04-20-2024  8:51 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 Chief of Staff, New Office Leadership

Governor expands executive team and names new Housing and Homelessness Initiative Director ...

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 $1,000 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 ...

Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most significant case in decades on homelessness has reached the Supreme Court as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live. The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that...

The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year...

Two-time world champ J’den Cox retires at US Olympic wrestling trials; 44-year-old reaches finals

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — J’den Cox walked off the mat after dropping a 2-2 decision to Kollin Moore at the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials on Friday night, leaving his shoes behind to a standing ovation. The bronze medal winner at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 was beaten by...

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...

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

The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year...

Lawsuits under New York's new voting rights law reveal racial disenfranchisement even in blue states

FREEPORT, N.Y. (AP) — Weihua Yan had seen dramatic demographic changes since moving to Long Island's Nassau County. Its Asian American population alone had grown by 60% since the 2010 census. Why then, he wondered, did he not see anyone who looked like him on the county's local...

USC cancels graduation keynote by filmmaker amid controversy over decision to drop student's speech

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California further shook up its commencement plans Friday, announcing the cancelation of a keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu just days after making the controversial choice to disallow the student valedictorian from speaking. The...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014,...

Tennessee Volkswagen employees overwhelmingly vote to join United Auto Workers union

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to...

The man who set himself on fire outside the courthouse where Trump is on trial dies of his injuries

NEW YORK (AP) — The man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where...

Venice Biennale titled 'Foreigners Everywhere' platforms LGBTQ+, outsider and Indigenous artists

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice...

NATO secretary-general says some allies have air defense systems they could give to Ukraine

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday pressed member countries to give more Patriot...

Russia pummels exhausted Ukrainian forces with smaller attacks ahead of a springtime advance

Russian troops are ramping up pressure on exhausted Ukrainian forces to prepare to seize more land this spring and...

Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — One or more gunmen opened fire Wednesday at a Southern California social services center, shooting multiple people, authorities said.

Several law enforcement agencies converged on the scene in San Bernardino and were searching for the suspects. Triage units were being set up in the area.

Some people were seen being wheeled away on gurneys after gunfire erupted at the Inland Regional Center. Others walked quickly from a building with their hands in the air and were searched by officers before being reunited with loved ones.

Initial reports said more than 20 were injured Police were working to secure the scene in the inland region about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, Sgt. Vicky Cervantes said. No arrests have been made.

Terry Petit said his daughter works at the center, and he got a text from her saying she was hiding in the building after hearing gunshots.

Petit choked back tears as he read the texts for reporters outside the center. He said she wrote: "People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office."

At a Shell gas station about a block from the shooting site, store manager Ana Fuentes said there was a flood of police activity in the area.

"There's maybe like 150 cops going toward Hospitality Lane," she said, as sirens echoed in the background.

She said she hadn't gotten any instructions to stay inside but that customers coming in told her about the shootings at Inland Regional Center.

The center says on its website that it provides social services to people with developmental disabilities.

The city of San Bernardino has struggled to rebound after declaring bankruptcy in 2012. The city of about 214,000 is in the two-county inland region that was hit hard by the Great Recession.

The area where the shooting occurred is along a main city road that fronts a city golf course and recreation center.

President Barack Obama has been brought up to date on the shooting at a Southern California social services center.

The White House says he was briefed by his homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, and has asked to be kept informed as the situation develops.

Authorities say multiple people were shot Wednesday at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. Police were searching for one or more gunmen.

The president and CEO of the Southern California social services center where gunfire has erupted says the focus is on a building that houses at least 25 employees as well as a library and conference center.

Marybeth Feild of the Inland Regional Center says "the incident is in the conference area" that an outside group was renting Wednesday. She says she is not at the center, which serves people with developmental disabilities and does not know what outside group rented the center.

Feild says people served by the center also would have been in the building, which is in San Bernardino, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Police confirm that people have died in the shooting at a Southern California social services center.

San Bernardino police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told KCBS-TV on Wednesday that "there are multiple casualties and there are some confirmed fatalities." She says she doesn't have specific numbers.

She told the television station that it appears there was more than one shooter. She believes they were wearing "military-style" attire.

A hospital says it's received four patients in its trauma center after a shooting at a social services facility in Southern California.

Briana Pastorino, spokeswoman for Loma Linda University Medical Center, says she didn't know their conditions. She says the hospital expects to get three more patients.

Authorities say multiple people were shot and some were killed Wednesday at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told KCBS-TV that police were searching for more than one gunman. She didn't have specific numbers on the number of dead and injured.

Gov. Jerry Brown's press office said on Twitter that the governor has been briefed and "is closely monitoring this disturbing and ongoing situation unfolding in San Bernardino.

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast