04-24-2024  11:40 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

NORTHWEST NEWS

A Conservative Quest to Limit Diversity Programs Gains Momentum in States

In support of DEI, Oregon and Washington have forged ahead with legislation to expand their emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in government and education.

Epiphanny Prince Hired by Liberty in Front Office Job Day After Retiring

A day after announcing her retirement, Epiphanny Prince has a new job working with the New York Liberty as director of player and community engagement. Prince will serve on the basketball operations and business staffs, bringing her 14 years of WNBA experience to the franchise. 

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

NEWS BRIEFS

Mt. Tabor Park Selected for National Initiative

Mt. Tabor Park is the only Oregon park and one of just 24 nationally to receive honor. ...

OHCS, BuildUp Oregon Launch Program to Expand Early Childhood Education Access Statewide

Funds include million for developing early care and education facilities co-located with affordable housing. ...

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 ...

Biden administration announces plans for up to 12 lease sales for offshore wind energy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A new five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production was announced Wednesday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, with up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028. Haaland...

A conservative quest to limit diversity programs gains momentum in states

A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is gaining momentum in state capitals and college governing boards, with officials in about one-third of the states now taking some sort of action against it. Tennessee became the latest when the Republican...

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...

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

Ancestry website cataloguing names of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The names of thousands of people held in Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II have been digitized and made available for free, genealogy company Ancestry announced Wednesday. The website, known as one of the largest global online resources of...

Ethnic Karen guerrillas in Myanmar leave a town that army lost 2 weeks ago as rival group holds sway

BANGKOK (AP) — Guerrilla fighters from the main ethnic Karen fighting force battling Myanmar’s military government have withdrawn from the eastern border town of Myawaddy two weeks after forcing the army to give up its defense, residents and members of the group said Wednesday. ...

Pro-Palestinian student protests target colleges' financial ties with Israel

Students at a growing number of U.S. colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel — or any companies that support its ongoing war in Gaza. The demand has its roots in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions...

ENTERTAINMENT

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....

Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots to headline the BET Experience concerts in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots will headline concerts to celebrate the return of the BET Experience in Los Angeles just days before the 2024 BET Awards. BET announced Monday the star-studded lineup of the concert series, which makes a return after a...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Rush hour chaos in London as 5 military horses run amok after getting spooked during exercise

LONDON (AP) — Five military horses spooked by noise from a building site bolted during routine exercises on...

Get better sleep with these 5 tips from experts

Spending too many nights trying to fall asleep — or worrying there aren’t enough ZZZs in your day? You’re...

Biden says the US is rushing weaponry to Ukraine as he signs a billion war aid measure into law

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he was immediately rushing badly needed weaponry to...

A Russian Orthodox priest who took part in services for Navalny is suspended by the patriarch

The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Chuch has suspended a priest who participated in services for the late...

A Russian deputy defense minister is ordered jailed pending trial on bribery charges

A Russian deputy defense minister in charge of military construction projects and accused of living a lavish...

Poland's prosecutor general says previous government used spyware against hundreds of people

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's prosecutor general told the parliament on Wednesday that powerful Pegasus spyware...

Terry Frieden and Deirdre Walsh CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder agreed Monday to meet with the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, but sought to add top congressional Democrats in the latest step of a showdown over the panel's push for more Department of Justice documents on the botched Fast and Furious gun-running sting operation.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the chairman of the House committee, has scheduled a vote later this week on a measure citing Holder for contempt for failing to turn over the documents he seeks.

However, Issa offered Friday to postpone the vote if Holder followed through on an earlier pledge to turn over some of the documents.

Issa also agreed last week to a meeting on the issue, as requested earlier by Holder, but made clear he wanted the documents ahead of time and also wanted Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa -- the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a leading critic of Holder -- to take part.

In a letter Monday responding to Issa, Holder agreed to a meeting on Tuesday. However, Holder said the meeting should also include the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- Pat Leahy of Vermont -- and the ranking Democrat on Issa's panel -- Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

Holder also indicated he would turn over the documents at the meeting, rather than ahead of time.

His letter said the purpose of the meeting would be to reach an agreement that would avoid a "constitutional confrontation" -- a reference to the committee's planned vote on the contempt measure.

Justice officials and Issa's committee have been battling for months over the materials sought by the chairman, with Issa accusing the attorney general of stonewalling the investigation into Fast and Furious.

The Justice Department says it already has handed over more than 7,000 pages of records to House investigators, and says the remaining material Issa wants could jeopardize criminal prosecutions.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives launched Operation Fast and Furious out of Arizona to track weapons purchases by Mexican drug cartels.

However, it lost track of more than 1,000 firearms that the agency had allowed straw buyers to carry across the border, and two of the lost weapons turned up at the scene of the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Issa and Grassley have accused Holder and other top Justice Department officials of withholding requested documents and misleading them about when they first learned of the program.

Holder fended off a call for his resignation last week at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, accused him of misleading Congress over the Fast and Furious program and other misdeeds.

Holder called Cornyn's complaint "almost breathtaking in its inaccuracy" and added, "I don't have any intention of resigning."

CNN's Tom Cohen and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast