05-01-2024  4:08 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

US Long-Term Care Costs Are Sky-High, but Washington State’s New Way to Help Pay for Them Could Be Nixed

A group funded by hedge fund executive Brian Heywood is attempting to undermine the financial stability of Washington state's new long-term care social insurance program.

A Massive Powerball Win Draws Attention to a Little-Known Immigrant Culture in the US

An immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer won an enormous jumi.3 billion Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month. But Cheng “Charlie” Saephan's luck hasn't just changed his life — it's also drawn attention to Iu Mien, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.

City Council Strikes Down Gonzalez’s ‘Inhumane’ Suggestion for Blanket Ban on Public Camping

Mayor Wheeler’s proposal for non-emergency ordinance will go to second reading.

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.

NEWS BRIEFS

April 30 is the Registration Deadline for the May Primary Election

Voters can register or update their registration online at OregonVotes.gov until 11:59 p.m. on April 30. ...

Chair Jessica Vega Pederson Releases $3.96 Billion Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025

Investments will boost shelter and homeless services, tackle the fentanyl crisis, strengthen the safety net and support a...

New Funding Will Invest in Promising Oregon Technology and Science Startups

Today Business Oregon and its Oregon Innovation Council announced a million award to the Portland Seed Fund that will...

Unity in Prayer: Interfaith Vigil and Memorial Service Honoring Youth Affected by Violence

As part of the 2024 National Youth Violence Prevention Week, the Multnomah County Prevention and Health Promotion Community Adolescent...

Protesters clash at UCLA after police clear pro-Palestinian demonstrators from Columbia University

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. Hours earlier, police carrying riot shields burst into a building at Columbia University that...

A massive Powerball win draws attention to a little-known immigrant culture in the US

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA” as he hoisted an oversized check for jumi.3 billion above his head. The 46-year-old immigrant's luck in winning an enormous Powerball jackpot in...

Lawmakers want the Chiefs and Royals to come to Kansas, but a stadium plan fizzled

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City's two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border, but an effort to help the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and Major League Baseball's Royals finance new stadiums in Kansas fizzed over concerns about how it...

The Bo Nix era begins in Denver, and the Broncos also drafted his top target at Oregon

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — For the first time in his 17 seasons as a coach, Sean Payton has a rookie quarterback to nurture. Payton's Denver Broncos took Bo Nix in the first round of the NFL draft. The coach then helped out both himself and Nix by moving up to draft his new QB's top...

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

Nearly 50 years later, Asian American and Pacific Islander month features revelry and racial justice

It has been almost 50 years since the U.S. government established that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and their accomplishments should be recognized annually across the nation. What started as just one week in May has evolved over the decades into a monthlong...

Hush money trial judge raises threat of jail as he finds Trump violated gag order, fines him K

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined ,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. If he does it again, the judge warned, he could...

The body of a Mississippi man will remain in state hands as police investigate his death, judge says

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The body of a Mississippi man who was found dead after vanishing under mysterious circumstances will not be released to family members until law enforcement agencies finish investigating the case, a state judge said Tuesday. At a hearing in Jackson,...

ENTERTAINMENT

Dick Van Dyke earns historic Daytime Emmy nomination at age 98

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Van Dyke is vying for a historic Daytime Emmy at age 98. The actor was nominated Friday as guest performer in a daytime drama series for his part as amnesiac Timothy Robicheaux on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives.” Van Dyke is the oldest...

Music Review: Neil Young delivers appropriately ragged, raw live version of 1990's 'Ragged Glory'

The venerable Neil Young offers a ragged and raw live take of his beloved 1990 album “Ragged Glory” with a new album, titled “Fu##in’ Up.” Of course, the 2024 version doesn't have the same semi-youthful energy that the 44-year-old Young put into the original. Maybe his voice...

Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi is 'tickled pink' to inspire a Barbie doll

Like many little girls, a young Kristi Yamaguchi loved playing with Barbie. With a schedule packed with ice skating practices, her Barbie dolls became her “best friends.” So, it's surreal for the decorated Olympian figure skater to now be a Barbie girl herself. ...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Trump's comparison of student protests to Jan. 6 is part of effort to downplay Capitol attack

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday lamented the possibility that Columbia University's pro-Palestinian...

The unexpected announcement of a prime minister divides Haiti's newly created transitional council

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A surprise announcement that revealed Haiti’s new prime minister is threatening...

Powell likely to signal that lower inflation is needed before Fed would cut rates

WASHINGTON (AP) — After three straight hotter-than-expected inflation reports, Federal Reserve officials have...

Kazakhstan arrests a former interior minister over crackdown on unrest that left 238 dead

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Authorities in Kazakhstan have arrested a former interior minister in connection with a...

To fend off tourists, a town in Japan is building a big screen blocking the view of Mount Fuji

FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Japan (AP) — The town of Fujikawaguchiko has had enough of tourists. Known for a...

Over 500 baby sea turtles washed ashore in a big storm off South Africa. Here's the rescue effort

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — An aquarium in South Africa is stretched beyond capacity after more than 500 baby...

Andrew Taylor the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's allies in the Senate on Friday unveiled the next piece of his failed $447 billion jobs measure to get a vote in the Senate: a $60 billion investment in infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.

Like its two predecessors, however, the infrastructure package figures to be unanimously opposed by Republicans and a handful of Democrats over its stimulus-style spending and tax surcharge on the very wealthy. A test vote on the measure will come after the Senate returns from vacation next month.

The legislation would provide an immediate $50 billion investment in America's roads, bridges and airports, and transit systems and establish a $10 billion national infrastructure bank to leverage private and public capital for longer-term infrastructure projects.

"This legislation will create hundreds of thousands of construction jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges and infrastructure," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The measure would be financed by a 0.7 percentage point surcharge on income over $1 million.

The announcement by Senate Democrats came the day after Republicans scuttled a pared-back jobs measure designed to boost hiring of teachers and first responders.

That plan failed on a 50-50 test vote that fell well short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. Two Democrats abandoned Obama on the vote and two more who voted with the president said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.

Thursday's $35 billion measure combined $30 billion for state and local governments to hire teachers and other school workers with $5 billion to help pay the salaries of police officers, firefighters and other first responders. The White House says the measure would "support" almost 400,000 education jobs for one year. Republicans call that a temporary "sugar high" for the economy and say it's a taxpayer-funded bailout of state and local governments.

Obama and his Democratic allies are acting like they've found a winning issue in repeatedly pressing popular ideas such as infrastructure spending and boosting hiring of police officers and firefighters. The sluggish economy and lower tax revenues have caused many teachers' jobs to be cut over the past several years.

"For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again," Obama said in a statement after the vote. "Every American deserves an explanation as to why Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what's necessary to create jobs and grow the economy right now."

"We cannot afford to be bailing out local governments, and we can't afford stimulus 2.0," countered Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Democrats haven't said which piece they'll resurrect next as an individual bill, but there's widespread support among party members for spending on highway and bridge projects, as well as for a poll-tested financing mechanism - a surcharge on income exceeding $1 million.

An AP-GfK poll taken Oct. 13-17 found 62 percent of respondents favoring the surcharge as a way to pay for jobs initiatives. Just 26 percent opposed the idea.

More ominously for Democrats, the poll shows that Obama's party has lost the faith of the public on handling the economy. In it, only 38 percent said they trust Democrats to do a better job than Republicans in handling the economy, the first time Democrats have fallen below 40 percent in the poll. Some 43 percent trust the Republicans more.

"The fact is we're not going to get this economy going again by growing the government. It's the private sector that's ultimately going to drive this recovery," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "Look, if big government were the key to economic growth, then countries like Greece would be booming right now."

Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Democratic-leaning Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut broke with Obama on Thursday's vote. Two Democrats who voted with the president, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.

"This bill fails to give taxpayers any guarantee that this money would actually be used to hire teachers and invest in our schools," Tester said. "States would get loads of money with little guidance that they spend the money on teachers."

Immediately after the vote on Obama's plan, Democrats turned the tables and filibustered Republican-backed legislation that would prevent the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors. The legislation failed to get the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster on a 57-43 vote, even though 10 Democrats voted to advance it.

Many Democrats and Obama support the idea but opposed it Thursday because it would be paid for with $30 billion in cuts from domestic agency spending. Advocates of repealing the withholding requirement say it will help create jobs, especially from contractors on large projects with smaller profit margins.

The withholding law was passed in 2006 by a GOP-controlled Congress. Then, the idea then was to make sure contractors couldn't duck their taxes and was imposed after government investigators found that thousands of federal contractors owed taxes.

The GOP-controlled House is likely to pass the measure next week and Reid promised that the Senate would revisit the issue, though there's likely to be a split between the House and Senate over how to pay for the cost of repealing the withholding rule.

After voting on the competing jobs measures, the Senate worked past midnight on a $128 billion spending bill covering five Cabinet departments.

Early Friday, the Senate voted 84-15 to end direct payments to farmers whose annual incomes exceed $1 million.

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast