04-19-2024  1:28 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

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,...

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...

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...

PPB squad car
By Christen McCurdy | The Skanner News

Attorney General Loretta Lynch came to Portland last week to talk about what local law enforcement is doing right – but faced questions about the ongoing Department of Justice settlement with the city, as well as her agency’s handling of the Malheur standoff earlier this year.

Lynch’s visit was the second stop on six-city tour of cities that each demonstrate one pillar of effective 21st-century policing as described in a report released by a Presidential task force last year. Lynch’s visit singled out Portland as an exemplar of “community policing and crime reduction,” with other cities on the tour being honored for other pillars in the report: building trust and legitimacy (Miami, which she visited last month), training and education and officer safety and wellness.

At a Thursday morning press conference at the Boys and Girls Club on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Lynch acknowledged that even as the DOJ honors Portland for exemplary policing practices, the city has yet to complete the work set out for it in the U.S. vs. City of Portland agreement in 2012. That settlement identified a pattern of excessive force against people with mental illness. Lynch said even though Portland’s work isn’t done, she wanted to commend the city for the progress it has made in increasing trust between police and the community.

“There’s good work being done here,” she said.

Lynch took questions from local media just after visiting George Middle School in North Portland, where she saw two officers teaching a Gang Resistance Education Training Program to a class of sixth-graders – one of a collection of efforts she said increases trust between youth and officers at a critical age.

She also attended a community roundtable and heard presentations from Mayor Charlie Hales, Community Peace Collaborative chair Antoinette Edwards, Multnomah County deputy district attorney Eric Zimmerman and Life Change Church pastor Mark Strong, part of a group of pastors and community members involved in street outreach to curb violence.

“We not only must work for justice in this day but work on the root causes of injustice as well,” Hales said. Hales said despite overall reductions in crime rate, the rate of violence considered gang-related is now up.

Lt. Tasha Hager, who heads up the Portland Police Bureau’s behavioral unit, said the department is working with communications agencies to identify which calls do not need to be referred to police, instead transferring them to the Multnomah County Crisis Line.

At the press conference, Lynch fielded questions about staffing shortages in the bureau as well as a number of questions about the DOJ’s handling of the Malheur standoff.

“Every case is different. We always respond to circumstances individually,” she said of the DOJ’s slow response to the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by armed militants, the vast majority of whom were White and identify with the right-wing patriot movement. She said the department was proud the 41-day standoff ended, for the most part, peaceably.

“We’re actively very encouraged with Portland’s progress,” Lynch said of Portland’s progress on the DOJ settlement, in response to a question about the consequences should the city fail to meet the requirements.  The settlement agreement – which anticipates that the city will have complied with all major portions of the agreement by October 2017  -- says the city may be under federal supervision for a longer period of time if it fails to meet the requirements. It also says the parties involved in the agreement may ask that the city be allowed more time to address violations.

A September 2015 Compliance Status Assessment Report said the city was in “partial compliance” with most requirements of the settlement. Specifically, the report said the bureau is noncompliant with a few specific requirements, notably in the area of data collection on use of force and policies preventing retaliation against those who report misconduct. The report also notes while there is evidence the police bureau has changed the way it deals mental health calls, the city has not actually provided documentation proving a change in its policy.

A day prior to Lynch’s visit, she was scheduled to attend a Community Peace Collaborative meeting but didn’t make it. That meeting ended up adjourning early after a heated discussion about a recent report on the overrepresentation of African Americans in Multnomah County’s correction system. 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast