Portland and Seattle
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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.
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 ...
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 ...
Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The most significant case in decades on homelessness has reached the Supreme Court as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live. The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that...
The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?
ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year...
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...
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...
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. ...
The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?
ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year...
Lawsuits under New York's new voting rights law reveal racial disenfranchisement even in blue states
FREEPORT, N.Y. (AP) — Weihua Yan had seen dramatic demographic changes since moving to Long Island's Nassau County. Its Asian American population alone had grown by 60% since the 2010 census. Why then, he wondered, did he not see anyone who looked like him on the county's local...
USC cancels graduation keynote by filmmaker amid controversy over decision to drop student's speech
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California further shook up its commencement plans Friday, announcing the cancelation of a keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu just days after making the controversial choice to disallow the student valedictorian from speaking. The...
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...
Record Store Day celebrates indie retail music sellers as they ride vinyl's popularity wave
PHOENIX (AP) — Special LP releases, live performances and at least one giant block party are scheduled around...
The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?
ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014,...
Tennessee Volkswagen employees overwhelmingly vote to join United Auto Workers union
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to...
Panama Papers trial's public portion comes to an unexpectedly speedy end
PANAMA CITY (AP) — The public portion of a trial of more than two-dozen associates accused of helping some of...
Has Salman Rushdie changed after his stabbing? Well, he feels about 25, the author tells AP
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly two years after the knife attack that nearly killed him, Salman Rushdie appears both...
Venice Biennale titled 'Foreigners Everywhere' platforms LGBTQ+, outsider and Indigenous artists
VENICE, Italy (AP) — Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice...
NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks and five other members of the civil rights group arrested during a sit-in will appear before an Alabama judge on Monday before attending another rally at noon near Senator Jeff Sessions’ district office.
The six men and women with the NAACP are returning for their court date to face misdemeanor charges from the Jan. 4 protest inside the office of Sen. Sessions, whose nomination for Attorney General has been opposed by the NAACP as well as thousands of civil rights activists, legal scholars and regular Americans.
In addition to Brooks, an attorney and minister who has led the NAACP since 2014, police charged five others for taking part in the protest: Alabama NAACP State Conference President Benard Simelton, Mobile NAACP Branch President Lizetta McConnell, NAACP Youth & College Director Stephen Green, NAACP Youth Fellow Devon Crawford, and Joe Keffer, a volunteer with the Alabama Moral Movement.
After the hearing on Monday morning, Brooks and company will join a rally by local NAACP members taking place outside the offices of Senator Sessions at 3900 College Lane South, Mobile, AL 36608 at noon (central time) to address supporters and possibly participate in a direct action.
“In this past month, people across the country have made their objections clear, and have joined with the NAACP to stand for an Attorney General that will honor civil rights, champion police reform and uphold the promises of the U.S. constitution for all people,” President Brooks said. “Our president and our senators should understand what this nation is telling them loud and clear: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is not an appropriate choice for this crucial federal position, and we must reject this nominee.”
Monday’s court appearance and rally come one day before Senators on the Committee of the Judiciary are scheduled to discuss Sessions’ nomination. If approved, his confirmation would then go to the full Senate for a vote.
In addition to testifying before the Senate committee against Sessions’ confirmation on Jan. 11, Brooks and the NAACP have been working with a coalition of civil rights groups encouraging Americans to call their senators at 1-877-959-6082 to oppose the nomination. Thousands of calls have been made to all 100 senators.
