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.
Lessons for Cities from Seattle’s Racial and Social Justice Law
Seattle is marking the first anniversary of its landmark Race and Social Justice Initiative ordinance. Signed into law in April 2023, the ordinance highlights race and racism because of the pervasive inequities experienced by people of color
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.
Hundreds Gather at White House to Demand President Biden Let Youth Climate Case be Heard
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Mt. Tabor Park Selected for National Initiative
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OHCS, BuildUp Oregon Launch Program to Expand Early Childhood Education Access Statewide
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Governor Kotek Announces Chief of Staff, New Office Leadership
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Governor Kotek Announces Investment in New CHIPS Child Care Fund
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Officials identify Idaho man who was killed by police after fatal shooting of deputy
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Officials have released the name of the Idaho man who was killed last weekend after being identified as the suspect in the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy, and Boise police officers are asking the public for more information about him. Dennis Mulqueen, 65,...
Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in contrast to the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges have soared to their highest levels in decades. The move to quash book bans is welcome to...
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...
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. ...
New Fort Wayne, Indiana, mayor is sworn in a month after her predecessor's death
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Democrat Sharon Tucker was sworn in Tuesday as the new mayor of Indiana’s second-most populous city, nearly a month after her predecessor's death. Tucker, who had been a Fort Wayne City Council member, took the oath of office Tuesday morning at the Clyde...
Biden will speak at Morehouse commencement, an election-year spotlight in front of Black voters
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key spotlight on one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black campuses but potentially exposing him to uncomfortable protests as he seeks reelection against former...
Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in contrast to the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges have soared to their highest levels in decades. The move to quash book bans is welcome to...
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...
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....
After 4 decades in music and major vocal surgery, Jon Bon Jovi is optimistic and still rocking
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Modi is accused of using hate speech for calling Muslims 'infiltrators' at an Indian election rally
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's main opposition party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after...
Get better sleep with these 5 tips from experts
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Global plastic pollution treaty talks hit critical stage in Canada
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Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees...
United Methodists open first top-level conference since breakup over LGBTQ inclusion
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a preacher's son who withstood a recall election spawned by his fight with public employee unions, is joining the crowded Republican presidential race, aides said on Thursday.
Having spent the past several months traveling the country, speaking to conservatives, courting voters and scoring well in some early polls, Walker will officially enter the race with a campaign announcement in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha on July 13, the aides said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the campaign launch.
Walker started a countdown of sorts to his kickoff by posting a slice of his presidential campaign logo on Instagram, with eight more pieces to come in the days ahead. He also tweeted an image of himself waving next to an American flag with the message "It begins."
In fact, the race has been underway for months. The jumbled Republican race already has already attracted 14 candidates, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie getting in earlier in the week.
Walker rose to national prominence soon after his election as governor by pushing for a law in 2011 that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers in the state. Four years later, he pressed to make Wisconsin a right-to-work state where employers and unions are barred from requiring all workers to pay union dues.
In 2011, protests at the Statehouse grew as large as 100,000 people at times, and Democrats in the state Senate fled Wisconsin for three weeks hoping to undermine Walker's efforts. Walker's victories over organized labor certified him as a rising Republican star.
It also made him a top target for Democrats and union leaders, who tried to recall Walker in a special election in 2012. Walker beat back the effort, winning by a larger margin than in 2010 and becoming the first governor in U.S. history to survive such an effort.
Along the way, he shattered state campaign finance records, collecting six-figure checks from prominent conservatives across the country and building a network he's tapping now for his presidential bid.
In between signing the union laws, Walker, aided by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature, also worked down a list of conservative priorities.
He cut income and corporate taxes by nearly $2 billion, lowered property taxes, legalized the carrying of concealed weapons, made abortions more difficult to obtain, required photo identification when voting and expanded the state's private school voucher school program.
But Walker has made missteps along the way. He promised in 2010 that if elected his policies would lead to the creation of 250,000 private-sector jobs. He fell far short of that, as only about 129,000 jobs were added during his first term, and manufacturing-heavy Wisconsin has lagged the national average in job growth since shortly after Walker took office.
His proposed budget cuts to public schools and the University of Wisconsin, the deepest in state history, have generated bipartisan opposition.
Walker has been dogged throughout his tenure as governor by two investigations, neither of which has led to any charges of wrongdoing against him.
The first, begun in May 2010 while Walker was running for governor, focused on activity within Walker's county executive office. Six Walker aides and associates were convicted of charges including theft and misconduct in office.
The second investigation, which grew out of the first, centered on whether conservative groups illegally coordinated fundraising and other political activity to benefit Walker's recall campaign and other Republicans who faced recalls in 2011 and 2012.
This investigation is on hold while the state Supreme Court weighs lawsuits challenging its validity.
Walker is trying to become the first president since Harry Truman, elected nearly 70 years ago, without a college degree. Walker attended Marquette University for three years, but dropped out 34 credits short of graduation in 1990 to take a job with the American Red Cross.
Walker ran for the state Assembly that year and lost. He moved to a more conservative district outside of Milwaukee and ran again in 1993, winning that time. He hasn't lost since.