06-18-2025  5:56 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Upcoming Virtual Meeting to Shape Oregon Civil Rights Agenda

Members of the public can participate in the open comment period at the end of the meeting, providing an opportunity for local voices to be heard.

Juneteenth 2025 Celebrations in Portland and Seattle

Juneteenth is a young federal holiday, but the Black day of independence has been observed since June 19, 1865.

City Council Approves and Increases Central Albina Settlement

Black residents who were forcibly relocated for Emanuel Hospital expansion that never happened, and their descendants, sued over loss of property, wealth and community.

VanPort Mosaic Festival Fights Cultural Amnesia

Two-week event honors survivors of VanPort flood, their descendants and survivors of Japanese Internment in annual festival.

NEWS BRIEFS

Oregon in Multi-State Legal Fight to Protect Genetic Information in 23andMe Bankruptcy Case

AG Rayfield: People did not submit their personal data to 23andMe thinking their genetic blueprint would be sold off to the highest...

Volunteers Needed: “Beautifying MLK” Black-Led Community Clean-Up Day of Service Set for This Saturday

Led by: The Coalition of Black Men in partnership with Soul District Business Association and fueled by Reimagine Oregon grant funds...

Parklane Park Grand Reopening Event On June 12 - Free for Everyone

Food, face painting, basketball, arts activities, music, and more ...

Class of 2025: Panthers Star Headed to University After Back-to-Back Titles

Hillsboro’s Edy Essien was on PCC’s men’s basketball team that repeated as NWAC regional basketball titles and excelled in...

WA Launches Police Use-of-Force Database

The exchange is a publicly available, cloud-based platform to help the public see and analyze police use-of-force data. ...

OPINION

SB 686 Will Support the Black Press

Oregon State Senator Lew Frederick brings attention to the fact that Big Tech corporations like Google and Facebook are using AI to scrape local news content and sell advertising on their platforms, completely bypassing local news sites like The...

Policymakers Should Support Patients With Chronic Conditions

As it exists today, 340B too often serves institutional financial gain rather than directly benefiting patients, leaving patients to ask “What about me?” ...

The Skanner News: Half a Century of Reporting on How Black Lives Matter

Publishing in one of the whitest cities in America – long before George Floyd ...

Cuts to Minority Business Development Agency Leaves 3 Staff

6B CDFI affordable capital for local investment also at risk ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

By The Skanner News | The Skanner News

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- After four officer-involved shootings in the past 2 1/2 months in Spokane County, officer training is under scrutiny here.

Spokane lawyer Breean Beggs says police officers have dangerous jobs but questions whether the current training places too much emphasis on unlikely scenarios, and that may hurt public safety.

The concern is that ``in training officers to protect themselves from the rare occasion when someone is out looking for them, they are (overlooking) training that is preventing officers from overreacting and killing citizens,'' Beggs said.

``If you measure the effectiveness by the results, it doesn't look good, currently,'' Beggs added.

But Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich dismisses such a notion, suggesting that any community concerns are unwarranted and based on what he considers inflammatory media coverage that focuses only on negative aspects of law enforcement.

``That's not even taking into consideration what the deputies face, and all the fact patterns behind it,'' Knezovich said. ``It's easy to sit back and Monday morning quarterback.''

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recently pledged $800,000 to help train police officers nationwide to learn to anticipate and survive violent encounters, citing the deadly 2009 ambush-style deaths of four officers in Lakewood, Wash.

In August, a county sheriff's deputy shot and killed a pastor in Spokane Valley. The shooting is still under investigation. Police have said the pastor had a gun. His family says he was not dangerous.

``If we have noncompliance with verbal commands, that right away suggests that any movement toward the officer is to be viewed in a different light,'' said firearms expert Thomas Aveni, executive director of the Police Policy Studies Council in Spofford, N.H. Aveni taught a class on deadly force at the Spokane County Sheriff's Office about a year and a half ago.

Among the shootings raising concerns was one in September in which a State Patrol sergeant shot a 25-year-old pregnant woman. Days later, a man was fatally wounded while deputies responded to a domestic violence call.

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