09-27-2023  3:55 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

What's Next in Major College Football Realignment? How About a Best-of-the-Rest League

Now that the Power Five is about to become the Power Four, the schools left out of the recent consolidation of wealth produced by conference realignment are looking at creative ways to stay relevant.

Oregon's Attorney General Says She Won't Seek Reelection Next Year After Serving 3 Terms

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat and the first woman elected to the post, said she is stepping aside to allow new leadership, new energy and new initiatives to come to the Oregon Department of Justice that she has headed since 2012

Police Accountability Commission Presents Council With Proposed Major Overhaul

Voter-approved board for police accountability will have disciplinary power, ability to impact policy changes, access to body cam footage and more.

Oregon Judge to Decide in New Trial Whether Voter-Approved Gun Control Law Is Constitutional

The law, one of the toughest in the nation, was among the first gun restrictions to be passed after a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year changed the guidance judges are expected to follow when considering Second Amendment cases.

NEWS BRIEFS

Rep. Annessa Hartman Denounces Political Violence Against the Clackamas County Democratic Party

On Tuesday, the Clackamas County Democratic Party headquarters was

Bonamici Announces 5 Town Hall Meetings in October

The town hall meetings will be in St. Helens, Hillsboro, Seaside, Tillamook and Portland. ...

Nicole De Lagrave Named Multnomah Regional Teacher of the Year

De Lagrave is also a finalist for 2023-24 Oregon Teacher of the Year ...

KBOO Birthday Block Party to be Held September 23

Birthday block party planned as KBOO, 90.7FM celebrates 55 years broadcasting community radio ...

Appeals Court Allows Louisiana to Keep Children in Angola Prison

The district court had ordered the state to remove children from Angola by Sept. 15. But the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay,...

Oregon Gov. Kotek directs state police to crack down on fentanyl distribution

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said Tuesday she has directed state police to launch new strategies aimed at disrupting the fentanyl supply chain and holding sellers of the frequently deadly drug accountable. Kotek said in a statement that she made the announcement at a...

Target to close 9 stores, including 3 in the San Francisco Bay Area, citing safety concerns

NEW YORK (AP) — Target said Tuesday that it will close nine stores in four states, including one in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood, and three in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers. ...

Luther Burden III hauls in 10 passes for 177 yards to help Missouri beat Memphis 34-27 in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Luther Burden III put on a show in his first collegiate game in his hometown, catching a career-high 10 passes for a career-best 177 yards to help Missouri beat Memphis 34-27 Saturday night in St. Louis. “We had some good play calls,” Burden said, unaware he'd...

Missouri tries to build on upset of K-State with a game against Memphis in St. Louis

Memphis (3-0) vs Missouri (3-0) at St. Louis, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU) Line: Missouri by 7, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Series record: Missouri leads 3-1. WHAT’S AT STAKE? Memphis won its first three games a couple of years ago...

OPINION

Labor Day 2023: Celebrating the Union Difference and Building Tomorrow’s Public Service Workforce

Working people are seeing what the union difference is all about, and they want to be a part of it. ...

60 Years Since 1963 March on Washington, Economic Justice Remains a Dream

Typical Black family has 1/8 the wealth held by whites, says new research ...

The 2024 Election, President Biden and the Black Vote

As a result of the Black vote, America has experienced unprecedented recovery economically, in healthcare, and employment and in its international status. ...

Federal Trade Commission Hindering Black Economic Achievement

FTC Chair Linda Khan has prioritized her own agenda despite what Americans were telling her they needed on the ground ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Mississippi activists ask to join water lawsuit and criticize Black judge's comments on race

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Activists in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city are trying to join a federal lawsuit against the city for violating standards for clean drinking water, even as they say the Black judge presiding over the case is stirring racial division. The activists...

Houston approves M to relocate residents living near polluted Union Pacific rail yard

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston officials on Wednesday approved million for a fund to help relocate residents from neighborhoods located near a rail yard polluted by a cancer-linked wood preservative that has been blamed for an increase in cancer cases. Residents and local officials have...

Deion Sanders still winning in Black community after first loss at Colorado

One of Trevon Hamlet’s core memories from attending the University of Colorado is living on campus his freshman year and being able to count on one hand how many Black people he'd see in a day. Hamlet, who played lacrosse at Colorado from 2014-19 and still lives in the area, was the...

ENTERTAINMENT

Music Review: Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz revive folk songs on 'Nothing but Green Willow'

Folk artists Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz combine to offer a real oldies collection, with ballads that date back generations and have roots on both sides of the Atlantic. They’re mostly sad songs about class divide, unfaithful lovers and family strife, where bloody dreams come true and even the...

Music Review: Breathy, mid-tempo Wilco returns for 'Cousin,' which is heavy on the slower tracks

If you like your Wilco mid-tempo, melodic and breathy, then “Cousin” is for you. Taking yet another departure in tone after last year's epic double album “Cruel Country,” the Chicago combo's latest is more along the lines of 2019's “Ode to Joy.” Wilco...

PBS boasts slate of new shows unaffected by strikes, which it hopes will draw viewers in

NEW YORK (AP) — PBS was looking forward to a relatively free lane to offer fresh television to viewers downtrodden by the Hollywood strikes this fall, but that advantage may only last a couple of months now. A tentative deal reached late Sunday in the crippling TV writers strike,...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Brooks Robinson Appreciation: In Maryland in the 1960s, nobody was like No. 5

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson died Tuesday at the age of 86. Among his many...

Montana judge temporarily blocks enforcement of law to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is temporarily...

US allows Israeli citizens to travel to US visa-free as Israel joins a select group of countries

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is admitting Israel into a select group of countries whose citizens...

Moose on the loose in Stockholm subway creates havoc and is shot dead

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A moose which was found wandering down the tracks of the Stockholm subway and causing havoc was...

The Czech government has approved a defense ministry plan to acquire two dozen US F-35 fighter jets

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic's government on Wednesday approved a Defense Ministry plan to acquire two dozen...

Who’s being listened to on the global stage? Increasingly not who you might think

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Togo's foreign minister wasn't having any of it. He talked of an accelerating “African...

Lisa Loving of The Skanner News

Portland Police Officer Ron Frashour, under intense scrutiny after fatally shooting the unarmed and suicidally-depressed Aaron Campbell in the back during a stand-off last January, was fired today by the Portland Police Bureau.

If it survives the labor union grievance process that now kicks into gear for Frashour, the move would make him the first police officer permanently fired by the City of Portland for killing an unarmed citizen in the line of duty.

The announcement was made after the "mitigation" process required by the disciplinary rules within the police bureau.

Frashour, who had drawn multiple citizen complaints and, so far, three lawsuits over his use of force in the past, had become the poster child for police brutality in Portland.

"This is very good news for the community, this is what we've been calling for, the firing of Officer Frashour and punishment for all the officers involved in this incident," said Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch and the Albina Ministerial Alliance for Peace and Justice Reform. "Hopefully this will also lead to better communication in the future, because this was the third case where a police sniper shot somebody who had been on the phone with a police negotiator, and they didn't need to shoot at all."

(Click here for Portland Copwatch's list of Portland Police Shootings and Deaths in Custody, 1992-May, 2010 ).

Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese this morning issued statements about the decision, which came less than two weeks after Campbell's family filed a wrongful death suit against the city for an unnamed amount in damages.

"The investigation found no malicious intent on behalf of any of the officers involved with this event," Reese said in a statement. "But, based on the investigation, these officers acted outside of their training and outside of Police Bureau policy. A loss of life resulted. Thus, the discipline we have handed down is warranted."

The disciplinary roster included termination for Frashour, and 80 hours of unpaid suspension for Officer Ryan Lewton, who fired bean bag rounds at Campbell's back; and 80 hours of unpaid suspension for supervisors Sgt. Liani Reyna, and Sgt. John Birkinbine.

"These were difficult decisions. Police officers are called on to make split-second decisions every day, and at times those are life-and-death decisions," Reese said. "Officers receive regular training in policy and procedure; ultimately though, the decisions made in the course of their work are their own."

Reese urged Portland residents to go online and read all the documents relating to the case and the disciplinary measures, which are posted at www.portlandonline.com (follow the links to the Police Bureau page).

Handelman noted that the department's transparency in releasing all the documents in the case including the disciplinary letters written for each officer punished, is unprecedented and deserves praise for the city and the police bureau.

He noted that it took months to get public release of the police disciplinary letters in the 2006 James Chasse death in custody case, which ended in a $1.6 million settlement in late July of this year.

In the Campbell killing, city officials in September released statements indicating their intent to fire an unnamed police officers over the Jan. 29 shooting, but they didn't specify who was on the chopping block because the officers in question still had not completed the entire disciplinary appeals "mitigation" process, in which they are allowed to explain any special circumstances that led to the actions in question.

The Use of Force Review Board in August recommended that Frashour should lose his job for firing the shot in the back that killed Campbell, 25, as he was trying to give himself up to police during a mental health crisis triggered by the death of his younger brother from heart problems.

The Grand Jury in February found officers did not violate policies, but it also expressed outrage at the scene that led to Campbell's death and urged the city to rethink its rules on use of force.

In an almost unprecedented move, jury members pushed Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk and Mayor Sam Adams to petition the court to reveal transcripts of its hearings. "Portland deserves better," jury members wrote in a statement. "Aaron Campbell deserved better."

Portland Copwatch, a nonprofit group that keeps detailed records of violent police incidents on its website, www.portlandcopwatch.org, had advocated for Officer Lewton to receive the same punishment as Frashour, because, the group argues, it was Lewton's shooting of Campbell in the back with multiple bean bag rounds that set in motion the sequence of events that turned deadly Jan. 29.

Documents show that Campbell, who had hours earlier looked on as his girlfriend and their young children left the apartment where he was allegedly threatening to kill himself with a handgun, had backed out of the building with his hands on his head after a successful negotiation with police via cellphone.

It was then that he was – within a matter of seconds – shot in the back with bean bag rounds, as well as an AR-15 automatic shotgun, and attacked by a police canine unit. He was cuffed and left bleeding in the rain while officers tried to figure out whether he was armed or not; a medical unit called to the scene pronounced him dead some 20 minutes after the shots were fired.

His gun was later located in a hall closet inside the apartment.

"Campbell was not aggressively resisting the police at the time that Lewton fired the beanbag, but Campbell had his hands on the back of his head -- which is not dangerous to the police," Handelman said. "And Lewton decided, on his own, to shoot the bean bags and try to get him to comply, and it's not a compliance tool – it's a less lethal weapon that could kill somebody."

Portland Copwatch lists two other police shootings of individuals while they were in contact with hostage negotiators and preparing to give themselves up: Raymond Gwerder in 2005, whose family eventually won a $500,000 settlement with the City of Portland; and Leslie Paul Scott Stewart, who was shot in the head by a police sniper in 2007 but survived.

The only other Portland Police Officer fired for killing a civilian was Lt. Jeffery Kaer, who in 2006 shot to death a motorist who had been sleeping in a car in front of Kaer's sister's house, and was fired by then-Mayor Tom Potter. Kaer was reinstated with back pay by a state arbitrator's ruling in 2008.