04-20-2024  9:19 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...

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...

The Latest | World leaders call on Iran and Israel to avoid allowing conflict to worsen

World leaders called on Iran and Israel to try to avoid escalating tensions following the apparent Israeli...

ARNIE STAPLETON, AP Sports Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The third day of Olympic competition featured a couple of notable firsts: Rafaela Silva captured host Brazil's initial gold medal of the Rio Games and fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad became the only American ever to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab.

American Lilly King won a trash-talking duel with Russian Yulia Efimova for the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke on Monday night, the U.S. men's basketball team surged after a slow start, beating Venezuela 113-69, and Serena Williams struggled before beating France's Alize Cornet 7-6 (5), 6-2 in her bid for a second consecutive singles gold medal.

Silva, who grew up on one of Rio's hillside shanty towns, won judo's 57-kilogram division, then, overwhelmed with emotion, performed the Brazilian version of the Green Bay Packers' "Lambeau Leap" to celebrate with her compatriots Monday.

It was, at the least, a momentary reprieve for the host country bracing for what once seemed unthinkable: an early exit by its men's soccer team from the Olympic tournament. Brazil finds itself needing a victory against Denmark to advance and avoid another huge embarrassment two years after a demoralizing 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals of the World Cup.

Brazilian fans aren't just booing their men's soccer team. After months of dire predictions from abroad about the mosquito-borne Zika virus, some locals are doing some stinging of their own: They're jeering U.S. athletes and taunting them over the fears that kept some competitors away from South America's first Olympics.

In the women's sabre tournament, Muhammad, sporting a plain black Muslim head scarf under a red, white and blue mask, was a winner in her opening bout before bowing out. A New Jersey native who started fencing in part because the uniform allowed her to adhere to the tenets of her faith, Muhammad also competes in the team event later this week.

Australia won the first gold medal for rugby sevens at the Olympics, beating archrival New Zealand 24-17 in the women's final Monday night.

A day after adding a record 19th gold medal to his collection, Michael Phelps is swimming the 200 meter butterfly semifinal Monday night and fellow American Katie Ledecky is swimming the women's 200 meter freestyle.

Other highlights from Day 3 of the Rio Games:

 

WALKING THE WALK: King took exception to Efimova, who has served a ban for doping and had her ban for the Rio Olympics overturned, raising her finger in the No. 1 sign after winning her heat in the semifinals. King beat Efimova in the final and crowed afterward about a clean victory. "There is a way to become the best and do it the right way," she said.

GOLF DEBUT: The first Olympic golf shot in 112 years will be hit by the lone Brazilian in the men's field. The International Golf Federation tapped into what few Olympic roots it has by selecting Adilson da Silva to be the first to tee off Thursday. Also in the opening threesome: Graham DeLaet of Canada, a country IGF President Peter Dawson called the defending champ — George Lyon of Canada won the gold medal at the St. Louis Games in 1904.

BRAZIL BLEAK: It has come to this for the Brazilian men's soccer team: The fans are so disappointed with the team that they heckled Neymar and chanted the name of the women team's star during a lackluster, scoreless tie against Iraq over the weekend. Brazil is now facing elimination — a prospect that once seemed unthinkable in the soccer-obsessed Olympic host country.

BILES BROUHAHA: NBC announcer Al Trautwig says he regrets tweeting that the adoptive mother and father of U.S. gymnastics star Simone Biles were not her parents. Trautwig angered adoption advocates by refusing to refer to Ron and Nellie Biles as the 19-year-old's parents. Ron Biles, her maternal grandfather, and his wife Nellie adopted Simone 16 years ago. Trautwig said, "to set the record straight, Ron and Nellie are Simone's parents."

SPECTACULAR SEAS: Sailing, not the dirty water, was finally the focus on troubled Guanabara Bay during a spectacular start to the Olympic regatta on Monday. Windsurfers sped across the waves toward Flamengo Beach in a fresh breeze, against the imposing backdrop of Sugarloaf Mountain. Robert Scheidt won the second race in the Laser class. He's trying to become the first Olympic sailor and first Brazilian to win six Olympic medals.

 

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AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org

Follow AP Sports Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast