05-02-2024  4:46 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Portland Government Will Change On Jan. 1. The City’s Transition Team Explains What We Can Expect.

‘It’s a learning curve that everyone has to be intentional about‘

What Marijuana Reclassification Means for the United States

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The Justice Department proposal would recognize the medical uses of cannabis but wouldn’t legalize it for recreational use. Some advocates for legalized weed say the move doesn't go far enough, while opponents say it goes too far.

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.

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...

The Latest | Arrests top 2,000 as protests against Israel-Hamas war roil college campuses

The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college campuses against the Israel-Hamas war has now topped 2,000. The Associated Press has tallied arrests at 35 schools since the protests began at Columbia University on April 17. Student protests have popped up at many...

Tension grows on UCLA campus as police order dispersal of large pro-Palestinian gathering

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Law enforcement on the UCLA campus donned riot gear Wednesday evening as they ordered the dispersal of over a thousand people who had gathered in support of a pro-Palestinian student encampment, warning over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave could face arrest. ...

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...

Elliss, Jenkins, McCaffrey join Harrison and Alt in following their fathers into the NFL

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Marvin Harrison Jr., Joe Alt, Kris Jenkins, Jonah Ellis and Luke McCaffrey have turned the NFL draft into a family affair. The sons of former pro football stars, they've followed their fathers' formidable footsteps into the league. Elliss was...

OPINION

New White House Plan Could Reduce or Eliminate Accumulated Interest for 30 Million Student Loan Borrowers

Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective

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...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Judge grants autopsy rules requested by widow of Mississippi man found dead after vanishing

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge granted a request Thursday by the widow of a deceased man who vanished under mysterious circumstances to set standards for a future independent autopsy of her late husband's body. Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas formalized...

Asian American Literature Festival that was canceled by the Smithsonian in 2023 to be revived

NEW YORK (AP) — A festival celebrating Asian American literary works that was suddenly canceled last year by the Smithsonian Institution is getting resurrected, organizers announced Thursday. The Asian American Literature Festival is making a return, the Asian American Literature...

Critics question if longtime Democratic congressman from Georgia is too old for reelection

CONYERS, Ga. (AP) — U.S. Rep. David Scott faces multiple Democratic primary opponents in his quest for a 12th congressional term in a sharply reconfigured suburban Atlanta district. But with early voting underway ahead of the May 21 primary elections, the 78-year-old is ignoring challengers and...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Rachel Khong’s new novel 'Real Americans' explores race, class and cultural identity

In 2017 Rachel Khong wrote a slender, darkly comic novel, “Goodbye, Vitamin,” that picked up a number of accolades and was optioned for a film. Now she has followed up her debut effort with a sweeping, multigenerational saga that is twice as long and very serious. “Real...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 5-11

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 5-11: May 5: Actor Michael Murphy is 86. Actor Lance Henriksen (“Millennium,” ″Aliens”) is 84. Comedian-actor Michael Palin (Monty Python) is 81. Actor John Rhys-Davies (“Lord of the Rings,” ″Raiders of the Lost Ark”) is 80....

Select list of nominees for 2024 Tony Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Select nominations for the 2024 Tony Awards, announced Tuesday. Best Musical: “Hell's Kitchen'': ”Illinoise"; “The Outsiders”; “Suffs”; “Water for Elephants” Best Play: “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”; “Mary Jane”; “Mother...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Death toll jumps to at least 48 as a search continues in southern China highway collapse

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from a collapsed highway in southeastern China climbed to 48 on Thursday as...

Man who bragged that he 'fed' an officer to the mob of Capitol rioters gets nearly 5 years in prison

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Georgia business owner who bragged that he “fed” a police officer to a mob of rioters...

Biden says 'order must prevail' during campus protests over the war in Gaza

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday rejected calls from student protesters to change his approach...

United Methodists remove anti-gay language from their official teachings on societal issues

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates on Thursday removed a 52-year-old declaration from their...

A scroll for the king, a website for the people: Coronation document to be released digitally

LONDON (AP) — It is a record fit for a king, but it’s going online for everyone to see. King...

Liberia passes a law setting up a long-awaited war crimes court

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — President Joseph Boakai on Thursday signed an executive order to create a long-awaited...

Ben Brumfield CNN

(CNN) -- Monday is tax day, and in case you're wondering where your money went last year, President Barack Obama is eager to let you know. He's giving you a detailed receipt.


For the third year, taxpayers can visit the White House website for the nitty-gritty on how the government spends tax dollars from American households.

To see your 2012 contributions to the nation's military, Social Security, health care, community development, agriculture and NASA, among others, visit the site for the year's "taxpayer receipt."

"You deserve to know how your tax dollars are being spent," White House spokeswoman Colleen Curtis said in a statement.

Any politics involved?

The annual public disclosure comes amid a tussle among the president, Democratic legislators and their Republican counterparts over 2014 budget proposals. Legislators from both parties have slammed each other's proposals, as well as that of the president.

In his budget, Obama has taken the red pen to social spending items dear to liberal Democrats in his own base and handed bigger tax invoices to the wealthy and corporations, something Republicans have resisted.

His proposed reductions on Social Security and Medicare spending have caused consternation among some of Obama's supporters, who argue it will leave vulnerable Americans without enough support.

Meanwhile, Republicans have also protested the proposed revenue increases and the fact the budget doesn't balance. The $3.8 trillion proposal aims to cut deficits by $1.8 trillion over the next decade.

What do we pay the most for?

Spending on the military and health care programs take up the bulk of federal income tax revenues, according to the White House.

A married couple with one child making $50,000 a year -- roughly the median household income in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau -- paid an average of $995 in federal income taxes in 2012, just 1.99%.

This does not include Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Nearly a quarter of income taxes, $245.17, went to a category labeled "National Defense." A slightly smaller sum, $223.38, or 22.45%, was spent on "health care."

Ongoing military operations, such as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, swallow the largest sum of defense spending, laying claim to more than 10% of taxpayer dollars, the White House said.

Medicare and Medicaid, programs for the country's seniors and poor respectively, take up nearly all of the "heath care" spending category in the income tax breakdown.

This does not include the separate Medicare Tax of $725, or 1.45%, levied on the family used as an example.

But there is other combined military and social spending included in other parts of taxpayer receipt, such as an entry for "Veterans Benefits" and a separate one for military retirement and disability.

The federal government spends comparatively little on education and the promotion of science and technology. Together, they all receive less than 5% of expenditures. This includes NASA's budget.

A major exception is the development and construction of weapons technology, which weighs in at 7.62% of total federal expenditures.

The biggest tax by far is the workers' contributions to Social Security, which weigh in at $2,100 for a family of three earning a median income of $50,000 per year. That's 4.2% of the family's gross income and is more than its federal income and Medicare taxes taken together.

How big are taxes and deficits?

Over the past 40 years, the federal budget deficit has amounted to 3.1% of gross domestic product per year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That was well under the rate of inflation as measured by the labor department's consumer price index for half of those years.

At 3.3%, deficits are predicted to be slightly higher over the next 10 years, as rising health care and retirement costs notch up federal spending, the budget office said.

Budget deficits in the U.S. and much of the West surged with the onset of the world economic crisis in 2008, but began dropping in 2012, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

U.S. tax revenues -- including Social Security and Medicare -- have amounted to 18% of GDP over the past 40 years and are expected to rise slightly to 19% of annual GDP for the next 10 years, the budget office said.

The rate of U.S. income taxes as a percentage of GDP is lower compared to most developed nations, according to the World Bank.

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast