07-27-2024  7:57 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

People Flee Idaho Town Through a Tunnel of Fire and Smoke as Western Wildfires Spread

Multiple communities in Idaho have been evacuated after lightning strikes sparked fast-moving wildfires.  As that and other blazes scorch the Pacific Northwest, authorities say California's largest wildfire is zero-percent contained after destroying 134 structures and threatening 4,200 more. A sheriff says it was started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully. Officials say they have arrested a 42-year-old man who will be arraigned Monday.

Word is Bond Takes Young Black Leaders to Ghana

“Transformative” trip lets young travelers visit painful slave history, celebrate heritage.

Wildfires Threaten Communities in the West as Oregon Fire Closes Interstate, Creates Its Own Weather

Firefighters in the West are scrambling as wildfires threaten communities in Oregon, California and Washington. A stretch of Interstate 84 connecting Oregon and Idaho in the area of one of the fires was closed indefinitely Tuesday. New lightning-sparked wildfires in the Sierra near the California-Nevada border forced the evacuation of a recreation area, closed a state highway and were threatening structures Tuesday.

In Washington State, Inslee's Final Months Aimed at Staving off Repeal of Landmark Climate Law

Voters in Washington state will decide this fall whether to keep one of the country's more aggressive laws aimed at stemming carbon pollution. The repeal vote imperils the most significant climate policy passed during outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee's three terms, and Inslee — who made climate action a centerpiece of his short-lived presidential campaign in the 2020 cycle — is fighting hard against it. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Iconic Elm Tree in Downtown Celebrated Before Emergency Removal

The approximately 154-year-old tree has significant damage and declining health following recent storms ...

Hawthorne Bridge Westbound Closes Thursday for Repairs

Westbound traffic lanes will close 2 p.m. Thursday, July 25, through 5 a.m. Friday, July 26 ...

Oregon Senate Democrats Unanimously Endorse Kamala Harris for President

Today, in unified support for Kamala Harris as president of the United States, all 17 Oregon Senate Democrats officially...

Dr. Vinson Eugene Allen and Dusk to Dawn Urgent Care Make a Historical Mark as the First African American Owned Chain of Urgent Care Facilities in the United States

Dusk to Dawn Urgent Care validated as the First African American Owned Urgent Care in the nation with chain locations ...

Washington State Black Legislators Endorse Kamala Harris for President

Members of the Washington State Legislative Black Caucus (LBC) are proud to announce their enthusiastic endorsement of Vice President...

California's largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West

California's largest active fire exploded in size on Friday evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger. The Park Fire's intensity and dramatic spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to...

Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth's temperatures soar to record highs

BENI MELLAL, Morocco (AP) — In the unrelenting heat of Morocco’s Middle Atlas, people were sleeping on rooftops. Hanna Ouhbour needed refuge too, but she was outside a hospital waiting for her diabetic cousin who was in a room without air conditioning. On Wednesday, there were 21...

Chiefs set deadline of 6 months to decide whether to renovate Arrowhead or build new — and where

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs have set a deadline of six months from now to decide on a plan for the future of Arrowhead Stadium, whether that means renovating their iconic home or building an entirely new stadium in Kansas or Missouri. After a joint ballot initiative with the...

Missouri governor says new public aid plan in the works for Chiefs, Royals stadiums

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday that he expects the state to put together an aid plan by the end of the year to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from being lured across state lines to new stadiums in Kansas. Missouri's renewed efforts...

OPINION

The 900-Page Guide to Snuffing Out American Democracy

What if there was a blueprint for a future presidential administration to unilaterally lay waste to our constitutional order and turn America from a democracy into an autocracy in one fell swoop? That is what one far-right think tank and its contributors...

SCOTUS Decision Seizes Power to Decide Federal Regulations: Hard-Fought Consumer Victories Now at Risk

For Black and Latino Americans, this power-grab by the court throws into doubt and potentially weakens current agency rules that sought to bring us closer to the nation’s promises of freedom and justice for all. In two particular areas – fair housing and...

Minding the Debate: What’s Happening to Our Brains During Election Season

The June 27 presidential debate is the real start of the election season, when more Americans start to pay attention. It’s when partisan rhetoric runs hot and emotions run high. It’s also a chance for us, as members of a democratic republic. How? By...

State of the Nation’s Housing 2024: The Cost of the American Dream Jumped 47 Percent Since 2020

Only 1 in 7 renters can afford homeownership, homelessness at an all-time high ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Why these Apache Catholics felt faced with a 'false choice' after priest removed church's icons

MESCALERO, New Mexico (AP) — Anne Marie Brillante never imagined she would have to choose between being Apache and being Catholic. To her, and many others in the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico who are members of St. Joseph Apache Mission, their Indigenous culture had always...

Japan's Sado gold mine gains UNESCO status after Tokyo pledges to exhibit dark WWII history

TOKYO (AP) — The UNESCO World Heritage committee on Saturday decided to register Japan’s controversial Sado gold mine as a cultural heritage site after the country agreed to include it in an exhibit of its dark history of abusing Korean laborers during World War II. The decision...

California date palm ranches reap not only fruit, but a permit to host weddings and quinceañeras

COACHELLA, Calif. (AP) — Claudia Lua Alvarado has staked her future on the rows of towering date palms behind the home where she lives with her husband and two children in a desert community east of Los Angeles. It’s not solely due to the fleshy, sweet fruit they give each year....

ENTERTAINMENT

Educators wonder how to teach the writings of Alice Munro in wake of daughter's revelations

NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, Robert Lecker has read, taught and written about Alice Munro, the Nobel laureate from Canada renowned for her short stories. A professor of English at McGill University in Montreal, and author of numerous critical studies of Canadian fiction, he has thought of Munro...

Adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s ‘Nickel Boys’ to open New York Film Festival this fall

“Nickel Boys,” an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, will open the 62nd New York Film Festival in September, organizers said Monday. Filmmaker RaMell Ross directed the drama based on the 2019 novel about two Black teenagers in an abusive reform school...

Hikers and cyclists can now cross Vermont on New England's longest rail trail, a year after floods

HARDWICK, Vt. (AP) — A year after epic summer flooding delayed the official opening of New England’s longest rail trail, the 93-mile route across northern Vermont is finally delivering on the promise made years ago of a cross-state recreation trail. The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth's temperatures soar to record highs

BENI MELLAL, Morocco (AP) — In the unrelenting heat of Morocco’s Middle Atlas, people were sleeping on...

Southeast Asia top diplomats condemn Myanmar violence, urge peaceful means to settle sea disputes

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Southeast Asian top diplomats on Saturday condemned violence in Myanmar's ongoing civil...

Trump is returning to Minnesota with Midwesterner Vance to try to swing Democrat-leaning state

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Donald Trump is taking his campaign back to Minnesota, a state that has favored...

UK drops plans to challenge ICC arrest warrant request against Benjamin Netanyahu

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said Friday that the U.K. will not intervene in the...

Japan's Sado gold mine gains UNESCO status after Tokyo pledges to exhibit dark WWII history

TOKYO (AP) — The UNESCO World Heritage committee on Saturday decided to register Japan’s controversial Sado...

Southeast Asia top diplomats condemn Myanmar violence, urge peaceful means to settle sea disputes

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Southeast Asian top diplomats on Saturday condemned violence in Myanmar's ongoing civil...

David Bauder AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A television show about members of a Muslim community in Michigan is focusing what may be its second-to-last episode almost entirely on the conflicted feelings that its featured participants have about marking anniversaries of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The episode of TLC's "All-American Muslim" airs Sunday (10 p.m. EST). The series attracted attention earlier this month when a conservative Christian group called on advertisers to boycott the series, calling it "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

Two companies, the Lowe's home improvement chain and travel planning website Kayak.com, announced they were pulling ads. TLC hasn't said how many companies responded to the Florida Family Association's call to stop sponsoring the show. The controversy prompted a backlash of people protesting against Lowe's. Some new advertisers have signed on since then, TLC General Manager Amy Winter said Thursday.

Filming for the reality TV series took place during commemorations for the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Both TLC and the show's characters, Muslims living in and around Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit at the heart of one of the largest Arab-American populations outside the Middle East, wanted to address the topic, Winter said.

"I'm very proud of it," she said. "What you'll see in there is a community with a range of emotions that they express over what was probably one of the most pivotal moments in our nation's history."

Mike Jaafar, a deputy sheriff who participated in a Sept. 11 memorial service at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, helped law enforcement prepare for any problems related to the anniversary. He choked up when recalling how police officers in New York City were killed as they tried to rescue people at the World Trade Center.

"You think about your guys who work for you, going into a building and not coming home," he said.

Nawal Auode was a high school sophomore on Sept. 11, 2001, when her mother called to say she was picking her up at school. Her mother found out about the attacks as she was passing out flyers to advertise a day care center and a man spit at her and ordered her off his porch.

"It was the first time I realized that people looked at me as less American," said Suehaila Amen. "As a person who was born and raised in this country, it was very difficult."

Auode said she dreads the anniversary of the attacks because of a sense that members of her community have to defend themselves for something they had nothing to do with.

That's at the root of the biggest conflict in Sunday's episode. One woman talks about how important it was to attend a Sept. 11 commemoration, but her adult-age children didn't want to go.

One man, Bilal Amen, traveled to New York City to visit the Sept. 11 memorial because, he said, "I want to see the place that changed my life."

Another woman, Nina Bazzy, spoke angrily about the Sept. 11 terrorists and said they weren't real Muslims because "a real Muslim would not do anything like that." She said Osama bin Laden made life difficult for many Muslims in the United States.

"He ruined it for us," Bazzy said. "He ruined it for our kids. He made us scared in our own homes."

"All-American Muslim" ends its eight-episode first season on Jan. 8. Its ratings are considered disappointing for TLC, and the attention caused by this month's controversy didn't improve them. Based on ratings alone, a second season would be considered unlikely. Working in its favor is TLC's pride in a series that spotlights communities that many viewers aren't familiar with.

TLC hasn't made a decision on the show's future and its executives will meet soon to consider it, Winter said.

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Online:

http://tlc.discovery.com/

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