04-24-2024  6:25 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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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 ...

Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge US to prosecute the company

Boeing said Wednesday that it lost 5 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers. ...

Authorities confirm 2nd victim of ex-Washington officer was 17-year-old with whom he had a baby

WEST RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Authorities on Wednesday confirmed that a body found at the home of a former Washington state police officer who killed his ex-wife before fleeing to Oregon, where he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was that of a 17-year-old girl with whom he had a baby. ...

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

Sister of Mississippi man who died after police pulled him from car rejects lawsuit settlement

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A woman who sued Mississippi's capital city over the death of her brother has decided to reject a settlement after officials publicly disclosed how much the city would pay his survivors, her attorney said Wednesday. George Robinson, 62, died in January 2019,...

Movie Review: A lyrical portrait of childhood in Cabrini-Green with ‘We Grown Now’

Two 11-year-old boys navigate school, friendship, family and change in Minhal Baig’s lyrical drama “We Grown Now.” It’s an evocative memory piece, wistful and honest, and a different kind of portrait of a very infamous place: Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing development. ...

Tennessee House kills bill that would have banned local officials from studying, funding reparations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Republican-dominant House on Wednesday spiked legislation that would have banned local governments from paying to either study or dispense money for reparations for slavery. The move marked a rare defeat on a GOP-backed proposal initially...

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

Chicago's 'rat hole' removed after city determines sidewalk with animal impression was damaged

CHICAGO (AP) — The “rat hole” is gone. A Chicago sidewalk landmark some residents...

Supreme Court appears skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Wednesday that state abortion bans...

USDA updates rules for school meals that limit added sugars for the first time

The nation's school meals will get a makeover under new nutrition standards that limit added sugars for the first...

Teenage girl arrested after a student and 2 teachers were stabbed at a school in Wales

LONDON (AP) — A teenage girl was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Wednesday after stabbing a student...

Australian police arrest 7 alleged teen extremists linked to stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church

SYDNEY (AP) — Australian police arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in...

European leaders laud tougher migration policies but more people die on treacherous sea crossings

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Children dead in the English Channel. Morgues full of migrants reaching capacity in...

Michael Pearson CNN

(CNN) -- More prosecution witnesses are expected to testify Thursday in a marathon 11-hour session in the rape trial of two Steubenville, Ohio, football players accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

The trial, which is likely to stretch into the weekend, is moving quickly to accommodate the schedule of visiting Judge Thomas Lipps, who is presiding over the trial without a jury. A verdict is expected by Sunday.

Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter opened the trial Wednesday saying the defendants -- Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16 -- treated the girl "like a toy" with a string of degrading acts during a series of end-of-summer parties in August.

The teens are charged with rape. Mays is also charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material. Defense attorneys say the two are innocent.

According to prosecutors, Richmond and Mays each penetrated the victim's vagina with their fingers, an act that constitutes rape under Ohio law.

They are not accused of having intercourse with the girl, although Hemmeter said in opening statements that one photograph appears to show semen on the girl's body and DNA analysis of semen found on a blanket she was lying on was a match for Mays.

Some of the alleged abuse was captured in cellphone images circulated in text messages and on the Internet, raising the profile of the case and bringing national attention to the town.

The case will hinge not on consent, but rather whether Mays and Richmond knew the girl was too impaired to know what was happening the night of the alleged attacks, Hemmeter said in opening statements Wednesday.

The girl, Hemmeter said, was "too impaired to say no, too impaired to say stop."

Six witnesses for the prosecution testified Wednesday, saying she appeared to be drunk -- stumbling, swaying and throwing up.

One witness, a 17-year-old girl who went to a party with the alleged victim, said she and the girl shared a half a bottle of vodka, which they each poured into a flavored crushed ice drink.

The alleged victim also had a beer and seemed to get drunk very quickly, the witness said.

The party broke up about 12:30 a.m. and the girl left with Mays and Richmond, according to the witness -- who said she pleaded with her not go. The witness said she didn't see the girl again until the next day when she picked her up at another home.

She described the girl as a "mess," wearing her stained shirt inside out.

On cross-examination, Richmond's attorney, Walter Madison, asked the witness if her view of what had happened that night had been framed by the tweets and social media posts she had seen about the victim, and if what she had seen in those messages made her angry.

The girl said it had.

Another witness, a 17-year-old friend of Richmond, said on cross-examination that while the girl appeared drunk, he did not believe she was unaware of what she was doing.

The boy also told Mays' attorney, Brian Duncan, that he hadn't seen the girl drinking and had not witnessed Mays involved in any sexual contact with the girl.

Another witness, a 17-year-old girl, told prosecutors that the girl was unable to lift her head when a now-infamous picture was taken of her being held limply by Richmond and Mays, but she said the girl was not unconscious.

On cross-examination, she told Madison that the girl was able to answer questions and could walk on her own.

The case has cast an unwelcome spotlight on Steubenville, a small, down-on-its-luck town along the banks of the Ohio River.

Critics have accused community leaders of trying to paper over rampant misconduct by players of the highly regarded Steubenville High School football team and have suggested that other students took part in the assaults or failed to do enough stop them.

The case has attracted the attention of bloggers and even the loosely organized hacking group Anonymous, which have questioned everything from the behavior of the football team to the integrity of the investigation.

CNN's Poppy Harlow and Brian Vitagliano contributed to this report.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast