERTAINMENT

Music Review: Jazz pianist Fred Hersch creates subdued, lovely colors on 'Silent, Listening'

Jazz pianist Fred Hersch fully embraces the freedom that comes with improvisation on his solo album “Silent, Listening,” spontaneously composing and performing tunes that are often without melody, meter or form. Listening to them can be challenging and rewarding. The many-time...

Book Review: 'Nothing But the Bones' is a compelling noir novel at a breakneck pace

Nelson “Nails” McKenna isn’t very bright, stumbles over his words and often says what he’s thinking without realizing it. We first meet him as a boy reading a superhero comic on the banks of a river in his backcountry hometown in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia....

Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots to headline the BET Experience concerts in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots will headline concerts to celebrate the return of the BET Experience in Los Angeles just days before the 2024 BET Awards. BET announced Monday the star-studded lineup of the concert series, which makes a return after a...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Paramedic sentencing in Elijah McClain's death caps trials that led to 3 convictions

DENVER (AP) — Almost five years after Elijah McClain died following a police stop in which he was put in a neck...

Charges against Trump's 2020 'fake electors' are expected to deter a repeat this year

An Arizona grand jury's indictment of 18 people who either posed as or helped organize a slate of electors falsely...

Egypt sends delegation to Israel, its latest effort to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday with the hope of brokering a cease-fire...

2 men charged in the UK with spying for China are granted bail after a court appearance in London

LONDON (AP) — A former researcher working in the U.K. Parliament and another man charged with spying for China...

Burkina Faso Suspends BBC and Voice of America after covering report on mass killings

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Burkina Faso suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio stations for their coverage of a...

With fear and hope, Haiti warily welcomes new governing council as gang-ravaged country seeks peace

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti opened a new political chapter Thursday with the installation of a...

Michael Martinez. Jaqueline Hurtado and Jaclyn Wang CNN

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Los Angeles public school system is going to pay $30 million to settle 58 of 191 students' lawsuits alleging they were victims of sexually lewd acts by an elementary school teacher, two of the plaintiff attorneys said.

David Holmquist, general counsel for the Los Angeles Unified School District, confirmed the settlements in 58 cases but declined to state the exact financial figure other than so say the amount was in the "multimillions."

The two plaintiff attorneys provided the figure on the condition that they wouldn't be identified because a Los Angeles County judge has yet to approve the settlement.

Holmquist described the agreements as "good settlements." However, four of the 17 law firms suing the school district haven't agreed to any settlement, attorneys said.

The nearly 200 students' claims were filed in the wake of charges against former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, 62, who pleaded not guilty last year to allegations he put young students in bondage and then photographed them with semen-filled spoons held at their mouths and 3-inch cockroaches crawling across their faces.

Berndt is being held on $23 million bond and faces 23 felony counts of lewd acts on a child. The 23 alleged victims were between 7 and 10 years old, and all but two of them were girls, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has said.

Several of the plaintiff attorneys couldn't say for certain this week whether any of the 23 alleged victims in the criminal case are among the 58 civil settlements.

Taxpayer money and possibly school insurance funds will pay for the settlements, Holmquist said. The two goals of the settlements are to "restore some healing to the community" and "provide for health and education needs for the students going forward," he said.

"We're not admitting liability, but we realize it's a tragic circumstance for sure," Holmquist said. "Students have definitely suffered, so in what we think is in the best interest of students, we thought we would put this behind us by resolving it through remediation and early dispute resolution."

The school system has "every reason to believe the judge will approve" the settlements, Holmquist said.

In the 58 settlements, each student and his or her family is receiving about $400,000 to $500,000 each, the plaintiff attorneys said.

Luis Carrillo, one of the attorneys who have declined to settle with the school system, said the district isn't acting in good faith.

"The last agreements that the district has settled before Miramonte were a much bigger amount and I think the amount of money they are offering now is very, very low in comparison to what they have paid in the past," Carrillo said.

"We think the amount of money that they are getting right now is insufficient for the huge damage they have caused to the children," he said.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast