‘Mayor of NE Portland’ Honored With Affordable Housing Building
The Paul & Geneva Knauls Building will provide wraparound services for military veterans.
On Steps of US Supreme Court, AG Rosenblum Rallies Abortion Rights Supporters
Speaking at an ACLU-organized rally on the steps of the United States Supreme Court this morning, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum made an impassioned defense of abortion as essential healthcare, and of medication abortion as a key part of those healthcare rights. The rally coincided with arguments being presented inside the Supreme Court in the AHM (Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine) v. FDA (Food & Drug Administration) case.
Should College Essays Touch on Race? Some Feel the Affirmative Action Ruling Leaves Them No Choice
When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action, it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions. Yet the added weight of the college essay has fallen unevenly on students of color, who often feel pressure to exploit their hardships as they compete for a spot on campus.
Bird Flu, Weather and Inflation Conspire to Keep Egg Prices Near Historic Highs for Easter
The cost of filling a basket or completing a Seder plate reflect a market scrambled by disease, high demand and growing costs for farmers. While global prices are lower than they were at this time last year, they remain elevated.
The Portland Art Museum presents Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks
Exhibition on view March 30 - August 11, 2024. Programs to include sneaker-focused Summer Camps and in-gallery activities ...
Portland Street Response Hosts Town Hall
PCCEP is seeking community input to help shape their recommendation in support of Portland Street Response. ...
Joint Center Responds to the U.S. House Office of Diversity and Inclusion Disbandment
This decision jeopardizes the establishment of policies to support diverse communities and threatens the pursuit of inclusivity for...
Bonamici, Kaine Praise Billion Dollar Increase for Child Care, Early Childhood Learning
Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) —members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the...
Portland Rose Festival 2024 Court Member from Benson Polytechnic High School Announced
The Rose Festival Princess from Benson Polytechnic High School, Laedyn Romero, was selected March 22. ...
California's commercial Dungeness crab season will end April 8 to protect whales
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The commercial Dungeness crab season in California will be curtailed to protect humpback whales from becoming entangled in trap and buoy lines, officials announced Thursday. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said commercial crabbing will end April 8 for...
Oregon city can't limit church's homeless meal services, federal judge rules
BROOKINGS, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that a southern Oregon city can't limit a local church's homeless meal services. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke found that an ordinance passed by the small city of Brookings, on the southern Oregon coast, violated the religious...
Georgia ends game on 12-0 run to beat Missouri 64-59 in first round of SEC tourney
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Blue Cain had 19 points, Justin Hill scored 17 off the bench and 11th-seeded Georgia finished the game on a 12-0 run to beat No. 14 seed Missouri 64-59 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Cain hit 6 of 12 shots,...
Georgia faces Missouri in SEC Tournament
Missouri Tigers (8-23, 0-18 SEC) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) Nashville, Tennessee; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bulldogs -3; over/under is 147 BOTTOM LINE: Georgia plays in the SEC Tournament against Missouri. ...
COMMENTARY: Is a Cultural Shift on the Horizon?
As with all traditions in all cultures, it is up to the elders to pass down the rituals, food, language, and customs that identify a group. So, if your auntie, uncle, mom, and so on didn’t teach you how to play Spades, well, that’s a recipe lost. But...
A Full Court Press to Get the Lead Out
With a “goal of identifying and remediating lead hazards in at least 2,800 Lancaster County homes,” LG Health is setting an example for the private sector. And the Biden-Harris administration’s focus on environmental justice and access to clean and safe...
OP-ED: Congress Is Right: Federal Reserve’s Reg II Will Hurt Minority Communities in America
The Fed is taking every effort to promote income equality and workplace diversity and inclusion, but Regulation II would undercut its great work in this respect and cause potential harm to millions of minority families. Now that a congressional coalition has...
OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More
Data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of developing...
What to stream this weekend: Beyoncé, Steve Martin, J-Hope, Mike Birbiglia, Bill Nighy and 'Madu'
Beyoncé's country album and a documentary about a Nigerian boy who dreams of being a professional ballet dancer 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 selected by The Associated...
Chicago plans to move migrants to other shelters and reopen park buildings for the summer
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago plans to close five shelters for migrants in the coming weeks and move nearly 800 people, including families, in order to reopen park district buildings hosting popular summer camps, athletic contests and other community events in time for summer. The shift is...
Key findings from AP's investigation into police force that isn't supposed to be lethal
Every day, police in the U.S. rely on common use-of-force tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them. But when misused, these tactics can still end in death. Over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun...
Celebrity birthdays for the week of March 31-April 6
Celebrity birthdays for the week of March 31-April 6: March 31: Actor William Daniels (“St. Elsewhere,” ″Boy Meets World”) is 97. Actor Richard Chamberlain is 90. Actor Shirley Jones is 90. Musician Herb Alpert is 89. Actor Christopher Walken is 81. Comedian Gabe Kaplan...
How to make an Easter ham last all week
The beauty of making a baked ham for Easter (or any holiday or large gathering) is that there's bound to be leftovers. Leftover ham, which will last for up to five days in the fridge, can be a springboard for other meals during the week. Of course you’ll want a sandwich or two, but...
Book Review: 'Glorious Exploits' turns classical history into an endearing comedy about tragedy
Best friends Lampo and Gelon are potters by trade, but their souls are filled with poetry. It’s 412 B.C. and the city of Syracuse doesn’t know what hit it when these two hatch up the best worst idea: They’ll put on a play using the Athenian prisoners of war who are starving to death down in...
Black pastors see popular Easter services as an opportunity to rebuild in-person worship attendance
WASHINGTON (AP) — At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many churches moved their services online, the...
Obama, Clinton and big-name entertainers help Biden raise a record million for his reelection
NEW YORK (AP) — Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and some big names from the entertainment world teamed up Thursday...
Trump attends wake of slain New York officer, calls for 'law and order,' to show contrast with Biden
MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Donald Trump attended Thursday's wake of a New York City police officer gunned down...
Activists sue US National Park Service over plan to remove Puerto Rico's famous stray cats
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A nonprofit organization said Thursday that it sued the U.S. National Park Service...
Philippine president warns of countermeasures in response to Chinese aggression at sea
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president said Thursday that his government would take action against...
Six Russian journalists have been detained by authorities. They include one who covered Navalny
Authorities in Russia have detained six journalists across the country this month, including a journalist who...
I watched the Presidential debate on October 19 in both awe and horror. Awe, because I truly do not understand Mr. Trump’s temerity to lie, interrupt, sniff, sigh, and interject offensive comments (“such a nasty woman”) in lieu of disagreement. The horror came when Mr. Trump asserted that he would not necessarily accept the result of an election he has described as “rigged” (actually, in Trump’s world, anything that does not go his way is rigged – debates, primary elections, Emmy Awards). Trailing in the polls, Mr. Trump is playing the same racial games he has played throughout the elections, suggesting that there is massive voter fraud in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit, cities with large African American populations, that dead people are voting, and that millions of voter registration records are wrong.
There have been dozens of reports that refute the Trump claims. According to analysis by a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Calif., only 31 of more than 1 billion votes cast since 2000 have been fraudulent. The Brennan Center for Justice, housed at the New York University School of Law has studied voter fraud and found that allegations are most often unfounded. Trump also cited a Pew Center study that indicated that one in eight voter registrations might be inaccurate. But Pew says inaccurate registration may not be fraudulent ones. As an example, some people have not changed their addresses, and will do so before they attempt to vote again. These folks aren’t committing fraud, they’ve simply moved. The Pew Center says that our nation’s voter registration system needs an upgrade. They have not identified massive voter fraud as a problem. Donald Trump, though, is the master of manipulative repetition. Just like he hammered on “Little Marco,” “Low Energy Jeb” and “Crooked Hillary,” now he is hammering on voter fraud, whether it is accurate or not. At least one fact-checker has detailed how wrong Trump is and has described his claims as “bogus.”
Claims of voter fraud divert attention from a more significant issue: that voter suppression makes it more difficult for many to vote. Too many states have instituted new voter ID laws, reduced the number of early voting days, consolidated precincts (forcing people to travel further to vote), and purged people from voting registration polls. Several organizations are providing backup for voters, including the website www.iwillvote.com that allows people to check their voter registration. But with registration deadlines closing in this handful of days before the election, it is likely that some people who want to vote will not have the opportunity
This voter suppression has been deliberately, and it has had a partisan skewing. Why can a gun registration be used as appropriate voter identification, but not a student ID? Rule shifting has gained the attentions of conservative appeals courts. As an example, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas voided Texas Voter ID laws. Wisconsin’s voter restrictions were also disallowed. Most notably, a federal appeals court shot North Carolina down and, were uncharacteristically critical. The court wrote that, “Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist.”
Is there voter fraud? If only 31 cases, out of a billion votes, were found fraudulent, we can say that there is a bit of fraud, something that is less than a fraction of one percent. At the same time, voting restrictions imposed in 2014 and 2015 were set to block over 1.3 million voters in Ohio, Nor Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin, all swing states. Should we be more concerned about voter fraud (31 claims out of one billion votes cast) or the 1.3 million Americans who have been deliberately and “surgically” excluded from the voting process through voter suppression?
African Americans know rigged elections. Our voices have too often been rigged out of the electoral process. Fannie Lou Hamer was beaten to within an inch of her life because she dared organize people to vote. Medgar Evers was killed because he dared organize Black folks to vote. Our people overcame grandfather clauses, voter tests, and all kinds of other nonsense in order to vote. We know voter suppression. When Donald Trump talks about elections being rigged, he exhibits, again, his historical ignorance. Every time Black folks were excluded from the voting process, we accepted the outcome. We accepted the democratic process.
Now Trump has millions of rabid followers who inhale his every word. His irresponsible allegations of rigged elections may well mobilize his base to reject the integrity of the electoral process. Some of us know all we need to know about rigged elections. We know voter suppression personally and immediately. And we know that Mr. Trump has disqualified himself for leadership by saying he cannot commit to an electoral outcome that does not favor him.