On Steps of US Supreme Court, AG Rosenblum Rallies Abortion Rights Supporters
Speaking at an ACLU-organized rally on the steps of the United States Supreme Court this morning, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum made an impassioned defense of abortion as essential healthcare, and of medication abortion as a key part of those healthcare rights. The rally coincided with arguments being presented inside the Supreme Court in the AHM (Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine) v. FDA (Food & Drug Administration) case.
Should College Essays Touch on Race? Some Feel the Affirmative Action Ruling Leaves Them No Choice
When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action, it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions. Yet the added weight of the college essay has fallen unevenly on students of color, who often feel pressure to exploit their hardships as they compete for a spot on campus.
Bird Flu, Weather and Inflation Conspire to Keep Egg Prices Near Historic Highs for Easter
The cost of filling a basket or completing a Seder plate reflect a market scrambled by disease, high demand and growing costs for farmers. While global prices are lower than they were at this time last year, they remain elevated.
Strippers' Bill of Rights Bill Signed Into Law in Washington State
Gov. Jay Inslee signed the measure on Monday which creates safer working conditions for people in the adult entertainment industry. The law requires employee training in establishments to prevent sexual harassment, identify and report human trafficking, deescalate conflict and provide first aid.
The Portland Art Museum presents Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks
Exhibition on view March 30 - August 11, 2024. Programs to include sneaker-focused Summer Camps and in-gallery activities ...
Portland Street Response Hosts Town Hall
PCCEP is seeking community input to help shape their recommendation in support of Portland Street Response. ...
Joint Center Responds to the U.S. House Office of Diversity and Inclusion Disbandment
This decision jeopardizes the establishment of policies to support diverse communities and threatens the pursuit of inclusivity for...
Bonamici, Kaine Praise Billion Dollar Increase for Child Care, Early Childhood Learning
Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) —members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Benson Polytechnic High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Benson Polytechnic High School, Laedyn Romero, was selected March 22. ...
Lou Whittaker, among the most famous American mountaineers, has died at age 95
SEATTLE (AP) — Lou Whittaker, a legendary American mountaineer who helped lead ascents of Mount Everest, K2 and Denali, and who taught generations of climbers during his more than 250 trips up Mount Rainier, the tallest peak in Washington state, has died at age 95. RMI Expeditions,...
Should college essays touch on race? Some feel the affirmative action ruling leaves them no choice
CHICAGO (AP) — When she started writing her college essay, Hillary Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. About being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana and growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. About hardship and struggle. Then she deleted it...
Georgia ends game on 12-0 run to beat Missouri 64-59 in first round of SEC tourney
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Blue Cain had 19 points, Justin Hill scored 17 off the bench and 11th-seeded Georgia finished the game on a 12-0 run to beat No. 14 seed Missouri 64-59 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Cain hit 6 of 12 shots,...
Georgia faces Missouri in SEC Tournament
Missouri Tigers (8-23, 0-18 SEC) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) Nashville, Tennessee; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bulldogs -3; over/under is 147 BOTTOM LINE: Georgia plays in the SEC Tournament against Missouri. ...
COMMENTARY: Is a Cultural Shift on the Horizon?
As with all traditions in all cultures, it is up to the elders to pass down the rituals, food, language, and customs that identify a group. So, if your auntie, uncle, mom, and so on didn’t teach you how to play Spades, well, that’s a recipe lost. But...
A Full Court Press to Get the Lead Out
With a “goal of identifying and remediating lead hazards in at least 2,800 Lancaster County homes,” LG Health is setting an example for the private sector. And the Biden-Harris administration’s focus on environmental justice and access to clean and safe...
OP-ED: Congress Is Right: Federal Reserve’s Reg II Will Hurt Minority Communities in America
The Fed is taking every effort to promote income equality and workplace diversity and inclusion, but Regulation II would undercut its great work in this respect and cause potential harm to millions of minority families. Now that a congressional coalition has...
OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More
Data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of developing...
Key findings from AP's investigation into police force that isn't supposed to be lethal
Every day, police in the U.S. rely on common use-of-force tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them. But when misused, these tactics can still end in death. Over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun...
This is how reporters documented 1,000 deaths after police force that isn't supposed to be fatal
After George Floyd was killed under a Minneapolis police officer’s knee, reporters at The Associated Press wanted to know how many other people died following encounters in which law enforcement used not firearms but other kinds of force that is not supposed to be fatal. The U.S....
Why did more than 1,000 people die after police subdued them with force that isn't meant to kill?
Carl Grant, a Vietnam veteran with dementia, wandered out of a hospital room to charge a cellphone he imagined he had. When he wouldn’t sit still, the police officer escorting Grant body-slammed him, ricocheting the patient’s head off the floor. Taylor Ware, a former Marine and...
Celebrity birthdays for the week of March 31-April 6
Celebrity birthdays for the week of March 31-April 6: March 31: Actor William Daniels (“St. Elsewhere,” ″Boy Meets World”) is 97. Actor Richard Chamberlain is 90. Actor Shirley Jones is 90. Musician Herb Alpert is 89. Actor Christopher Walken is 81. Comedian Gabe Kaplan...
How to make an Easter ham last all week
The beauty of making a baked ham for Easter (or any holiday or large gathering) is that there's bound to be leftovers. Leftover ham, which will last for up to five days in the fridge, can be a springboard for other meals during the week. Of course you’ll want a sandwich or two, but...
Book Review: 'Glorious Exploits' turns classical history into an endearing comedy about tragedy
Best friends Lampo and Gelon are potters by trade, but their souls are filled with poetry. It’s 412 B.C. and the city of Syracuse doesn’t know what hit it when these two hatch up the best worst idea: They’ll put on a play using the Athenian prisoners of war who are starving to death down in...
Venezuelans are increasingly stuck in Mexico, explaining drop in illegal crossings to US
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Venezuelan migrants often have a quick answer when asked to name the most difficult stretch...
Top-seeded North Carolina and Clemson looking to move ACC beyond Sweet 16 vs Alabama and Arizona
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UConn, San Diego State set for title game rematch in Sweet 16; Iowa State, Illinois target Elite 8
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Nigerian parents finally get a chance to see their children who spent more than 2 weeks in captivity
KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — Parents of more than 130 Nigerian schoolchildren who were rescued after more than two...
Lawmakers in Thailand overwhelmingly approve a bill to legalize same-sex marriage
BANGKOK (AP) — Lawmakers in Thailand's lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality...
The death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack rises to 143, while 80 others remain hospitalized
MOSCOW (AP) — The death toll from last week's Moscow concert hall attack rose to 143, Russian authorities said...
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Bill Cosby's lawyers on Wednesday attacked what they called "vague, remote and often inconsistent" allegations from a slew of women whom prosecutors are seeking to call as witnesses at his sexual-assault trial next year.
Lawyers for the 79-year-old actor and comedian asked a judge to block 13 accusers from taking the witness stand, saying uncertainty about where and when some of the sexual encounters took place made them impossible to defend against.
Cosby, who was known as America's Dad for his top-rated family sitcom, "The Cosby Show," which ran from 1984 to 1992, is charged with molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Prosecutors are seeking testimony from the other accusers to show Cosby had a long history of knocking out women with drugs and drinks and sexually assaulting them. Cosby has pleaded not guilty.
At a hearing, the defense portrayed the potential prosecution witnesses as "bandwagon" accusers who came forward because they sought to cash in on Cosby's fame and wealth.
The women went public at the urging of "clever, cunning lawyers who had the agenda of bringing down an American icon," Cosby lawyer Brian McMonagle told Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill, who must determine whether some or all of the accusers will be permitted to take the witness stand.
The two-day hearing closed without a decision, with the judge saying he'd take some time before ruling.
McMonagle argued prosecutors dredged up unsubstantiated assault allegations dating to the 1960s to try to breathe life into a weak case, and he urged the judge to "follow the money" when examining the motives of the accusers.
"There's no good reason in this world for these uncorroborated, unconfirmed, unreported, ancient allegations to be brought into this courtroom or any courtroom in this country," he said afterward.
Cosby is charged with assaulting Andrea Constand, then a Temple University employee. She filed a police complaint against Cosby, a long-married father of five and her friend and mentor, but a prosecutor at the time declined to file charges.
Authorities reopened the investigation last year after scores of women raised similar accusations and after Cosby's damaging deposition testimony from Constand's lawsuit became public.
The judge ruled last week the deposition may be used at Cosby's criminal trial, arming prosecutors with Cosby's testimony about his affairs with young women, his use of quaaludes as a seduction tool and his version of the sexual encounter with Constand.
Cosby's attorney said Constand has offered shifting accounts of the encounter, making comparisons with the other accusers impossible. Under state law, prosecutors must demonstrate substantial similarities in the accusers' accounts to be able to call them to the witness stand.
Prosecutors have argued sexual-assault victims often recall more details in subsequent interviews, and they say the discrepancies in Constand's accounts aren't material to the case.
The other women should be allowed to testify, District Attorney Kevin Steele argued, because their stories are so similar they show the "handiwork of the same perpetrator."
Cosby befriended women who saw him as a mentor, incapacitated them out with pills and drinks and molested them, Steele said.
"This is a lifetime of sexual assault on young women," Steele told the judge.
Cosby's lawyers said the women's stories aren't similar enough to warrant their testimony. They pointed to differences in the locations and manners of the alleged assaults and the accusers' levels of education and lines of work.
"You cannot ignore the differences," defense lawyer Angela Agrusa said.
She said most of the potential prosecution witnesses are represented by famed civil lawyer Gloria Allred and have held news conferences and given dozens of interviews. She said one accuser shopped a book deal for her life story a few years ago.
Allred "duped" the district attorney's office, Agrusa argued.
"She executed a plan, and she got the DA's office to be her bag man," Agrusa said.
Allred, who attended Wednesday's hearing, has argued her clients have a duty to testify if the court wants to hear from them.
The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they've come forward publicly, as Constand has done.