04-24-2024  9:25 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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

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.

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 ...

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...

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

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing to announce plans for a new five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production, with up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028. The plan was to be...

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

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...

Ancestry website to catalogue 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 will be digitized and made available for free, genealogy company Ancestry announced Wednesday. The website, known as one of the largest global online resources of...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

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....

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

The Latest | Germany will resume working with UN relief agency for Palestinians after a review

Germany said Wednesday that it plans to follow several other countries in resuming cooperation with the U.N....

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...

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 nearby building site bolted during routine exercises...

Moscow court rejects Evan Gershkovich's appeal, keeping him in jail until at least June 30

MOSCOW (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain jailed on espionage charges until at...

UK puts its defense industry on 'war footing' and gives Ukraine 0 million in new military aid

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The U.K. prime minister said Tuesday the country is putting its defense industry on a...

With public universities under threat, massive protests against austerity shake Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Raising their textbooks and diplomas and singing the national anthem, hundreds of...

By Laura Smith-Spark CNN






A new TV appeal for information about the disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann in 2007 has prompted almost 1,000 responses, London's Metropolitan Police said Tuesday.

The appeal is based on a new investigation and was aired on the BBC's "Crimewatch" program on Monday.

For six years, mystery has surrounded Madeleine's disappearance from her family's holiday villa in the resort town of Praia da Luz, in Portugal.

Now a review of the evidence by a team from London's Metropolitan Police appears to have raised the prospect of fresh leads.

The police have received more than 730 calls and and 212 e-mails since the appeal was broadcast, the case's lead investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, said Tuesday.

"Detectives are now trawling through and prioritizing that material. This will take time," he said in a news release.

Callers give name for man in sketch

Police said Monday that two separate people had come up with the same name in response to computer-generated sketches of a man whom they are working to identify in connection with Madeleine's disappearance.

The man is described as white, between 20 and 40 years old, with short brown hair and a medium build. He was seen carrying a blond child, who might have been in pajamas and who was estimated to be 3 to 4 years old, around the time Madeleine disappeared, police said.

The two sketches, which police believe to be of the same man, are based on descriptions from separate witnesses, investigators said.

The same police appeal is to be screened in Holland on Tuesday and Germany on Wednesday in the hope of flushing out new information. The Portuguese resort is popular with people of many different nationalities.

The latest revelation is critical in reconstructing what exactly happened on the night of May 3, 2007, when Madeleine disappeared from her family's villa while her parents dined at a nearby restaurant. The girl was just days shy of her fourth birthday.

Neither her parents nor the detectives investigating her case have given up on one day finding the little girl from Leicestershire, England.

"There may be an entirely innocent explanation of this man, but we need to establish who he is to assist with our inquiries," Redwood said earlier.

Additionally, investigators believe they have a better understanding of when Madeleine may have been abducted, Redwood added.

"The timeline we have now established has given new significance to sightings and movements of people in and around Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance."

More sketches released

As police sift through the evidence, they have also released sketches of a fair-haired man or men seen near the scene on or around May 3, 2007, whom they would like to trace.

The detectives are investigating a spike in break-ins in the area in the weeks before Madeleine disappeared, two of them in the same block where her family was staying.

Police also said Monday they are looking into four separate sightings of charity collectors on May 3 in Praia da Luz. Two additional sketches were released of men described as Portuguese or Portuguese-looking.

The Metropolitan Police Service is offering a reward of up to £20,000 ($32,000) for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of whomever is responsible for Madeleine's abduction.

Meanwhile, her parents continue to hold on to hope that their daughter will be returned to them, explaining on their website: "We still worry about her, we miss her as much as we ever did, we remain as determined as ever to find her and to know what has happened."

CNN's Sarah Aarthun, Erin McLaughlin and Stephanie Halasz contributed to this report.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast