04-19-2024  1:39 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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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 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 ...

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 ...

Firefighters douse a blaze at a historic Oregon hotel famously featured in 'The Shining'

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. (AP) — Firefighters doused a late-night fire at Oregon's historic Timberline Lodge — featured in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film “The Shining” — before it caused significant damage. The fire Thursday night was confined to the roof and attic of the lodge,...

Idaho's ban on youth gender-affirming care has families desperately scrambling for solutions

Forced to hide her true self, Joe Horras’ transgender daughter struggled with depression and anxiety until three years ago, when she began to take medication to block the onset of puberty. The gender-affirming treatment helped the now-16-year-old find happiness again, her father said. ...

University of Missouri plans 0 million renovation of Memorial Stadium

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri is planning a 0 million renovation of Memorial Stadium. The Memorial Stadium Improvements Project, expected to be completed by the 2026 season, will further enclose the north end of the stadium and add a variety of new premium...

The sons of several former NFL stars are ready to carve their path into the league through the draft

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. wears his dad’s No. 54, plays the same position and celebrates sacks and big tackles with the same signature axe swing. Now, he’s ready to make a name for himself in the NFL. So are several top prospects who play the same positions their fathers played in the...

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

Chicago's response to migrant influx stirs longstanding frustrations among Black residents

CHICAGO (AP) — The closure of Wadsworth Elementary School in 2013 was a blow to residents of the majority-Black neighborhood it served, symbolizing a city indifferent to their interests. So when the city reopened Wadsworth last year to shelter hundreds of migrants without seeking...

Attorneys argue that Florida law discriminates against Chinese nationals trying to buy homes

An attorney asked a federal appeals court on Friday to block a controversial Florida law signed last year that restricts Chinese citizens from buying real estate in much of the state, calling it discriminatory and a violation of the federal government's supremacy in deciding foreign affairs. ...

Mississippi legislators won't smooth the path this year to restore voting rights after some felonies

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Kenneth Almons says he began a sentence in a Mississippi prison just two weeks after graduating from high school, and one of his felony convictions — for armed robbery — stripped away voting rights that he still has not regained decades later. Now 51,...

ENTERTAINMENT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 21-27

Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 21-27: April 21: Actor Elaine May is 92. Singer Iggy Pop is 77. Actor Patti LuPone is 75. Actor Tony Danza is 73. Actor James Morrison (“24”) is 70. Actor Andie MacDowell is 66. Singer Robert Smith of The Cure is 65. Guitarist Michael...

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Soldiers who lost limbs in Gaza fighting are finding healing on Israel's amputee soccer team

RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — When Ben Binyamin was left for dead, his right leg blown off during the Hamas attack on...

The Latest | Iran says air defense batteries fire after explosions reported near major air base

Iran fired air defense batteries Friday reports of explosions near a major air base at the city of Isfahan, the...

Indians vote in the first phase of the world's largest election as Modi seeks a third term

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians began voting on Friday in a six-week election that's a referendum on...

The West African Sahel is becoming a drug smuggling corridor, UN warns, as seizures skyrocket

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Drug seizures soared in the West African Sahel region according to figures released Friday...

5 Japanese workers in Pakistan escape suicide blast targeting their van. A Pakistani bystander dies

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber targeted a van carrying Japanese nationals in Pakistan's port city of...

A trial is underway for the Panama Papers, a case that changed the country's financial rules

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Eight years after 11 million leaked secret financial documents revealed how some of the...

Jordan Davis family leaves court
By Derek Kinner, Associated Press

PHOTO: Jordan Davis' parents Lucia McBath, center, and Ronald Davis, second from left, are escorted through a sea of media and supporters as they leave the Duval County Courthouse on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014 in Jacksonville, Fla. A jury convicted Micheal Dunn on Wednesday of first-degree murder in his retrial for killing teenager Jordan Davis after an argument over loud music. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Bruce Lipsky)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Michael Dunn has been convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Florida teen Jordan Davis. It was Dunn’s second trial. The jury in the first trial deadlocked on the first-degree murder count.

Dunn, a  47-year-old software developer, took the witness stand in his own defense, saying he feared for his life when he opened fire in November 2012.

But prosecutors said Dunn was shooting to kill, not defending himself, when he fired at 17-year-old Jordan Davis after the two had an argument over loud music outside a Jacksonville convenience store.

"He wasn't shooting at the tires. He wasn't shooting at the windows. He was shooting to kill. Aiming at Jordan Davis," prosecutor Erin Wolfson told jurors.

Prosecutors say Dunn killed Davis, of Marietta, Georgia, when he fired 10 times into an SUV carrying four teenagers.

Dunn was convicted of three counts of attempted second-degree murder in February and already faces at least 60 years in prison.

Dunn's attorney, Waffa Hanania, told jurors that Dunn felt threatened, whether it was a real threat or not. She said he broke no laws, and acted in self-defense. She said the law is specific, and Dunn thought Davis had a shotgun.

"Was he supposed to wait until he had been shot, until he had been physically attacked? No," Hanania said.

Wolfson argued to the jury that Dunn fired in anger after Davis disrespected him.

"Each time he is making a conscious decision to fire," Wolfson said. "With two hands on the gun, taking aim at Jordan Davis."

Dunn said the problems started when he and his fiancee heard loud bass thumping from an SUV parked next to them after they pulled into a convenience store to buy a bottle of wine. Dunn had just come from his son's wedding.

"I put my window down ... and I said 'Hey, would you mind turning that down please?'" Dunn said.

Testimony from the other teenagers in the case said Dunn was angry when he asked them to turn the music down.

The music was turned off for a short time, Dunn said, until he heard a voice from the SUV's backseat yelling curse words, telling someone in front to turn it back up.

Dunn said he was not angry when the music was turned back up, but then things got heated.

"I hear '.... white boy' just impolite things are being said," Dunn said.

Dunn said the man in the backseat then rolled the window down and flashed a gun.

"I saw the barrel of a gun. I'm petrified. I'm in fear for my life this guy just threatened to kill me and showed me a gun," Dunn said.

Police found no weapons in Davis' car or near the crime scene.

Dunn said the back door of the SUV opened, and that he grabbed his handgun for which he had a permit.

"I reached for my weapon, in my glove box. I said, 'You're not going to kill me you son of a bitch,' and then I was firing, in about two seconds."

He continued firing as the SUV sped away.

"I would have pulled it 50 times if that's what it took to save my life," Dunn said.

On cross-examination, Prosecutor John Guy asked Dunn if he knew anyone had been hurt when he started firing into the rear passenger door, and Dunn said no.

"His door was open. It doesn't mean he's behind his door. I didn't see him behind the door," Dunn said.

Then Dunn told Guy that Davis was outside the car when he was firing

Dunn said he didn't think that he'd hurt anyone, and prosecutors told jurors that he went back to his hotel, had a cocktail, walked his dog, ordered a pizza and went to sleep.

Dunn said he didn't know Davis had died until he saw a report on his cellphone at 1 a.m.

"I went to the bathroom and vomited," Dunn said.

He never called 911, prosecutors pointed out.

"And when he realized what happened, he just got in the car and drove home the next morning," Wolfson said. When Jacksonville police called him after getting his identity from his license plate, Dunn was home.

Dunn, from Satellite Beach, Florida, said he wanted to go home to report the incident to his local sheriff because authorities there were familiar with him.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast