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.
Lessons for Cities from Seattle’s Racial and Social Justice Law
Seattle is marking the first anniversary of its landmark Race and Social Justice Initiative ordinance. Signed into law in April 2023, the ordinance highlights race and racism because of the pervasive inequities experienced by people of color
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.
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 ...
Officials identify Idaho man who was killed by police after fatal shooting of deputy
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Officials have released the name of the Idaho man who was killed last weekend after being identified as the suspect in the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy, and Boise police officers are asking the public for more information about him. Dennis Mulqueen, 65,...
Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in contrast to the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges have soared to their highest levels in decades. The move to quash book bans is welcome to...
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. ...
New Fort Wayne, Indiana, mayor is sworn in a month after her predecessor's death
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Democrat Sharon Tucker was sworn in Tuesday as the new mayor of Indiana’s second-most populous city, nearly a month after her predecessor's death. Tucker, who had been a Fort Wayne City Council member, took the oath of office Tuesday morning at the Clyde...
Biden will speak at Morehouse commencement, an election-year spotlight in front of Black voters
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key spotlight on one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black campuses but potentially exposing him to uncomfortable protests as he seeks reelection against former...
Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in contrast to the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges have soared to their highest levels in decades. The move to quash book bans is welcome to...
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...
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....
After 4 decades in music and major vocal surgery, Jon Bon Jovi is optimistic and still rocking
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — When Jon Bon Jovi agreed to let director Gotham Chopra follow him with a documentary...
Modi is accused of using hate speech for calling Muslims 'infiltrators' at an Indian election rally
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's main opposition party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after...
Get better sleep with these 5 tips from experts
Spending too many nights trying to fall asleep — or worrying there aren’t enough ZZZs in your day? You’re...
Global plastic pollution treaty talks hit critical stage in Canada
Thousands of negotiators and observers representing most of the world’s nations are gathering in the Canadian...
Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees...
United Methodists open first top-level conference since breakup over LGBTQ inclusion
Thousands of United Methodists are gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, for their big denominational meeting,...
Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown is sworn in as Oregon Governor by Oregon Chief Justice Thomas A. Balmer in Salem, Ore., Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. John Kitzhaber, elected to an unprecedented fourth term last year, announced last week that he would step down amid allegations his fiancee used her relationship with him to enrich herself. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Kate Brown was sworn in Wednesday as Oregon's governor following an influence-peddling scandal that prompted the resignation of fellow Democrat John Kitzhaber, who had been the state's longest-serving chief executive before his swift fall from grace.
Brown assumed Oregon's highest office during a ceremony at the state Capitol. Brown, formerly the secretary of state, becomes the first openly bisexual governor in the nation.
Unlike most states, Oregon has no lieutenant governor. Under the state constitution, the secretary of state takes over if a governor steps down or dies.
Kitzhaber, elected to an unprecedented fourth term last year, announced last week that he would step down amid allegations his fiancee used her relationship with him to enrich herself.
Kitzhaber has denied wrongdoing and has consistently maintained that he and Cylvia Hayes worked hard to avoid conflicts between her public and private roles.
In a speech to the Legislature after her swearing-in, Brown praised Kitzhaber for his contributions to Oregon but also said "we must restore the public's trust."
"There is a great deal of work ahead of us, and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to it," she said.
"We are all keenly aware of the difficult circumstances that brought us to this moment — circumstances that none of us would have predicted only a short time ago," the new governor said.
"Oregon has been in the national news for all the wrong reasons," she said of the ethics scandal. "That changes starting today."
Brown, a 54-year-old Minnesota native, came to Oregon to attend law school in Portland, the state's largest city, and established a family law practice before her first run for the Legislature.
Kitzhaber handily won re-election in November to a fourth term after surviving the botched rollout of Oregon's online health care exchange, which turned into a national embarrassment.
But the allegations surrounding Hayes' work were more harmful, dominating headlines in the state following his victory.
A series of newspaper reports since October have chronicled Hayes' work for organizations with an interest in Oregon public policy. At the same time she was paid by advocacy groups, she played an active role in Kitzhaber's administration, a potential conflict of interest.
The spotlight on Hayes led to her revealing that she accepted about $5,000 to illegally marry a man seeking immigration benefits in the 1990s. Later, she acknowledged purchasing a remote property with the intent to grow marijuana.
Though questions about Hayes have swirled for months, the pressure on Kitzhaber intensified recently after newspapers raised questions about whether Hayes reported all her income on her tax returns. She has not publicly addressed the allegation and Kitzhaber has declined to.
Both state and federal officials have launched investigations.
Kitzhaber, 67, met the 47-year-old Hayes before the 2002 election, when he was governor and she was a candidate for the state Legislature. She lost her race, but they reconnected after Kitzhaber's term ended.