04-23-2024  7:43 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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

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.

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 ...

Ex-Washington officer wanted in 2 killings found in Oregon with gunshot wound, police say

SEATTLE (AP) — A former Washington state police officer wanted after killing two people, including his ex-wife, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a chase in Oregon, authorities said Tuesday. His 1-year-old baby, who was with him, was taken safely into custody by Oregon State...

Ex-Washington officer wanted in 2 killings found in Oregon with self-inflicted gunshot wound; child is safe, police say

WEST RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Ex-Washington officer wanted in 2 killings found in Oregon with self-inflicted gunshot wound; child is safe, police say....

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

Biden's Morehouse graduation invitation is sparking backlash, complicating election-year appearance

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key spotlight on one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black campuses but potentially exposing him to uncomfortable protests as he seeks reelection against former...

Transgender Tennessee woman sues over state's refusal to change the sex designation on her license

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A transgender Tennessee woman sued the state's Department of Safety and Homeland Security on Tuesday after officials refused to change the sex on her driver's license to match her gender identity. The lawsuit was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court in...

New Fort Wayne, Indiana, mayor is sworn in a month after her predecessor's death

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Democrat Sharon Tucker was sworn in Tuesday as the new mayor of Indiana’s second-most populous city, nearly a month after her predecessor's death. Tucker, who had been a Fort Wayne City Council member, took the oath of office Tuesday morning at the Clyde...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

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....

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

United Methodists open first top-level conference since breakup over LGBTQ inclusion

Thousands of United Methodists are gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, for their big denominational meeting,...

Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A movement to ban book bans is gaining steam in Minnesota and several other states, in...

5 migrants die while crossing the English Channel hours after the UK approved a deportation bill

PARIS (AP) — Five people, including a child, died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to the...

Abortion returns to the spotlight in Italy, 46 years after it was legalized

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government scored a victory Tuesday with the Senate...

Psychologist becomes first person in Peru to die by euthanasia after fighting in court for years

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian psychologist who had an incurable disease that weakened her muscles and left her...

Haiti health system nears collapse as medicine dwindles, gangs attack hospitals and ports stay shut

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — On a recent morning at a hospital in the heart of gang territory in Haiti’s...

By The Skanner News | The Skanner News

SEATTLE (AP) -- Overtime for the second time in three weeks seemed so imminent for Washington.
Then came a blown coverage that allowed Arizona State's Danny Sullivan to find Chris McGaha for a 50-yard touchdown with 5 seconds left to give the Sun Devils a 24-17 win on Saturday night, a harsh blow to the Huskies' hopes of getting back to a bowl game for the first time since 2002.
That stunning final play left Washington coach Steve Sarkisian spending most of Monday explaining what went wrong defensively that allowed the winning touchdown, and explaining his play-calling on the Huskies' final offensive series that gave Arizona State a chance for the victory.
Talking about Saturday's game against No. 12 Oregon was almost an afterthought.
"We try and get ourselves prepared for what might occur, and that's human nature," Sarkisian said. "And then when the game ended the way it did, I think that's why it's so heartbreaking, that's why it's so hard to take, because we didn't get ourselves prepared for that moment mentally."
For the fourth time in five weeks, the Huskies (3-4, 2-2) kept a game in doubt into the closing minutes, rallying from a 17-7 deficit to pull even at 17-all with 3:50 left.
Washington got the ball back at its own 10 with 1:17 left _ and that's when things started to go awry.
A pair of runs left Washington with a third-and-1 at its 19 with 28 seconds left. Instead of running to try for the first down and all but send the game to overtime, Sarkisian took a chance. Seeing what he believed was a favorable coverage, Sarkisian tried for a deep throw to James Johnson in the hopes of maybe getting a chance at a last-second field goal to win.
But Arizona State read the play and quarterback Jake Locker's throw fell incomplete with 22 seconds left.
"There was a reason why he called it and we just weren't able to execute it," Locker said. "I wasn't surprised by (the call), I wasn't shocked by it."
After the game Sarkisian regretted calling the pass. He continued to acknowledge his mistake two days later.
"As I go back and look at it now, the reality of it is I should've ran the ball on third down to get a first down then possibly take our shots to get downfield," Sarkisian said. "I wish we could've gotten the first down on the second-down play; it would've made things a lot easier. But you learn from it."
While willing to admit his offensive mistake, Sarkisian remained convinced the defensive call was correct. The Huskies were worried that Arizona State would try and hit a 15- to 20-yard pass and, with one timeout remaining, get a chance at a winning field goal.
Washington called a 3-deep coverage hoping to limit that intermediate throw and with safety Nate Williams responsible for being the deepest defender on the field. When Sullivan rolled to his left, Williams moved that direction as ASU receiver T.J. Simpson was open running a crossing route in the middle of the field.
Williams followed Simpson, leaving McGaha open running down the opposite hash marks. Sullivan reset his feet and found McGaha uncovered, although it appeared Williams was stuck trying to make a decision between covering one of two open receivers.
Sarkisian indicated that Williams should have stayed in the middle of the field.
"Nate's a middle-third player, in between the hashes and deep as the deepest," Sarkisian said.
But the coach followed up moments later defending his junior safety, saying he could see how the move Sullivan made rolling out and Simpson crossing the field could have led to confusion for Williams.
"In Nate's defense, he saw the quarterback's vision and eyes so hard left that he felt like if he doesn't throw that comeback, the first threat is going to be this crossing route, so let me go take it," Sarkisian said. "That wasn't the case. Again, to the quarterback's credit, his ability to come off his primary read and find a guy that probably wasn't even in his progression for a touchdown was a great play."

 


The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast