04-23-2024  9:50 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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. 

Lessons for Cities from Seattle’s Racial and Social Justice Law 

 Seattle is marking the first anniversary of its landmark Race and Social Justice Initiative ordinance. Signed into law in April 2023, the ordinance highlights race and racism because of the pervasive inequities experienced by people of color

Don’t Shoot Portland, University of Oregon Team Up for Black Narratives, Memory

The yearly Memory Work for Black Lives Plenary shows the power of preservation.

Grants Pass Anti-Camping Laws Head to Supreme Court

Grants Pass in southern Oregon has become the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis as its case over anti-camping laws goes to the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled for April 22. The case has broad implications for cities, including whether they can fine or jail people for camping in public. Since 2020, court orders have barred Grants Pass from enforcing its anti-camping laws. Now, the city is asking the justices to review lower court rulings it says has prevented it from addressing the city's homelessness crisis. Rights groups say people shouldn’t be punished for lacking housing.

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 ...

A conservative quest to limit diversity programs gains momentum in states

A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is gaining momentum in state capitals and college governing boards, with officials in about one-third of the states now taking some sort of action against it. Tennessee became the latest when the Republican...

Ex-police officer wanted in 2 killings and kidnapping shoots, kills self in Oregon, police say

SEATTLE (AP) — A former Washington state police officer wanted after killing two people, including his ex-wife, was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a chase in Oregon, authorities said Tuesday. His 1-year-old baby, who was with him, was taken safely into custody by Oregon...

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

Pro-Palestinian student protests target colleges' financial ties with Israel

Students at a growing number of U.S. colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel — or any companies that empower its ongoing war in Gaza. The demand has its roots in a decades-old campaign against Israel's...

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. ...

A conservative quest to limit diversity programs gains momentum in states

A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is gaining momentum in state capitals and college governing boards, with officials in about one-third of the states now taking some sort of action against it. Tennessee became the latest when the Republican...

ENTERTAINMENT

What to stream this weekend: Conan O’Brien travels, 'Migration' soars and Taylor Swift reigns

Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” landing on Netflix and Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” album are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as...

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....

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

A Russian strike on Kharkiv's TV tower is part of an intimidation campaign, Ukraine's Zelenskyy says

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian missile strike that smashed a...

Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company...

New federal rule would bar 'noncompete' agreements for most employees

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies would no longer be able to bar employees from taking jobs with competitors...

Haiti health system nears collapse as medicine dwindles, gangs attack hospitals and ports stay shut

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — On a recent morning at a hospital in the heart of gang territory in Haiti’s...

Modi is accused of using hate speech for calling Muslims 'infiltrators' at an Indian election rally

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's main opposition party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after...

5 migrants die while crossing the English Channel hours after the UK approved a deportation bill

PARIS (AP) — Five people, including a child, died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to the...

Holly Yan CNN

(CNN) -- As one bombing suspect recovers in a prison hospital and the other's body is being rejected by cemeteries, a whirlwind of new developments are swirling around the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings.

Here are the key developments that took place over the weekend and what's expected to happen next in the case:

Suspect due in court

One of the three friends accused of helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the two suspects, cover up his alleged crime is due in court for a bail hearing Monday.

Robel Phillipos, 19, is accused of making false statements to federal investigators during a terrorism investigation. If convicted, he faces as many as eight years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000.

Phillipos and two mutual friends met at Tsarnaev's dorm room the night authorities released photos of the bombing suspects, according to an FBI affidavit. Tsarnaev texted one of the friends, saying he could "come to my room and take whatever you want."

Tsarnaev wasn't at his dorm room, but his roommate let the friends in.

Phillipos first denied to investigators ever going to the dorm room, then later changed his story, the affidavit states.

While watching a movie, one or more of the friends spotted a backpack, according to the statement. Inside, Phillipos noticed about seven tubular fireworks, each between 6 and 8 inches long. The fireworks' powder had been taken out.

The three friends left with the backpack and laptop, the FBI affidavit states. The backpack was thrown in a trash bin and ended up in a New Bedford landfill -- only to be found six days later.

Cambridge city manager: You can't bury Tamerlan here

For two weeks, no one claimed the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder bombing suspect who died the night he and his brother led police on a wild chase.

Now, the funeral home holding his remains is struggling to find a place to bury him.

The brothers' parents in Dagestan have said they will not fly his body back to Russia for burial, spokeswoman Heda Saratova said.

And Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy said he would not allow Tsarnaev to be buried in the city if requested by the funeral director or Tsarnaev's family.

"The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and widespread media presence at such an interment," Healy said in a statement Sunday.

Explaining his decision, he cited an excerpt from Massachusetts state law saying that "it shall be the duty of the city manager to act as chief conservator of the peace within the city."

"I have determined that it is not in the best interest of 'peace within the city' to execute a cemetery deed for a plot within the Cambridge Cemetery for the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev," Healy said.

Tsarnaev's body now lies at Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, west of Boston.

Peter Stefan, owner of the funeral home, said three cemeteries he's contacted said they feared reprisals. If he can't find a gravesite, Stefan said he plans to ask the government to find one.

The funeral home owner said everyone deserves to be buried.

"This is what we do in a civilized society, regardless of the circumstances," he said.

The One Fund Boston distribution

On Monday, officials from The One Fund Boston will unveil a tentative plan to distribute roughly $28 million to bombing victims and their families.

Representatives will hold town hall meetings Monday and Tuesday in Copley Square to discuss the plan.

Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of The One Fund Boston, told CNN's Don Lemon that while the amount of money might sound substantial, "you have to dampen expectations."

"I doubt anyone will be made whole by these allocations," he said.

"No amount of money distributed fairly quickly over the next month or two is going to provide the type of long-term financial stability" needed by a double-amputee or somebody hospitalized with a brain injury, Feinberg said. "There's just not enough money for those purposes."

Feds scour Tamerlan Tsarnaev's home

Federal authorities on Sunday searched Tamerlan Tsarnaev's apartment, the home he shared with his wife, Katherine Russell, and their young daughter.

It was not immediately clear whether investigators had taken anything from the apartment Sunday.

But on Friday, a source briefed on the investigation said law enforcement officials found explosives residue in the small apartment.

The source said the residue turned up in at least three places: the kitchen table, the kitchen sink and the bathtub.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has said the two brothers built the bombs in the apartment, U.S. law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation have said.

Russell, the widow, has remained largely out of view since her husband's death, staying in her parents' Rhode Island home.

Her attorney, Amato DeLuca, said the 24-year-old knew nothing about plans to bomb the race, and reports of her husband's involvement came as an "absolute shock" to Russell and her family.

Father defends friend of bombing suspect

Amir Ismagulov, the father of Azamat Tazhayakov, said his son was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.

Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19, are accused of obstruction of justice after allegedly removing the laptop and backpack from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's room.

If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Tazhayakov's father, who lives in Kazakhstan, told CNN in New York that he met with his son last week for about 40 minutes.

Both father and son believe in the U.S. justice system, Ismagulov said. The government will get to the bottom of what happened and let Tazhayakov go, the father said in Russian.

Teenagers sometimes do stupid things, Ismagulov said, stressing that his son didn't know he was doing anything wrong.

CNN's Eric Fiegel, Greg Botelho and Rob Frehse contributed to this report.

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast