05-02-2024  12:00 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

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.

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...

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. ...

Appeals court rejects climate change lawsuit by young Oregon activists against US government

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday rejected a long-running lawsuit brought by young Oregon-based climate activists who argued that the U.S. government's role in climate change violated their constitutional rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

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

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...

Hakeem Jeffries isn't speaker yet, but the Democrat may be the most powerful person in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Without wielding the gavel or holding a formal job laid out in the Constitution, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries might very well be the most powerful person in Congress right now. The minority leader of the House Democrats, it was Jeffries who provided the votes needed to...

Advocates say Supreme Court must preserve new, mostly Black US House district for 2024 elections

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Voting rights advocates said Wednesday they will go to the Supreme Court in hopes of preserving a new majority Black congressional district in Louisiana for the fall elections, the latest step in a complicated legal fight that could determine the fate of political careers and...

ENTERTAINMENT

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. ...

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

House passes bill to expand definition of antisemitism amid growing campus protests over Gaza war

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Wednesday that would establish a broader definition of...

Hakeem Jeffries isn't speaker yet, but the Democrat may be the most powerful person in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Without wielding the gavel or holding a formal job laid out in the Constitution, Rep. Hakeem...

What is at stake in UK local voting ahead of a looming general election

LONDON (AP) — Millions of voters in England and Wales will cast their ballots on Thursday in an array of local...

Georgian lawmakers move closer to passing 'Russian law' targeting the media. Protesters gather again

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s Parliament moved a step closer Wednesday to passing a law that critics fear...

Tourists evacuated from Kenya’s Maasai Mara reserve amid flooding and heavy rains

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Tourists were evacuated by air from Kenya's Maasai Mara national reserve Wednesday after...

Microsoft will invest [scripts/homepage/home.php].2 billion in cloud and AI services in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Microsoft is investing [scripts/homepage/home.php].2 billion over the next four years in Malaysia's new...

Kyle Hightower the Associated Press


Alabama lining up against LSU in November. The teams, who will play
for the national title, both have
strong academic records.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A study released Monday of the 70 Football Bowl Subdivision schools that will participate in the upcoming college football bowl season showed continued academic progress, but that the gap between white and African-American players continues to persist.

The report by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport notes an overall Graduation Success Rate (a graduation rate which takes transfers into consideration) improvement from 67 percent to 68 percent for students on the 70 bowl teams.

A total of 97 percent of schools had at least a 50 percent GSR for football teams, up 6 percent from 2010.

Also, for the second straight year 99 percent of schools received a score higher than the target 925 on the NCAA's four-year Academic Progress Rate. Teams with a four-year APR of 925 or below face penalties including loss of scholarships.

"If I was an advisor of athletes on a college campus, I would feel good about myself overall," said primary study author Richard Lapchick. "One of the things about the report is that if you do well, it helps you stand out. If don't do well, hopefully the motivation is to continue to do better."

Lapchick hopes a lot of effort will go toward closing the racial disparity in graduation rates.

While the average GSR for African-American players rose from 60 percent to 61 percent from a year ago, it remains far behind the average for white players, which increased from 80 percent to 81 percent. In addition, 26 percent of the bowl teams (18 of 70) graduated fewer than half of their African-American players, while none graduated fewer than half of their white players.

If the schools with the highest overall GSR among bowl teams were paired in the national championship game, the matchup would feature Northwestern and Notre Dame.

But unlike past years, when BCS title game teams often had less than stellar academic credentials, both of this year's participants - LSU and Alabama - rank high, with APRs of 966 and 963, respectively.

LSU graduates 77 percent of its players overall and 91 percent and 69 percent of its white and African-American players, respectively. Alabama graduates 69 percent of its players overall 89 percent and 62 percent of its white and African-American players.

Lapchick said that, based on the poor overall record of bowl teams a decade ago, he wouldn't have thought that the teams competing in the national championship would have such strong academic credentials this fast.

"That brought a big smile to my face," he said.

In March, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan along with Lapchick and NAACP president and CEO Ben Jealous were critical of some of the poor graduation rates and APRs from schools that qualified for the men's NCAA basketball tournament. A Knight Commission analysis showed 10 of the 68 teams in the men's tournament last season didn't meet the NCAA's APR goal of being on track to graduate at least 50 percent of their players.

Duncan called for the NCAA to ban basketball teams with graduation rates below 40 percent from competing in the NCAA tournament.

The NCAA Board of Directors responded and during an August meeting voted to raise the APR standard across Division I to 930. It includes a provision that bans all teams below that from participating in the postseason, including all NCAA tournaments and football bowl games.

Previously, only when a school fell below a 900 APR had it been considered to be doing poor enough to receive a postseason ban.

If the new 930 APR standard had been in place for in March, 12 schools would not have qualified for the men's NCAA basketball tournament and seven teams, including Michigan and Louisville, would not have been eligible to play in this season's bowls.

Lapchick said he and Duncan would like to see the APR standard reflect a 60 percent graduation rate, but that the 930 threshold (equivalent to 50 percent) is a great start.

"Now there's pressure on the two of things coaches treasure- losing scholarships and not going to NCAA tournament or making bowl appearance. No coach wants to be subject to that," Lapchick said.

The GSR measures graduation rates at Division I schools after four years, and includes students transferring into the institutions. The GSR also allows schools to subtract student-athletes who leave prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete if they remained.

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Online:

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Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/khightower .

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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast