04-25-2024  12:50 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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. 

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

NEWS BRIEFS

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 ...

Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge US to prosecute the company

Boeing said Wednesday that it lost 5 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers. ...

Authorities confirm 2nd victim of ex-Washington officer was 17-year-old with whom he had a baby

WEST RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Authorities on Wednesday confirmed that a body found at the home of a former Washington state police officer who killed his ex-wife before fleeing to Oregon, where he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was that of a 17-year-old girl with whom he had a baby. ...

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...

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

Body-cam footage shows police left an Ohio man handcuffed and facedown on a bar floor before he died

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who was handcuffed and left facedown on the floor of a social club last week died in police custody and the officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave. Police body-camera footage released Wednesday shows a Canton police officer...

Bishop stabbed during Sydney church service backs X's legal case to share video of the attack

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A Sydney bishop who was stabbed repeatedly in an alleged extremist attack blamed on a teenager has backed X Corp. owner Elon Musk’s legal bid to overturn an Australian ban on sharing graphic video of the attack on social media. A live stream of the...

Biden just signed a bill that could ban TikTok. His campaign plans to stay on the app anyway

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden showed off his putting during a campaign stop at a public golf course in Michigan last month, the moment was captured on TikTok. Forced inside by a rainstorm, he competed with 13-year-old Hurley “HJ” Coleman IV to make putts on a...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Columbia's president, no stranger to complex challenges, walks tightrope on student protests

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik is no stranger to navigating complex international issues, having...

US abortion battle rages on with moves to repeal Arizona ban and a Supreme Court case

Action in courts and state capitals around the U.S. this week have made it clear again: The overturning of Roe v....

Former tabloid publisher testifies about scheme to shield his old friend Trump from damaging stories

NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was...

Macron outlines his vision for Europe to become an assertive global power as war in Ukraine rages on

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that Europe could “die” if it fails to build...

EU military officer says a frigate has destroyed a drone launched from Yemen's Houthi-held areas

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A top European Union military officer said that a frigate that’s part of an EU mission...

Ukrainian duo heads to the Eurovision Song Contest with a message: We're still here

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Even amid war, Ukraine finds time for the glittery, pop-filled Eurovision Song Contest....

NYPD convoy
Julianne Malveaux, NNPA Columnist

Is Patrick Lynch, president of the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, obliged to defend his members even when they are wrong? The open letter posted on the PBA website and printed in theNew York Daily News lacks credibility and contributes to the fractured state of police-community relations. He has cautioned the media, and others, about rushing to judgment of James Frascatore, the walking assault machine that tackled former tennis star James Blake, put his knee to Blake’s back, and then cuffed him. This was captured by a security camera; the footage is ubiquitous online. Lynch says, “No one should ever jump to an uninformed conclusion based on a few seconds of video.”

Lynch makes every excuse that he can for Frascatore, and chides “pundits and editorial writers” because “they have never faced the dangers that police officers routinely do.” Comments about Blake’s false arrest and further cover-up are “irresponsible, unjust, and un-American.” Lynch says Frascatore deserves “due process, not summary professional execution called for by editorial writers.”

Due process is the legal requirement that the state must respect all the legal rights due to a person. When did James Blake get due process? Frascatore tackled Blake with neither provocation nor even conversation. Either Lynch didn’t watch the video or he doesn’t care that there is a pugilistic police officer that has no regard for due process when he interacts with the public.

Frascatore should have been history in the NYPD some time ago. He has only been part of the NYPD for four years, yet five complaints against him have been filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). All of these complaints involve the excessive use of force. Frascatore is fast with his fists (he is accused of punching people in the head, the mouth, and in the torso); tragedy would be compounded if he were using a gun. For all of Frascatore’s abuse of power, it took his assault of Blake to get him desk duty. Blake has very reasonably called for Frascatore’s firing. But loudmouth Lynch (consider his comments in the wake of Eric Garner’s murder) has talked himself onto a limb with his passionate, but baseless defense of a police “officer.”

If there were due process, Frascatore would have been arrested for assaulting Blake. But police officers accused of wrongdoing hide behind their uniforms and rarely pay for their crimes. If there were due process, a man with five complaints before the CCRB would have been put on desk duty, if not suspended or fired, some time ago.

TheNew York Daily Newsreported on a 2013 incident where Frascatore and two others followed bicyclist Warren Diggs home. Once there, they demanded identification from him but proceeded to punch in the head and pummel his body – before he could retrieve his ID. Diggs’ significant other, Nafeesah Hines, saw part of the fracas and began recording it. She asked officers for their names and badge numbers; two complied but Frascatore refused.

When Hines went to move Diggs’ bicycle from the sidewalk and into their home, she was told that she was tampering with evidence and was arrested. The Civilian Complaint Review Board found inconsistencies between Frascatore’s statements and the recording Hines made. It recommended “retraining” Frascatore. Hines also sued the city for false arrest and settled out of court. Warren Diggs still has a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

The Diggs case reveals Frascatore as an accomplished liar who doesn’t mind breaking the rules. Just as there was an attempt to cover up the Blake arrest, there was also an attempt to justify the brutal assault of Warren Diggs and the false arrest of Nafeesah Hines. Due process, Patrick Lynch?

As Blake has so gracefully said, all police officers are not like Frascatore. He declined to accuse the NYPD, just the out-of-control officer. He accepted the apologies of the police commissioner and the mayor. But he insists that something must be done about excessive force, and he has indicated that he might pursue a lawsuit otherwise.

The NYPD says they have spent millions on training and retraining. Did Frascatore ever get the training the CCRB recommended? Why not monitor those officers who have been “retrained” to see if they have changed their ways? Why not prioritize investigation of those with repeat complaints so that bad apples like Frascatore are terminated before they do more damage?

Patrick Lynch does his members a disservice when he excuses the behavior of officers like James Frascatore, whose only due process should move him out of the NYPD. Due process means arresting Frascatore for assaulting James Blake. Julianne Malvceaux is an author and economist based in Washington, DC. She can be reached at www.juliannemalveaux.com

Julianne Malvceaux is an author and economist based in Washington, DC. She can be reached at www.juliannemalveaux.com

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast