Oregon County Plants Trees to Honor Victims of Killer 2021 Heat Wave
Family members of people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. Authorities say more people died from the heat in the greater Portland area that June than in the entire state over the past 20 years.
Washington State Bar Association OKs Far Lower Caseloads for Public Defenders
The Washington State Bar Association has approved far lower case limits for public defenders in an effort to stop them from quitting, to help with recruiting and to fairly represent defendants. Skeptics agree the system is breaking down but are concerned about finding more attorneys to hire. Many counties, especially rural ones, already struggle to employ enough public defenders and get almost no state funding, which some say should change.
Portland Establishes Monument Review Process
City Council unanimously votes to create policy for questioning public monuments, now classified as separate from public art.
Lawsuit Accuses Portland Police Officer of Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black Man in the Back
According to the complaint, in 2022, the officer shot Immanueal Clark in the back as he ran away.
Black Girls Do Engineer is a nonprofit dedicated to getting more Black and brown girls into STEM ...
Rose Festival Princess From Grant High School Selected
On March 14, Daniela Gray was named a Princess of this year's court. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Cleveland High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Cleveland High School, Zora Forsberg, was selected March 14. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Central Catholic High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Central Catholic High School, Jayda Jackson, was selected March 8. ...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Lincoln High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Lincoln High School, Isabelle Muresan, was selected on March 12. ...
Oregon man found guilty of murder in 1980 cold case of college student after DNA link
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man living in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, has been found guilty in the 1980 cold case murder of a 19-year-old college student. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Amy Baggio on Friday found Robert Plympton, 60, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of...
Oregon county plants trees to honor victims of killer 2021 heat wave
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Family members of some of the people killed by record-breaking heat in the Portland, Oregon, area three years ago gathered over the weekend to plant trees across Multnomah County in honor of its 72 victims. The event, coordinated by county and local officials...
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. ...
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...
Message from Commissioner Jesse Beason: February is 'Black History and Futures Month'
I am honored to join the Office of Sustainability and to co-sponsor a proclamation to mark “Black History and Futures Month” ...
Ending Unfair Contracts Harming Minority Businesses Will Aid Gov. Kotek’s Affordable Housing Goals
Senate Bill 1575 will protect small businesses from state and local government’s unfair contract practices while also allowing the building industry to help the governor meet her affordable housing project goals. ...
6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced for torture of 2 Black men
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two defendants each day...
Supreme Court appears receptive to NRA free-speech lawsuit against a former New York state official
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices appeared receptive Monday to National Rifle Association claims that a former New York state official violated its free-speech rights by pressuring banks and insurance companies to blacklist the group after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida. ...
Descendant of judge who wrote infamous Dred Scott decision pens a play about where we are now
NEW YORK (AP) — Writer and actor Kate Taney Billingsley has been thinking a lot about America's racial history and her family's part in it. One of her ancestors had an outsized role. Billingsley's great-great-great-great uncle was Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, who made arguably...
The Lionheart: Dan Wheldon documentary covers grief, loss, love and familial legacy
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — It was 10 years after the death of their father that associates of filmmaker Laura Brownson brought her an article to read about the late Dan Wheldon. Standing below the monument on Dan Wheldon Way along the downtown St. Petersburg race course that honors...
Music Review: Kacey Musgraves’ 'Deeper Well' trades country-pop hooks for deep, folk-y meditation
Just over a decade ago, Kacey Musgraves emerged as a fresh new voice in country music – a mid-tempo storyteller with an incredible acuity both in her lyrics and in her instrumentation, knowing just when to pick up the harmonica, whistle a tune or break out the vocoder. In the years...
A new generation of readers embraces bell hooks' 'All About Love'
NEW YORK (AP) — In the summer of 2022, Emma Goodwin was getting over a breakup and thinking hard about her life and how to better herself. She decided to try a book she had heard about often, bell hooks’ “All About Love: New Visions." “I loved it. It takes seriously a subject...
Housing Secretary Fudge Resigning. Biden Hails Her Dedication to Boosting Supply of Affordable Homes
Trump seeks to appeal decision not to disqualify district attorney from Georgia election case
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and other defendants in Georgia's election interference case filed...
Pro-Trump Michigan attorney arrested after hearing in DC over leaking Dominion documents
An attorney facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines after the 2020 election was...
Trump's lawyers say it is impossible for him to post bond covering 4 million civil fraud judgment
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appellate court Monday that it's impossible for him to...
London home Freddie Mercury bought in 1980 is for sale, minus his 'exquisite clutter'
LONDON (AP) — Freddie Mercury ’s sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale...
Israel urges UN court to reject South Africa's request for more emergency orders in genocide case
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Israel has urged the top U.N. court to reject the latest request by South Africa...
Croatia's top court rules that the president can't run in the parliamentary election unless he quits
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian's president can't run for prime minister, take part in the upcoming...
PHOTO: Dozens of volunteers turned out to walk and raise funds for Better People at an event in downtown Portland last year.
Better People, the Portland nonprofit that helps former inmates find work and stability in the community, has laid off its staff and closed its office on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. But board chair Judith Belk, PhD. says the plan is to return in early 2015 with a revised program and a stronger long-term plan.
“The board voted unanimously to keep Better People open,” Belk said.
“We will go quiet for a while to give us time to look at how we are valued and how we fit into the community. We want to get a bigger picture, but also a more precise picture of what’s needed and how do we expand our services.”
Better People lost a Multnomah county contract last year after its completion numbers dropped. And Belk, who is president of the Center for Communication and Learning Skills in Lake Oswego, says it has struggled to find grant and private funding during the economic downturn.
“Because Better People offers a program that does not charge clients tuition, our ability to deliver services depends on our funding,” she said. “So we are caught in this horrible dilemma of knowing we provide a very valuable service but we’re not able to pay staff. When people have economic difficulties, so do nonprofits.”
Better People opened in 1998 to help former inmates overcome barriers to becoming productive stable members of society. People with a criminal history face barriers to finding work and housing when they are released. And people who have a felony in their background are banned from numerous work and housing opportunities.
Better People’s program combines Moral Reconation Therapy—which seeks to help former inmates change negative thinking patterns and behavior – with employment assistance and support. The nonprofit helped persuade employers to give their clients a chance, and held events that raised community awareness about those barriers to success for former inmates.
Program graduates say they gained new understanding and confidence.
"This program gave me more than just a shot at some dead-end job,” said program graduate Jason W. “It gave me freedom from the shame I was carrying. It gave me the chance to set down the burden of what other people thought of me. It gave me the opportunity to see myself in a new light. It also gave me the chance to look at how I was treating the people around me on an everyday basis."
According to the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Administration, Moral Reconation Therapy is based on solid research and has been successfully used as a 3-6 month program inside prison systems across the country. However, SAMHSA also found the program has struggled to find a niche within the criminal justice system.
In recent years Better People has been competing with some larger nonprofits that include prisoner re-entry programs among their services.
Volunteers of America, for example, serves thousands of people every year, offering everything from housing and addictions treatment to domestic violence support services. Working with prisoners before, during and after their release from jail or prison, VOA claims a 70 percent success rate for its Inact reentry program which served 109 adults in 2013. And its CPR program has had similar success with young men incarcerated as teens.
Mercy Corps has re-entry contracts with the state's Department of Corrections and helps about 135 people a year find work.
Pathfinders of Oregon offers a behavior change program similar to Better People's Moral Reconation Therapy. The agency also offers parenting classes, substance abuse treatment and youth and family counseling programs. But Pathfinders works with inmates before they are released from prison, which may make it easier for people to complete the program.
Board members and former executive director Clariner Boston say they will be talking to other nonprofits and experts to get a clearer view of the big picture, as well as an idea of where to steer the program so it can be successful. And Belk says the board has not ruled out merging or partnering with other programs.
Mercy Corps has donated office space so Boston can continue to work with the agency’s remaining clients on a volunteer basis until they can complete the program and graduate. A board member with a job development business also has offered program space.
“It is to Clariner Boston’s credit as such an ethical dedicated person, that she will make sure that these folks in the program—about eight or nine people –will finish,” Belk said.
The brainchild of Sen. Chip Shields, Better People opened its doors in 1998 after raising $80,000 and gaining the support of The Black United Fund, the Urban League of Portland and the Oregon Community Foundation as well as prominent community members, including: Annette Jolin, Ph.D, of PSU’s Administration of Justice program; Bob Warren, Jr., CEO of Cascade Corporation; and Bob Kingery, founder of Nextlink Interactive.