03-27-2023  3:55 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Idaho Hospital to Stop Baby Deliveries, Partly Over Politics

A rural hospital in northern Idaho will stop delivering babies or providing other obstetrical care, citing a shifting legal climate in which recently enacted state laws could subject physicians to prosecution for providing abortions, among other reasons

Water Contamination in Oregon Could Prompt EPA to Step In

It's been three decades since state agencies first noted high levels of nitrate contamination in the groundwater in Morrow and Umatilla counties and residents have long complained that the pollution is negatively impacting their health.

North Portland Library to Undergo Renovations and Expansion

As one of the library building projects funded by the 2020 Multnomah County voter-approved bond, North Portland Library will close to the public on April 5, 2023, to begin construction processes for its renovation and expansion.

Report: 119K People Hurt by Riot-Control Weapons Since 2015

The report on casualties from a largely unregulated industry cites an alarming evolution of crowd-control devices into more powerful and indiscriminate designs and deployment, including dropping tear gas from drones.

NEWS BRIEFS

Motorcycle Lane Filtering Law Passes Oregon Senate

SB 422 will allow motorcyclists to avoid dangers of stop-and-go traffic under certain conditions ...

MET Rental Assistance Now Available

The Muslim Educational Trust is extending its Rental Assistance Program to families in need living in Multnomah or Washington...

Two for One Tickets for Seven Guitars on Thursday, March 23

Taylore Mahogany Scott's performance in Seven Guitars brings to life Vera Dotson, a woman whose story arose in August Wilson's...

PassinArt: A Theatre Company and PNMC Festival Call for Actors and Directors

Actors and directors of all skill levels are sought for the Pacific NW Multicultural Readers Series and Film Festival ...

Hearing on New Burnside Bridge Construction

The Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project team will present HB 3323 and 3301 this Thursday, March 23 from 5-6:30 p.m. ...

States' divisions on abortion widen after Roe overturned

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A group of Tennessee Republicans began this year’s legislative session hoping to add narrow exceptions to one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, armed with the belief that most people — even in conservative Tennessee — reject extremes on the issue. ...

Factory or farm? Oregon may alter land use for chipmakers

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. (AP) — Aaron Nichols walked past rows of kale growing on his farm, his knee-high brown rubber boots speckled with some of the richest soil on earth, and gazed with concern toward fields in the distance. Just over the horizon loomed a gigantic building of the semiconductor...

Texas without star Dylan Disu for regional final vs. Miami

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas forward Dylan Disu, one of the bright stars of the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, was ruled out of the Longhorns' game against Miami for a spot in the Final Four on Sunday with a left foot injury. The 6-foot-9 Disu was the MVP of the Longhorns'...

March Madness: Alabama and surprising bunch remain in South

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Alabama was expected to be in the Sweet 16 as the overall top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Few thought the teams standing between the Crimson Tide and a trip to the Final Four would be No. 5 seed San Diego State, sixth-seeded Creighton and 15th-seeded...

OPINION

Celebrating 196 Years of The Black Press

It was on March 17, 1827, at a meeting of “Freed Negroes” in New York City, that Samuel Cornish, a Presbyterian minister, and John Russwurn, the first Negro college graduate in the United States, established the negro newspaper. ...

DEQ Announces Suspension of Oregon’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program

The state’s popular incentive for drivers to switch to electric vehicles is scheduled to pause in May ...

FHA Makes Housing More Affordable for 850,000 Borrowers

Savings tied to median market home prices ...

State Takeover Schemes Threaten Public Safety

Blue cities in red states, beware: conservatives in state government may be coming for your police department. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

India expels Rahul Gandhi, Modi critic, from Parliament

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top opposition leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expelled from Parliament Friday, a day after a court convicted him of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for mocking the surname Modi in an election speech. The...

1st Black editor named to lead Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday named Leroy Chapman Jr. as its new editor-in-chief, making him the first Black editor to lead the newspaper in its 155-year history. Chapman, 52, has worked in journalism for nearly three decades and has spent the past 12 years at the...

Lawsuit: Slurs, coercion at BBQ chain with racist history

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina barbecue chain known for its pro-segregation stance in a landmark 1960s case and its embrace of the Confederate flag in 2000 is facing allegations of racism and sexual harassment by the fired general manager of one of its restaurants. According...

ENTERTAINMENT

Review: Lana Del Rey's 'Ocean Blvd' is an intimate epic

“Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” by Lana Del Rey (Interscope Records) Lana Del Rey is a complicated, enigmatic pop star — since the height of her breakout album, “Born to Die," the singer has been labeled one of the best songwriters of her generation....

Book thief in plot that duped famous authors avoids prison

NEW YORK (AP) — It was the stuff of novels: For years, a con artist plagued the publishing industry, impersonating editors and agents to pull off hundreds of literary heists. But the manuscripts obtained from high-profile authors were never resold or leaked, rendering the thefts all the more...

Darcelle, world's oldest working drag queen, dies at 92

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Walter Cole, better known as the iconic drag queen who performed for decades as Darcelle XV and a fearless advocate for Portland's LGBTQ+ community, has died of natural causes in Portland, Oregon. He was 92. Darcelle, who died Thursday, was crowned the...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Black, Hispanic investors struggle with faith in crypto

NEW YORK (AP) — A software developer twice invested his savings in cryptocurrencies, only to lose it all. But he...

In Macron's France, streets and fields seethe with protest

PARIS (AP) — A big day has come for French high school student Elisa Fares. At age 17, she is taking part in her...

March Madness: pair in Final Four, Monday settles last 2

March Madness has reached the Elite Eight! And unlike in the men's bracket, two No. 1 seeds are still playing in...

Travel disruption hits Germany on eve of transport strike

BERLIN (AP) — An increased number of travelers in Germany boarded trains and planes on Sunday, a day before a...

Eyes on abstention as Cubans vote for National Assembly

HAVANA (AP) — Cubans voted Sunday in National Assembly elections with attention focused on voter turnout amid a...

Tokyo demands China free Japan national detained in Beijing

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo has demanded that China release a Japanese national who was detained in Beijing earlier this...

Hope Yen Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the U.S. census nears its final stages, the government is preparing for possible debacles that could derail its $15 billion head count, from mass identity theft and lawsuits to homeowners who refuse to answer their doors.
Census Bureau documents, obtained by The Associated Press, underscore the highly fragile nature of the high-stakes population count before the government dispatches some 700,000 temporary workers to visit homes, beginning in May.
The preparedness efforts are not entirely new. Previous censuses had contingency plans in place, at least conceptually, and the Census Bureau has never failed to meet its constitutional mandate of delivering population counts by Dec. 31 each decennial year.
But this is the first time the Census has detailed -- in 300 pages of internal documents released under the Freedom of Information Act -- specific risks to the once-a-decade government count. It's part of the bureau's approach to handling threats that could undermine accuracy, omit large segments of the public or add to already ballooning costs.
Many of the documents proved telling, even with portions redacted or withheld for security reasons.
``Considering the volume of data that the Bureau of Census gathers during the census, some loss of confidential data is bound to occur,'' one document bluntly states. Citing past missteps, such as the loss of work laptops by census employees in 2006, it details a rapid-response effort that includes notification of authorities, if appropriate, as well as free credit monitoring for potential identity theft victims.
One document says the ``No. 1 concern'' could be a refusal by immigrants to participate.
Placing a cap on costs if immigrants try to evade the count, the response plan notes that a census worker will attempt to visit a home six times at most -- or fewer, if a resident makes clear he won't cooperate -- before the worker questions neighbors to get the information. If that fails, the Census Bureau will statistically impute data based on characteristics of neighboring households.
In 2000, imputation, a statistical method that was not part of previous court battles over statistical sampling, increased the U.S. population by 1.1 million, particularly among urban racial minorities who would have been missed by a head count. Census Bureau director Robert Groves has ruled out sampling but not other statistical methods.
Another risk being monitored by the Census Bureau is the possibility of a conservative boycott following recent rhetoric, including one blogger's threat to pull out a shotgun to scare away census workers. The White House condemned the remarks Tuesday, and the bureau said it remains on the lookout for signs of a boycott or other trouble. Conservatives who refuse to participate may also be counted by way of neighbor questioning or statistical imputation.
``With these things, anything can turn on a dime, implode and impact our ability to recruit staff and gain cooperation,'' Arnold Jackson, the bureau's associate director for the decennial census, said in an interview. ``We also remain terribly concerned about safety.''
He said the bureau has tightened security procedures and boosted targeted advertising to specific groups, including a public service announcement released this week featuring President George W. Bush's former political adviser, Karl Rove. Still, while there have been anecdotal reports that conservatives may fill out only the number of people in their households, Jackson says there has been little sign of incomplete census forms received so far.
Jackson said the Census Bureau will tap into its reserve fund of roughly $7 million for ad buys in low-response regions, which he identified as having predominantly ``non-English speaking households, areas of heavy concentration of minority groups, such as African-American and Latino, and urbanized areas.''
Currently, the mail participation rate for the 2010 census is 63 percent, and officials remain cautiously optimistic they will be able to match, if not top, the 2000 mail-back rate of 72 percent by the time the Census Bureau winds down its mail-in operation in late April. From May to July, census takers are sent to homes that do not mail back forms.
Other potential risks include:
--Information technology breakdowns. A key software system used to schedule, deploy and pay census takers is full of defects, and its ability to handle a massive payroll of more than 600,000 temporary employees who begin work in May remains in doubt. Robert Goldenkoff, a director at the Government Accountability Office, believes the census could face serious delays if IT problems aren't fixed soon; the Census Bureau says it's dealing with the problem.
-- Lawsuits. Census officials are calling it ``relatively certain'' that they will be sued by at least one state that just misses gaining an additional U.S. House seat. The state will probably move quickly ``in order to potentially reverse the December 2010 announcement'' of the official head count figures, according to documents. Officials said litigation could involve outreach to non-English speaking communities or census methodology, such as the count of prisoners, non-citizens or religious missionaries overseas.
-- Mass retirements. A significant number of Census Bureau employees are now eligible to retire, and the 2010 count could be in peril if there is a mass exodus during peak census periods. So far, however, there has been no sign of that, according to documents. In the meantime, the bureau is developing detailed plans to make the learning curve shorter for newly hired employees.

MLK Breakfast 2023

Photos from The Skanner Foundation's 37th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast.