04-19-2024  8:45 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

Four Ballot Measures for Portland Voters to Consider

Proposals from the city, PPS, Metro and Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District.

Washington Gun Store Sold Hundreds of High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines in 90 Minutes Without Ban

KGW-TV reports Wally Wentz, owner of Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso, described Monday as “magazine day” at his store. Wentz is behind the court challenge to Washington’s high-capacity magazine ban, with the help of the Silent Majority Foundation in eastern Washington.

NEWS BRIEFS

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 ...

Literary Arts Transforms Historic Central Eastside Building Into New Headquarters

The new 14,000-square-foot literary center will serve as a community and cultural hub with a bookstore, café, classroom, and event...

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Announces New Partnership with the University of Oxford

Tony Bishop initiated the CBCF Alumni Scholarship to empower young Black scholars and dismantle financial barriers ...

Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Returns to Mt. Hood Community College with Acclaimed Artists

Performing at the festival are acclaimed artists Joshua Redman, Hailey Niswanger, Etienne Charles and Creole Soul, Camille Thurman,...

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

ENTERTAINMENT

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Ashley Fantz and Nick ValenCIA CNN

BRUNSWICK, Georgia (CNN) -- A teenager suspected in the shooting of a baby in the coastal city of Brunswick, Ga., appeared in court Monday, where a judge told him he will be charged with murder.



Wearing an orange jumpsuit, his hands and feet shackled, the 15-year-old listened as Glynn County Judge Timothy Barton read his Miranda rights. Previously, the boy's age was reported as 14.

Barton didn't indicate if the teen would be charged as a juvenile or adult, and the teen did not enter a plea. His name is not being released because he is a minor.

Asked if the teen had any questions, he told the judge, "No sir."

The teen's mother, Brenda Moses, told CNN earlier that her son was "just a witness," and "he didn't do anything wrong."

The 15-year-old, and a 17-year-old who authorities have identified as De'Marquise Elkins, are facing murder charges in a case that has made national headlines.

On Thursday the infant's mother, Sherry West, told police that she was pushing her son in a stroller in broad daylight when two males approached her.

"A boy approached me and told me he wanted my money, and I told him I didn't have any money. And he said, 'Give me your money or I'm going to kill you and I'm going to shoot your baby and kill your baby,' and I said, 'I don't have any money,' and 'Don't kill my baby,' " she told reporters.

One boy tried to grab her purse and opened fire when she tried to tell him she had no money, West said, with the shot grazing her head. She said the boy then shot her in the leg.

West continued, "And then, all of a sudden, he walked over and he shot my baby in the face."

West said that she tried to perform CPR on her son and that police took over when they arrived. "We lost him," she said.

This isn't the first time West has lost a son to violence, she said Saturday.

Her 18-year-old son was stabbed to death in 2008 in New Jersey, she told CNN.

"This is the second child that people have taken from me in a tragic way," West said. "I'm so afraid to have any more babies now. I tried to raise really good kids in a wicked world."

The day after two teenage boys were arrested and charged in the fatal shooting of her baby, West said she was planning to leave Brunswick and return to New Jersey.

'You killed an innocent human life'

The boy's father has also been distraught, West said.

Asked about the person who shot her son, Antonio, West stated: "I hate you and I don't forgive you.

"You killed an innocent human life," she said. "I hope you die for it."

A private memorial service was held Friday morning for the baby, who was cremated, according to West. She said the family is working with the Catholic relief organization Society of St. Vincent de Paul to help with unforeseen expenses.

West said she put Antonio in a stroller Thursday because it was good exercise for her heart, adding that she was disabled from a car accident.

"I just took a walk with my baby," she said. "I can't believe that this would happen, and I left early in the morning. I thought, you know, that there would be less people on the road and I wouldn't be in anybody's way walking down that road.

"Apparently, either he targeted me or I was just unfortunate," she said.

As of Saturday, authorities had not found the murder weapon, police spokesman Todd Rhodes said.

But they were able to track down the two suspects and take them into custody, aided by a description from West and others, as well as a check of school attendance records to determine who was not in class Thursday.

911 calls reveal witnesses' horror

Earlier Saturday, police in the coastal city released to CNN three recordings of 911 calls about Thursday's shooting.

"A baby has been shot!" one woman said in a 911 call.

The exchange with the emergency operator was emotionally charged.

"Listen to me, ma'am! Is the baby breathing?" the operator replied.

"I don't know," the woman said.

The woman began to cry.

In the background, there was wailing on the corner of London and Ellis streets, in a stately cluster of Victorian-style houses with wraparound porches.

"Listen to me!" the operator said to the weeping woman. "We have people en route. Did you hear shots in the area?"

Yes, she heard shots, she said.

"Be calm," the operator said. "How many shots did you hear?"

"I heard like three shots. And the baby has been shot in the head," the woman said.

The woman was so distraught that she passed her cell phone to a man walking his dog.

"No, the baby is not breathing," the man told the operator.

"The baby was shot in the head?" the operator continued.

"Yes, right between the eyes," the man said, adding that he earlier heard a "small-caliber clap."

As he spoke, sirens wailed as police arrived on the scene, and the man broke off the phone call.

CNN's Nick Valencia reported from Brunswick, Georgia. Michael Martinez, Tom Watkins and Jason Evans contributed to this report.

™ & © 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast