04-26-2024  7:54 pm   •   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

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...

Mt. Tabor Park Selected for National Initiative

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

Oregon university pauses gifts and grants from Boeing in response to student and faculty demands

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — An Oregon university said Friday it is pausing seeking or accepting further gifts or grants from Boeing Co. after students and faculty demanded that the school sever ties with the aerospace company because of its weapons manufacturing divisions and its connections to...

Oregon man sentenced to 50 years in the 1978 killing of a teenage girl in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Oregon man who was convicted in the 1978 killing of a 16-year-old girl in Alaska was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison. Donald McQuade, 67, told Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson that he maintains his innocence and did not kill Shelley Connolly,...

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...

Biden officials indefinitely postpone ban on menthol cigarettes amid election-year pushback

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is indefinitely delaying a long-awaited menthol cigarette ban, a decision that infuriated anti-smoking advocates but could avoid a political backlash from Black voters in November. In a statement Friday, Biden’s top health...

Paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine before his death avoids prison

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with a powerful sedative avoided prison Friday and was sentenced to 14 months in jail with work release and probation in the killing of the Black man that helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests. Jeremy...

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

#MeToo advocates vow the reckoning will continue after Weinstein's conviction is overturned

NEW YORK (AP) — #MeToo founder Tarana Burke has heard it before. Every time there’s a legal setback, the...

Rooting for Trump to fail has made his stock shorters millions

NEW YORK (AP) — Rooting for Donald Trump to fail has rarely been this profitable. Just ask a hardy...

Antony Blinken meets with China's President Xi as US, China spar over bilateral and global issues

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior...

A US-led effort to bring aid to Gaza by sea is moving forward. But big concerns remain

JERUSALEM (AP) — The construction of a new port in Gaza and an accompanying U.S. military-built pier offshore...

Ukraine pushes to get military-age men to come home. Some neighboring countries say they will help

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s foreign minister doubled down Friday on the government’s move to bolster the...

British Army says horses that bolted and ran loose in central London continue 'to be cared for'

LONDON (AP) — The military horses that bolted and ran loose when spooked by construction noise in central London...

Octavia Spencer, from left, Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, and Kirsten Dunst pose in the press room with the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture for "Hidden Figures" at the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
JAKE COYLE, AP Film Writer

Oscar season is looking more and more like one very well-dressed protest against President Donald Trump.

In speech after fiery speech at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards, winners struck a defiant tone against Trump's sweeping immigration ban.

Their words varied from tender personal reflections to full-throated battle cries, but they were nearly uniform in channeling the nationwide demonstrations sparked by Trump's halting of immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

The SAG Awards culminated with the evening's top honor, best movie ensemble, going to the cast of "Hidden Figures," an uplifting drama about African-American mathematicians who aided NASA's 1960s space race, starring Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer.

Henson concluded the show the same way its first presenter, Ashton Kutcher, began it: with the kind of pointed politics that have traditionally been more an aberration than a constant at Hollywood award shows.

"This story is about unity," said Henson, who stars alongside Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae in "Hidden Figures." ''This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside and we come together as a human race. We win. Love wins. Every time."

It was a surprise win for "Hidden Figures." With the Oscar front-runner "La La Land" (which took the Producers Guild Awards' top honor on Saturday) not nominated in the category, most expected a contest between "Moonlight" or "Manchester by the Sea."

Such a result could now mean "Hidden Figures" is the strongest challenger to the "La La Land" dominance, or, perhaps, that none of the three films will be able to muster enough to topple the song-and-dance juggernaut.

Yet if Damien Chazelle's musical is to go on to win best picture, it will be just the second film to do so without a SAG ensemble nod in the category's history. Only Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" managed it in 1996.

But such Oscar handicapping — usually the prime drama at the SAG Awards — largely took a backseat to politics on Sunday. (That is, with the possible exception of Denzel Washington's surprise win over Casey Affleck.) Whichever film ultimately triumphs at the Oscars, it seems assured of being dwarfed by the growing off-screen clamor.

The immigration ban has already altered the Academy Awards. On Sunday, the revered Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, whose "A Salesman" is nominated for best foreign language film, said he would boycott the Oscars, even if he was allowed to travel for them.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who added another honor for her performance on the political satire "Veep," said she was the daughter of an immigrant who fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France.

"Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes," said Louis-Dreyfus. "And this immigrant ban is a blemish and it is un-American."

Perhaps the most moving speech came from Mahershala Ali, who won best supporting actor for his acclaimed performance in Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age portrait, "Moonlight."

Ali said the film, about a shy, gay Miami boy's hard life, held lessons of acceptance. "We see what happens when you persecute people," Ali said. "The fold into themselves."

Ali said his own relationship with his mother exemplified tolerance.

The son of a Protestant minister, Ali converted to Islam 17 years ago.

"We put things to the side," Ali said of their differences. "I'm able to see her. She's able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. That stuff is minutia. It's not that important."

Ali was among the several Oscar favorites who cemented their front-runner status, including best-actress winner Emma Stone for "La La Land" and best-supporting actress winner Viola Davis for "Fences."

But best actor went to Davis's co-star (and director) Washington for his performance in the August Wilson adaptation. Most expected the award to go to Affleck, apparently including Washington himself.

"I'm a God-fearing man," he said, still shaking his head as he reached the podium. "I'm supposed to have faith, but I didn't have faith."

The most blistering speech was by David Harbour, who led the cast of Netflix's "Stranger Things" — another big surprise winner — on stage to accept best ensemble in a TV drama series. "We will hunt monsters," Harbour vowed in lengthy remarks that drew a standing ovation.

The hit Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black" won best ensemble in a comedy series for the third straight year.

"We stand up here representing a diverse group of people, representing generations of families who have sought a better life here from places like Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ireland," said star Taylor Schilling, while a cast member added "Brooklyn!"

''And we know that it's going to be up to us and all you, probably, to keep telling stories that show what unites us is stronger than the forces that divide us."

Lily Tomlin was the lifetime achievement honoree Sunday. The 77-year-old actress gave a warm, rollicking speech that dispensed both drinking advice and regret over wasting "a lot of time being ambitious about the wrong things."

"Did you hear? The Doomsday Clock has been moved up to two and a half minutes before midnight," said Tomlin. "And this award, it came just in the nick of time."

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast