04-22-2024  11:47 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
  • Cloud 9 Cannabis CEO and co-owner Sam Ward Jr., left, and co-owner Dennis Turner pose at their shop, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, in Arlington, Wash. Cloud 9 is one of the first dispensaries to open under the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board's social equity program, established in efforts to remedy some of the disproportionate effects marijuana prohibition had on communities of color. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

    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.  Read More
  • Lessons for Cities from Seattle’s Racial and Social Justice Law 

    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 Read More
  • A woman gathers possessions to take before a homeless encampment was cleaned up in San Francisco, Aug. 29, 2023. The Supreme Court will hear its most significant case on homelessness in decades Monday, April 22, 2024, as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live. The justices will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based federal appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

    Supreme Court to Weigh Bans on Sleeping Outdoors 

    The Supreme Court will consider whether banning homeless people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to cruel and unusual punishment on Monday. The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on homelessness, which is reaching record levels In California and other Western states. Courts have ruled that it’s unconstitutional to fine and arrest people sleeping in homeless encampments if shelter Read More
  • Richard Wallace, founder and director of Equity and Transformation, poses for a portrait at the Westside Justice Center, Friday, March 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

    Chicago's Response to Migrant Influx Stirs Longstanding Frustrations Among Black Residents

    With help from state and federal funds, the city has spent more than $300 million to provide housing, health care and more to over 38,000 mostly South American migrants. The speed with which these funds were marshaled has stirred widespread resentment among Black Chicagoans. But community leaders are trying to ease racial tensions and channel the public’s frustrations into agitating for the greater good. Read More
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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 ...

Bank Announces 14th Annual “I Got Bank” Contest for Youth in Celebration of National Financial Literacy Month

The nation’s largest Black-owned bank will choose ten winners and award each a $1,000 savings account ...

Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — As a queer and out youth, Shae Ross was alarmed when she heard that conservative groups were organizing in her community to ban books dealing with sexuality, gender and race. So she and her friends got organized themselves, and helped persuade their school board to make it...

US advances review of Nevada lithium mine amid concerns over endangered wildflower

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Biden administration has taken a significant step in its expedited environmental review of what could become the third lithium mine in the U.S., amid anticipated legal challenges from conservationists over the threat they say it poses to an endangered Nevada wildflower. ...

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...

Two-time world champ J’den Cox retires at US Olympic wrestling trials; 44-year-old reaches finals

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — J’den Cox walked off the mat after dropping a 2-2 decision to Kollin Moore at the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials on Friday night, leaving his shoes behind to a standing ovation. The bronze medal winner at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 was beaten by...

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

Mississippi lawmakers move toward restoring voting rights to 32 felons as broader suffrage bill dies

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators advanced bills Monday to give voting rights back to 32 people convicted of felonies, weeks after a Senate leader killed a broader bill that would have restored suffrage to many more people with criminal records. The move is necessary due...

With graduation near, colleges seek to balance safety and students' right to protest Gaza war

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The University of Michigan is informing students of the rules for upcoming graduation ceremonies: Banners and flags are not allowed. Protests are OK but in designated areas away from the cap-and-gown festivities. The University of Southern California canceled...

Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — As a queer and out youth, Shae Ross was alarmed when she heard that conservative groups were organizing in her community to ban books dealing with sexuality, gender and race. So she and her friends got organized themselves, and helped persuade their school board to make it...

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

Starbucks takes on the federal labor agency before the US Supreme Court

After Starbucks fired seven workers who were trying to unionize their Tennessee store, a U.S. government agency...

What to know about the Supreme Court case about immunity for former President Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has scheduled a special session to hear arguments over whether former...

With graduation near, colleges seek to balance safety and students' right to protest Gaza war

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The University of Michigan is informing students of the rules for upcoming graduation...

Rivers recede but flooding plagues thousands in central Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Water levels in some overflowing rivers in Russia were starting to drop on Monday, but flooding...

Satellite photos suggest Iran air defense radar struck in Isfahan during apparent Israeli attack

JERUSALEM (AP) — Satellite photos taken Monday suggest an apparent Israeli retaliatory strike targeting Iran's...

North Korean leader Kim leads rocket drills that simulate a nuclear counterattack against enemies

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised salvo launches of the country’s...

By Marian Wang of Propublica

The basics:

Though she certainly has a challenger in Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has held the title of Tea Party favorite thus far in the presidential race, touting her opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, support of "intelligent design," and rejection of the scientific consensus that human activity is a leading cause of global warming.

A detailed profile in The New Yorker tracks both her career steps and her deeply religious background. Bachmann's first job after law school was working for the IRS, an agency she once called "the most heartless organization that anyone knows of." As both The New Yorker and the Minneapolis Star Tribune note, she worked mostly on cases that were settled and rarely litigated. (The Star Tribune reported two minor cases, The New Yorker one.) She recently said on a campaign stop that she went to work at the IRS "because the first rule of war is 'Know your enemy.' "

Many of her major career and life decisions have been made, she says, according to visions, prayer and directions by God. Bachmann said that God gave her and her husband, Marcus, a vision of marrying each other. She's said that God "called us to take foster children," and went on to take in 23 in addition to the couple's five biological children. As she was running for Congress, Bachmann said that "God then called me to run for the United States Congress." And in May, she said in an interview with Iowa Public Television that she'd also "had that calling" from God to run for president.

Her record:

Bachmann spent six years in the Minnesota Senate and is serving her third term in the U.S. Congress. In July, then-presidential-contender Tim Pawlenty, a fellow Minnesotan, criticized Bachmann's legislative accomplishments in Congress as "nonexistent."

PolitiFact checked Pawlenty's attack and found it to be mostly true — Bachmann has never sponsored anything that became law. The congresswoman "seems to prefer offering legislation that makes a bold statement" and "does not have many legislative victories under her belt," PolitiFact concluded.

You can check GovTrack for Bachmann's recent proposed legislation, including bills to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and repeal the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs (the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act).

In recent days, Bachmann has touted her role in the debate over raising the debt ceiling. "I've been the leading voice, almost the lone voice in the wilderness of Washington, fighting against raising the debt ceiling," she said in an interview with NBC's "Today" show.

Bachmann's role consisted mainly of breaking with GOP leadership, denying that default was a possibility, and saying she would refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless President Obama's health-care law was repealed.

When the rating agency Standard & Poor's subsequently downgraded the nation's credit rating, she called the president "AWOL," "missing in action," and said, "It happened on your watch, Mr. President," arguing that S&P's downgrade decision proved her right.

PolitiFact rated that assertion false. In fact, S&P had cited "political brinksmanship" and failure to compromise as a primary reason for the downgrade.

Despite her hawkish stance on fiscal issues and her criticism of government spending, many news reports have noted that she's benefited from such spending. Bachmann proposed more than $60 million in earmarks while serving in the Minnesota's Senate and more than $3.7 million since joining Congress, The Daily Caller noted. While she supported the GOP's supposed earmarks ban, she also argued that "advocating for transportation projects for one's district in my mind does not equate to an earmark," the Star Tribune noted.

And while criticizing the Obama administration's stimulus spending in public, Bachmann often sought those funds in private, writing letters repeatedly to administration officials seeking funding and support for projects in her district, The Huffington Post reported.

At the same time, Bachmann has received what may be questionable criticism for introducing a bill to build a $700 million bridge to replace an aging bridge connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin. While some have criticized the proposal as destructive to the environment, others have labeled it an earmark even though Bachmann's proposal sought no federal funds.

Bachmann and her husband also have a stake in a family farm that has received nearly $260,000 in federal subsidies over the years. Though she's asserted that she hasn't received income from the farm, the Los Angeles Times notes that her financial disclosures show otherwise.

Her recent promises:

Bachmann has become known for her sweeping promises. "Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again," she vowed this week.

She has also been creative with her promises.

"President Bachmann will be canceling barbecues if we see the markets going down," she said this month after the Dow Jones industrial average plunged on Obama's birthday.

Still others advance her social agenda. "The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy has worked very well," she told CNN recently, noting that if elected president, she'll consult with military officials but "probably will" reinstate the policy.

Bachmann has also promised to shutter the Environmental Protection Agency, which she's decried as the "job-killing organization of America." The New York Times quoted her as saying in Iowa: "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off, and they will only be about conservation."

Controversiesand unfair criticisms:

Bachmann has been involved in her fair share of controversies but not all of her making. A report last month by The Daily Caller noting that Bachmann has severe migraines and alleging that she "takes all sorts of pills" for them got played up by the D.C. media until Bachmann released a letter from a doctor verifying that the migraines were infrequent and controllable.

Newsweek recently put an unflattering photo of her on its cover, prompting a torrent of complaints that the cover was sexist.

Bachmann often makes headlines for her minor gaffes, such as mixing up Elvis' birthday and death-day, confusing John Wayne the actor with John Wayne Gacy the serial killer, and otherwise botching references to American and world history.

Her husband's counseling clinic, as many have noted, has been a center of more significant controversy. Former patients have come forward alleging that the clinic practices "reparative therapy" to change the sexual orientation of gay men and women. Marcus Bachmann has previously denied that his clinic does that, although he's also compared gay people to "barbarians" who "need to be educated," CNN reported. His wife's campaign has refused to comment on the matter in recent days, citing "patient-client confidentiality."

Following the money:

Bachmann's campaign has been funded largely through small donations — at least when compared with her GOP rivals. You can check some of her top contributors on OpenSecrets.org.

Earlier this month, her supporters launched a super PAC, Citizens for a Working America, which would be able to accept unlimited donations from individuals and corporations but must operate independently of her campaign.

  ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast