03-27-2023  3:50 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

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...

Christian Morrow, Special to the NNPA from the New Pittsburgh Courier

As reported in last week's New Pittsburgh Courier, there are more African-American families living in poverty than at any time since the U.S. Census Bureau began gathering such statistics. Though the poverty rate increased for all ethnic groups, the increase was greatest among Blacks.
While it is not surprising to see poverty increase during a prolonged recession, the report also showed that despite anti-poverty programs dating back to the 1960s, since 1987, median annual income for African-Americans has consistently lagged behind non-Hispanic Whites. The income difference in 2009 was almost $22,000.

Derdrick Muhammad, senior organizer and research associate for the Institute for Policy Studies, said the report not only reaffirms the economic divide between Blacks and Whites, but also indicates it may be getting worse.

"In 2008, Blacks were making about $.62 for every dollar Whites made. Last year it was $.60," he said. "In the mid-1970s it had narrowed to about $.50 on the dollar. I think the only way to bridge this gap is to have a progressive economy like we had in the 1940s."

Muhammad said the federal government cannot, of course, copy a wartime economy, but it can pursue policies to create jobs and educational opportunities. He said massive subsidies for "green jobs" and infrastructure improvement would be two areas where such policies should be focused.

"But with infrastructure, there has to be a racial equity component so we can demand diversity from contractors," he said. "To me, the economy isn't the problem, it's the lack of political will. So I don't see this happening any time soon."

Derrick Boykin, Northeast regional organizer for Bread For The World, said the census numbers show people who have never been in poverty before now are, largely as a result of the extended recession. That number could continue to grow for some working families as tax rate reductions authorized during the Bush administration expire.

"If the Earned Income Tax Credit and The Child Tax Credit are allowed to expire, 1.5 million more people—half of them children—will be thrown into poverty," he said. "We also need to see continued authorization for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. While these are immediate concerns, they apply to the longer-term poverty and income issues for African-Americans because without them, we'll be even further behind than we are now."

Although Pittsburgh hasn't been as deeply hit by the recession as some other areas, the poverty rate for African-Americans in the city is 40.4 percent, for African-American children, the rate is 43.5 percent. Those figures are nearly double the national averages that record 25.8 percent of Blacks in poverty and more than 33 percent of Black children.

Locally, aside from agencies like Just Harvest, which helps people with hunger issues, and works every tax season to get as many families to claim the EITC and CTC as possible, most efforts are directed toward education as a means out of poverty.

With that in mind, Community College of Allegheny County has shifted a number of its services toward job placement rather than career enhancement, in an effort to help.

"Since January 2009, we've given tuition waivers to more than 325 dislocated workers, and the program was just recognized as a 'Bright Idea' by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University," said College spokesman David Hoovler. "We have eight programs eligible for any county resident laid off in the last year. We've tried to offer training in areas on the state's high priority list."

For the upcoming spring term, these job programs include accounting, automotive technology, computer assisted drafting, early childhood education, nurses' assistant training, IT support, business management, and administrative computer specialist.

The displaced worker program is available to any county resident who lost their job due to the recession as long as they apply within a year of the job loss.

"To help with chronic unemployment or underemployment, we just started our Young Adult Empowerment Program," said Hoovler. "It's aimed at 17- to 24-year-olds and provides supportive services to get GEDs and move on into career programs like HVAC and automotive technology."

The college has also created a new job search engine that allows people to search for employment based on their particular skills rather than just by job or industry titles.

Additionally, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services created a Web page called Help in Hard Times that offers links to an array of services struggling families may need. Deputy Director of DHS Reggie Young said he hasn't read the report, but believes in the long run education is the best way out of poverty.

"In the city, we have the Pittsburgh Promise, which is great because the number of kids not staying in school adds to the problem," he said. "When they drop out they have the military. Low wage jobs are life on the street. We're doing all we can to get people housing, food services, and counseling. People are using CareerLinks but our resources aren't endless. We have to hope this economy turns around."

MLK Breakfast 2023

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