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City Council Strikes Down Gonzalez’s ‘Inhumane’ Suggestion for Blanket Ban on Public Camping
Mayor Wheeler’s proposal for non-emergency ordinance will go to second reading.
A Conservative Quest to Limit Diversity Programs Gains Momentum in States
In support of DEI, Oregon and Washington have forged ahead with legislation to expand their emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in government and education.
Epiphanny Prince Hired by Liberty in Front Office Job Day After Retiring
A day after announcing her retirement, Epiphanny Prince has a new job working with the New York Liberty as director of player and community engagement. Prince will serve on the basketball operations and business staffs, bringing her 14 years of WNBA experience to the franchise.
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.
Hundreds Gather at White House to Demand President Biden Let Youth Climate Case be Heard
‘We will not be silenced’ by the DOJ,' youth say ...
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 ...
Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to restore “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others. The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the...
Biden celebrates computer chip factories, pitching voters on American 'comeback'
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday sought to sell voters on an American “comeback story” as he highlighted longterm investments in the economy in upstate New York to celebrate Micron Technology's plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with...
Missouri hires Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch for the same role with the Tigers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri hired longtime college administrator Laird Veatch to be its athletic director on Tuesday, bringing him back to campus 14 years after he departed for a series of other positions that culminated with five years spent as the AD at Memphis. Veatch...
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...
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. ...
Repatriated South African apartheid-era artworks on display to celebrate 30 years of democracy
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A selection of South African artworks produced during the country’s apartheid era which ended up in foreign art collections is on display in Johannesburg to mark 30 years since the country's transition to democracy in 1994. Most of the artworks were taken out...
South Africa to mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, South Africa, she recalls the joy she and many others felt 30 years ago when they voted for the first time. It was at this school on April 27, 1994 that Kunene joined...
Tennessee lawmakers adjourn after finalizing jumi.9B tax cut and refund for businesses
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's GOP-controlled General Assembly on Thursday adjourned for the year, concluding months of tense political infighting that doomed Republican Gov. Bill Lee's universal school voucher push. But a bill allowing some teachers to carry firearms in public schools and...
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....
Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots to headline the BET Experience concerts in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots will headline concerts to celebrate the return of the BET Experience in Los Angeles just days before the 2024 BET Awards. BET announced Monday the star-studded lineup of the concert series, which makes a return after a...
Tennessee House Kills Bill That Would Have Banned Local Officials From Studying, Funding Reparations
South Africa to mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in...
Charges against Trump's 2020 'fake electors' are expected to deter a repeat this year
An Arizona grand jury's indictment of 18 people who either posed as or helped organize a slate of electors falsely...
Paramedic sentencing in Elijah McClain's death caps trials that led to 3 convictions
DENVER (AP) — Almost five years after Elijah McClain died following a police stop in which he was put in a neck...
US to pull troops from Chad and Niger as the African nations question its counterterrorism role
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will pull the majority of its troops from Chad and Niger as it works to...
Guatemalan prosecutors raid offices of Save the Children charity
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan prosecutors raided the offices of the charity Save the Children on Thursday,...
April 19-25, 2024 The U.S. House swiftly approves billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and...
Kam Williams Special To the Skanner News
BIG BUDGET FILMS
American Hustle (R for sexuality, pervasive profanity and brief violence) David O. Russell wrote and directed this crime drama about a couple of con artists (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) forced by an overzealous FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to infiltrate a New Jersey underworld inhabited by mobsters protected by a crooked, big city mayor (Jeremy Renner). Support cast includes Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K. and Michael Pena.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (PG-13 for intense violence and frightening images) Second installment of the fantasy trilogy based on the J.R.R. Tolkien classic finds Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and company continuing their epic journey to Lonely Mountain for a showdown with a fearsome dragon (Benedict Cumberbatch). Cast includes Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett and Stephen Fry.
A Madea Christmas (PG-13 for profanity, crude humor and sexual references) Tyler Perry’s back in drag in this adaptation of his holiday-themed play, set in a small Southern town, as a moralizing, motor-mouthed granny straightening out sinners while spreading Christmas cheer. Ensemble includes Tika Sumpter, Larry the Cable Guy, Anna Maria Horsford, Kathy Najimy and Chad Michael Murray.
Saving Mr. Banks (PG-13 for mature themes and unsettling images) Period piece recounting Walt Disney’s (Tom Hanks) bending over backwards to secure the film rights to Mary Poppins from P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the overprotective author of the beloved children’s book. With Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell, Rachel Griffiths, Ruth Wilson and Jason Schwartzman.
INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS
Brave Miss World (Unrated) Female empowerment biopic recounting how Miss Israel Linor Abargil first went on to win the Miss World beauty pageant just six weeks after being abducted, raped and stabbed. She subsequently spoke out about sexual assault over the course of her reign.
The Crash Reel (Unrated) Daredevil documentary chronicling the fierce rivalry between fellow snowboarders Shaun White and Kevin Pearce culminating in the former’s winning a gold medal at the Olympics the year after the latter suffered a near-fatal injury during a training run.
Here Comes the Devil (Unrated) Psychological horror flick, set in Mexico, about a couple (Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro) whose kids (Michele Garcia and Alan Martinez) vanish while on a family vacation in Tijuana only to behave strangely different when found. With Jessica Iris, Dana Dorel and David Arturo Cabezud. (In Spanish with subtitles)
Hours (PG-13 for violence, mature themes and drug use) Recently-deceased Paul Walker stars in this tale of survival, set in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, as a father who tries to keep his premature baby daughter alive after his wife (Genesis Rodriguez) dies during childbirth. With Nick Gomez, Judd Lormand and Michelle Torres.
The Last of the Unjust (PG-13 for mature themes) Holocaust documentary about Theresienstadt, a model ghetto designed by Hitler henchman Adolf Eichmann to mislead Jews about its true function as the final stop before the gas chambers. (In German, French and English with subtitles)
Liv & Ingmar (Unrated) Reverential retrospective revisiting the decades-long relationship of Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann and Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.
Nuclear Nation (Unrated) Tsunami documentary chronicling the continuing fallout for Japanese refugees displaced by the meltdown at the Fukushima power plant in the wake of the 2011 Earthquake.
Some Velvet Morning (Unrated) Neil LaBute wrote and directed this midlife crisis drama about a married man (Stanley Tucci) who becomes obsessed with his estranged mistress (Alice Eve) after failing to convince her that he’s finally left his wife for her.
Tricked (Unrated) Absurdist farce about a businessman (Peter Blok) whose life starts to spin out of control at a 50th birthday party thrown for him by his wife (Ricky Koole) when his pregnant mistress (Sallie Harmsen) shows up uninvited. With Robert de Hoog, Carolien Spoor and Pieter Tiddens. (In Dutch and English with subtitles)
The Unbelievers (Unrated) Flat Earth documentary featuring peripatetic scientists’ Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss’ globetrotting campaign promoting science and reason over religion and superstition. With commentary by Woody Allen, Cameron Diaz and Ricky Gervais.
The Unknown Known (Unrated) Errol Morris directed this 20/20 hindsight
documentary in which he grills former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the War in Iraq and other political issues.
