04-19-2024  1:54 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

Four Ballot Measures for Portland Voters to Consider

Proposals from the city, PPS, Metro and Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District.

Washington Gun Store Sold Hundreds of High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines in 90 Minutes Without Ban

KGW-TV reports Wally Wentz, owner of Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso, described Monday as “magazine day” at his store. Wentz is behind the court challenge to Washington’s high-capacity magazine ban, with the help of the Silent Majority Foundation in eastern Washington.

NEWS BRIEFS

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 ...

Bank Announces 14th Annual “I Got Bank” Contest for Youth in Celebration of National Financial Literacy Month

The nation’s largest Black-owned bank will choose ten winners and award each a jumi,000 savings account ...

Literary Arts Transforms Historic Central Eastside Building Into New Headquarters

The new 14,000-square-foot literary center will serve as a community and cultural hub with a bookstore, café, classroom, and event...

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Announces New Partnership with the University of Oxford

Tony Bishop initiated the CBCF Alumni Scholarship to empower young Black scholars and dismantle financial barriers ...

Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Returns to Mt. Hood Community College with Acclaimed Artists

Performing at the festival are acclaimed artists Joshua Redman, Hailey Niswanger, Etienne Charles and Creole Soul, Camille Thurman,...

Idaho's ban on youth gender-affirming care has families desperately scrambling for solutions

Forced to hide her true self, Joe Horras’ transgender daughter struggled with depression and anxiety until three years ago, when she began to take medication to block the onset of puberty. The gender-affirming treatment helped the now-16-year-old find happiness again, her father said. ...

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down airport highways and key bridges in major US cities

CHICAGO (AP) — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation's most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway. ...

University of Missouri plans 0 million renovation of Memorial Stadium

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri is planning a 0 million renovation of Memorial Stadium. The Memorial Stadium Improvements Project, expected to be completed by the 2026 season, will further enclose the north end of the stadium and add a variety of new premium...

The sons of several former NFL stars are ready to carve their path into the league through the draft

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. wears his dad’s No. 54, plays the same position and celebrates sacks and big tackles with the same signature axe swing. Now, he’s ready to make a name for himself in the NFL. So are several top prospects who play the same positions their fathers played in the...

OPINION

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. ...

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...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Chicago's response to migrant influx stirs longstanding frustrations among Black residents

CHICAGO (AP) — The closure of Wadsworth Elementary School in 2013 was a blow to residents of the majority-Black neighborhood it served, symbolizing a city indifferent to their interests. So when the city reopened Wadsworth last year to shelter hundreds of migrants, without seeking...

US deports about 50 Haitians to nation hit with gang violence, ending monthslong pause in flights

MIAMI (AP) — The Biden administration sent about 50 Haitians back to their country on Thursday, authorities said, marking the first deportation flight in several months to the Caribbean nation struggling with surging gang violence. The Homeland Security Department said in a...

Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai producing. An election coming. ‘Suffs’ has timing on its side

NEW YORK (AP) — Shaina Taub was in the audience at “Suffs,” her buzzy and timely new musical about women’s suffrage, when she spied something that delighted her. It was intermission, and Taub, both creator and star, had been watching her understudy perform at a matinee preview...

ENTERTAINMENT

Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93

NEW YORK (AP) — Robert MacNeil, who created the even-handed, no-frills PBS newscast “The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour” in the 1970s and co-anchored the show with his late partner, Jim Lehrer, for two decades, died on Friday. He was 93. MacNeil died of natural causes at New...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 21-27

Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 21-27: April 21: Actor Elaine May is 92. Singer Iggy Pop is 77. Actor Patti LuPone is 75. Actor Tony Danza is 73. Actor James Morrison (“24”) is 70. Actor Andie MacDowell is 66. Singer Robert Smith of The Cure is 65. Guitarist Michael...

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

US vetoes widely supported resolution backing full UN membership for Palestine

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved...

Music Review: Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' is great sad pop, meditative theater

Who knew what Taylor Swift's latest era would bring? Or even what it would sound like? Would it build off the...

House leaders toil to advance Ukraine and Israel aid. But threats to oust speaker grow

WASHINGTON (AP) — House congressional leaders were toiling Thursday on a delicate, bipartisan push toward...

Poland arrests man suspected of spying for Russia to aid Zelenskyy assassination plot

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish man has been arrested on allegations of being ready to spy on behalf of...

US vetoes widely supported resolution backing full UN membership for Palestine

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved...

UN approves an updated cholera vaccine that could help fight a surge in cases

The World Health Organization has approved a version of a widely used cholera vaccine that could help address a...

Antonio Zambrano-Montes' funeral
Nicholas K. Geranios, Associated Press

Rev. Lutakome Nsubuga comforts Agapita Montes-Rivera, center left, the mother of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, following the funeral for her son Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pasco, Wash. Antonio Zambrano-Montes' Feb. 10 death in the agricultural city of Pasco has sparked protests and calls for a federal investigation. Police killed the unarmed man who spoke little English after he allegedly threw rocks at officers. (AP Photo/The Tri-City Herald, Andrew Jansen)

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — An independent autopsy of an unarmed Mexican man killed by police in Washington state shows he was shot as many as seven times — including twice from behind — contradicting earlier statements from authorities, an attorney for the man's family said Thursday.

The second autopsy was commissioned by lawyer Charles Herrmann, who is representing Antonio Zambrano-Montes' estranged wife and two daughters.

Its findings came a day after a spokesman for a special unit investigating the Feb. 10 shooting said five or six bullets struck Zambrano-Montes, but none from behind.

"Our report differs sharply with statements made by local law enforcement authorities," Herrmann said in a statement.

Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old Mexican immigrant, was shot after throwing rocks at officers. His death has prompted calls for a federal investigation, along with a series of demonstrations in Pasco, an agricultural center with 68,000 residents about 130 miles southwest of Spokane.

A Seattle pathologist, Dr. Carl Wigren, performed the independent autopsy Feb. 20. Herrmann released a portion of the report Thursday.

"The report reflects a total of as many as seven rounds striking Zambrano," the attorney said. It also found entry wounds on the back of the victim's right arm and one buttock, he said.

The independent autopsy determined the Pasco orchard worker also was shot in the face, stomach, chest, arm and scrotum, according to a diagram provided by Herrmann.

At a news conference Wednesday, Kennewick Police Sgt. Ken Lattin was clear that preliminary results of the official autopsy showed Zambrano-Montes was not hit anywhere on the back of his body. That would indicate Zambrano-Montes was not shot while running from the officers with his back turned.

Franklin County's coroner, Dr. Sig Menchel, performed the official autopsy days after the shooting.

Lattin is a spokesman for the regional law enforcement task force examining the shooting. On Thursday, he referred questions to county prosecutor Shawn Sant, who did not immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press.

The final medical examiner's report is not yet finished, but could be done within a month, Lattin said Wednesday.

He said investigators have determined three officers fired a total of 17 shots. Police have not said how many shots each officer fired, or whether bullets from all three officers struck Zambrano-Montes.

Lattin said the autopsy results showed Zambrano-Montes was shot five or six times, but "there were no shots in the back."

The afternoon of Feb. 10, Zambrano-Montes was throwing rocks at passing vehicles and later at responding officers, authorities say.

Video taken by a witness shows the man running from officers. As the officers draw closer, he stops and faces them. Multiple pops are heard, and he falls, twisting, to the ground as the pops continue.

Lattin said officers fired stun guns at least twice but failed to stop Zambrano-Montes before using their weapons. The officers felt threatened, police said.

Zambrano-Montes' death at a busy intersection has sparked two weeks of protests in Pasco, where more than half the residents are Hispanic but few are members of the power structure or police force.

Additional protests are planned for Saturday.

 

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast