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NORTHWEST NEWS

AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Oregon's Primaries

Oregon has multiple hotly contested primaries upcoming, as well as some that will set the stage for high-profile races in November. Oregon's 5th Congressional District is home to one of the top Democratic primaries in the country.

Iconic Skanner Building Will Become Healing Space as The Skanner Continues Online

New owner strives to keep spirit of business intact during renovations.

No Criminal Charges in Rare Liquor Probe at OLCC, State Report Says

The investigation examined whether employees of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission improperly used their positions to obtain bottles of top-shelf bourbon for personal use.

Portland OKs New Homeless Camping Rules That Threaten Fines or Jail in Some Cases

The mayor's office says it seeks to comply with a state law requiring cities to have “objectively reasonable” restrictions on camping.

NEWS BRIEFS

Rose Festival Announces Starlight Parade Grand Marshal

The Portland Rose Festival announced today the 2024 CareOregon Starlight Parade Grand Marshal is Jenny Nguyen, founder and CEO of The...

Oregon Community Foundation Welcomes New Board Members

Oregon Community Foundation’s Board of Directors has elected two new members who bring extensive experience in community engagement...

Governor Kotek Issues Statement on Role of First Spouse

"I take responsibility for not being more thoughtful in my approach to exploring the role of the First Spouse." ...

Legislature Makes Major Investments to Increase Housing Affordability and Expand Treatment in Multnomah County

Over million in new funding will help build a behavioral health drop in center, expand violence prevention programs, and...

Poor People’s Campaign and National Partners Announce, “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. and to the Polls” Ahead of 2024 Elections

Scheduled for June 29th, the “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C.: A Call to...

For decades, states have taken foster children's federal benefits. That's starting to change

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — By the time Jesse Fernandez turned 18, the federal government had paid out thousands of dollars in Social Security survivor's benefits because of the death of his mother. But Jesse's bank account was empty. The money had all been used by Missouri's foster...

A man investigated in the deaths of women in northwest Oregon has been indicted in 3 killings

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who has been under investigation in the deaths of four women whose bodies were found scattered across northwest Oregon last year has been indicted in two of those killings — as well as in the death of a woman whose body was found in Washington state. A...

Defending national champion LSU boosts its postseason hopes with series win against Texas A&M

With two weeks left in the regular season, LSU is scrambling to avoid becoming the third straight defending national champion to miss the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers (31-18, 9-15) won two of three against then-No. 1 Texas A&M to take a giant step over the weekend, but they...

The Bo Nix era begins in Denver, and the Broncos also drafted his top target at Oregon

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — For the first time in his 17 seasons as a coach, Sean Payton has a rookie quarterback to nurture. Payton's Denver Broncos took Bo Nix in the first round of the NFL draft. The coach then helped out both himself and Nix by moving up to draft his new QB's top...

OPINION

The Skanner News May 2024 Primary Endorsements

Read The Skanner News endorsements and vote today. Candidates for mayor and city council will appear on the November general election ballot. ...

Nation’s Growing Racial and Gender Wealth Gaps Need Policy Reform

Never-married Black women have 8 cents in wealth for every dollar held by while males. ...

New White House Plan Could Reduce or Eliminate Accumulated Interest for 30 Million Student Loan Borrowers

Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective

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...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Even with school choice, some Black families find options lacking decades after Brown v. Board

Since first grade, Julian Morris, 16, has changed schools six times, swinging between predominantly white and predominantly Black classrooms. None has met all his needs, his mother said. At predominantly white schools, he was challenged academically but felt less included. At...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott gave few pardons before rushing to clear Army officer who killed a protester

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — In issuing a full pardon to a former Army sergeant convicted of murder in the shooting death of an armed Black Lives Matter protestor, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pushed a limited executive power to its absolute limit to get a desired outcome in a politically charged...

Missouri candidate with ties to the KKK can stay on the Republican ballot, judge rules

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A longshot Missouri gubernatorial candidat e with ties to the Ku Klux Klan will stay on the Republican ticket, a judge ruled Friday. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Cotton Walker denied a request by the Missouri GOP to kick Darrell McClanahan out of the...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Anonymous public servants are the heart of George Stephanopoulos' 'Situation Room'

The biggest challenge for an author tackling the history of the Situation Room, the basement room of the White House where some of the biggest intelligence crises have been handled in recent decades, is the room itself. As a setting, it's pretty underwhelming. In “The Situation...

Book Review: A grandfather’s 1,500-page family history undergirds Claire Messud’s latest novel

Secrets and shame — every family has its share. When it came time to write her most autobiographical novel, Claire Messud relied on a 1,500-page family history compiled by her paternal grandfather. The result, “This Strange Eventful History,” sprawls over a third as many pages — 423, to be...

Movie Review: Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt deserve more than Netflix's ‘Mother of the Bride’

Romantic comedies are in a destination wedding rut. Perhaps it’s a collective post-COVID wanderlust kicking in, or, more cynically, some combination of tax credits and a place producers want to spend time. But between “ Ticket to Paradise,” “Anyone But You,” “ Shotgun Wedding ” and...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

After decisive loss at Alabama Mercedes plants, powerful auto union vows to return and win

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A decisive vote against the United Auto Workers union at two Mercedes factories in...

Man gets 30 years in prison for attacking ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man who broke into the home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeking to hold her...

It was once a center of Islamic learning. Now Mali's historic city of Djenné mourns lack of visitors

DJENNE, Mali (AP) — Kola Bah used to earn a living as a tour guide in Mali's historic city of Djenné, once a...

It was once a center of Islamic learning. Now Mali's historic city of Djenné mourns lack of visitors

DJENNE, Mali (AP) — Kola Bah used to earn a living as a tour guide in Mali's historic city of Djenné, once a...

Argentine president begins unusual visit to Spain, snubbing officials and courting the far-right

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Even before kicking off a three-day visit to Madrid on Friday, Argentina's...

US ambassador to Japan visits southern islands at the forefront of China tension

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Japan stressed Friday the importance of increased deterrence and his...

Karl Ritter and Ian Macdougall Associated Press

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- The Norwegian man who admitted killing 76 people in a bombing and youth camp massacre is a sociopath who acted without accomplices or a network of like-minded right-wing extremists, and kept his plans to himself for more than a decade, a top security official said Thursday.

"It's a unique case. It's unique person. He is total evil," Janne Kristiansen, the director of the Norwegian Police Security Service told The Associated Press.

Anders Behring Breivik claims he carried out the July 22 attacks as part of a network of modern-day crusaders plotting a revolution against a multicultural Europe, and that there are other cells ready to strike.

But investigators have found no signs - before or after the attacks - of a larger conspiracy, though it's too early to rule it out completely, Kristiansen said.

"On the information we have so far, and I emphasize so far, we have no indication that he was part of a network or had any accomplices, or that there are other cells," Kristiansen told AP.

She said Breivik doesn't appear to have shared his plot with anyone, and lived an outwardly lawful and moderate life before carrying out the attacks with "total precision."

Breivik has admitted that he set off a car bomb in the government district of Oslo, killing at least eight people, then drove several miles (kilometers) northwest of the Norwegian capital to an island where the youth wing of the ruling Labor Party was holding its annual summer camp. He arrived at Utoya island posing as a police officer, then opened fire on scores of unsuspecting youth, executing them one after the other as they tried to flee into the water. Sixty-eight people died, many of them teenagers.

Kristiansen said that Breivik's case presents a new challenge for security services, different from a "solo terrorist" who receives training and instructions from a terror network and is then left to pick out a target and attack it on his own. Breivik appears to be a true lone actor, who conceived and executed his plot without help or coordination from anyone.

"This is a totally different challenge," Kristiansen said. "This is all in his mind."

Judging by a manifesto he released just before the attacks, he started "preparing himself to do something big, shocking and spectacular" some 10-12 years ago, she said. The 1,500-document calls for a revolution that will culminate by 2083 in the expulsion of Muslims from Europe and the elimination of the "cultural Marxist/multiculturalist" politics that Breivik complains facilitated the immigration of Muslims to European countries.

At his arraignment on Monday, he took responsibility for both attacks but pleaded not guilty because he thinks he's in state of war, his defense lawyer Geir Lippestad said.

Invstigators will interview Anders Behring Breivik again on Friday and will focus on whether there is "any more danger," police attorney Paal-Fredrick Hjort Kraby told reporters.

Police have not turned up any signs that copycat attacks ight be committed, Kraby said.

But they are clearly concerned that Breivik could inspire others. Kraby said Brevik's next hearing will be closed "just in case he's able to send messages by code" to associates.

Police are on high alert for copycats across Europe: Finnish police said they had arrested an 18-year-old man who ordered 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of fertilizer from Poland to build make explosives. Police said the case appeared to have no connections to the massacre; the national broadcaster YLE cited police as saying the man told them he wanted to make fireworks.

Police have so far only interviewed the Norwegian suspect once, in a seven-hour session the day after the attack. Kraby said Breivik is in contact only with his lawyer and investigators. He also said the Norwegian police have been in touch with the FBI regarding the attacks, but he did not elaborate.

Breivik's attorney has said his client considers himself a "savior" and that he is likely insane. Breivik has pleaded not guilty to the terrorism charges he faces.

The attacker was wearing a home-made police uniform during the slaughter at the island youth camp and urged victims to come closer to him before shooting. Kraby said the uniform included a police emblem on the shirt, but it was not clear where he had obtained it.

The search for missing has ended on the island but is still ongoing in the water surrounding it, police said.

Norway's response to the attack on a Labor Party youth camp on the island of Utoya, has been criticized. Though it is just 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Oslo, police didn't get there until 90 minutes after the shooting started. They had no helicopter available, and the first boat that police tried to take to the island broke down.

The leader of Norway's Delta Force anti-terror police unit on Wednesday defended the special operations team and said the breakdown didn't cause a significant delay. The team jumped into other boats and got to Utoya quickly, police officials said.

Police gave an eerie account of the end of the siege, saying Breivik obediently gave up the moment police approached him, holding his hands over his head.

"It was a completely normal arrest," said officer Haavard Gaasbakk.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday an independent commission will be formed to investigate the attacks and determine what lessons can be learned from the response. The commission also is to help survivors and relatives cope with the aftermath. Parliament said it is willing to help pay for funerals, and a monument will be built to commemorate the victims.

He said Norway will never be the same, but insisted the massacre shouldn't change the country's culture of tolerance, calling on Norwegians to embrace the openness Breivik said he was trying to destroy.

Perhaps mindful of many Norwegians' reserved ways, Stoltenberg urged the country to fully grieve: "I have cried, and I have told many people that they should not hesitate to cry."

The national sense of heartbreak is being renewed daily as police slowly release names of the dead. The identities of only 17 of those known to have been killed have been officially confirmed. Eight died in the explosion and 68 died in the camp shootings.

Georgian officials said Thursday the body of a young Georgian woman missing after the shooting rampage has been found. Tamta Liparteliani's body had been found on the bottom of the lake with gunshot wounds in the back. She was identified by her fingerprints, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said.

The youngest known victim so far was identified Wednesday - camper Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn, who turned 14 five days before the rampage. Another victim confirmed dead at the camp was a stepbrother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 51-year-old police officer Trond Berntsen, who had been providing security on the island.

An employee of Stoltenberg's office, 51-year-old Anne Lise Holter, was confirmed Wednesday as one of the eight dead in the bomb blast.

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Heintz reported from Stockholm. Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm and Bjoern H. Amland in Oslo contributed to this report.

(This version corrects that Finnish suspect told police he wanted to make fireworks, corrects time that police arrived at island youth camp.)

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast