05-05-2024  6:05 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Police Detain Driver Who Accelerated Toward Protesters at Portland State University in Oregon

The Portland Police Bureau said in a written statement late Thursday afternoon that the man was taken to a hospital on a police mental health hold. They did not release his name. The vehicle appeared to accelerate from a stop toward the crowd but braked before it reached anyone. 

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.

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...

Escaped zebra captured near Seattle after gallivanting around Cascade mountain foothills for days

SEATTLE (AP) — A zebra that has been hoofing through the foothills of western Washington for days was recaptured Friday evening, nearly a week after she escaped with three other zebras from a trailer near Seattle. Local residents and animal control officers corralled the zebra...

Safety lapses contributed to patient assaults at Oregon State Hospital, federal report says

Safety lapses at the Oregon State Hospital contributed to recent patient-on-patient assaults, a federal report on the state's most secure inpatient psychiatric facility has found. The investigation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that staff didn't always...

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

With a vest and a voice, helpers escort kids through San Francisco’s broken Tenderloin streets

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wearing a bright safety vest with the words “Safe Passage” on the back, Tatiana Alabsi strides through San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood to its only public elementary school, navigating broken bottles and stained sleeping bags along tired streets that occasionally...

As US spotlights those missing or dead in Native communities, prosecutors work to solve their cases

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It was a frigid winter morning when authorities found a Native American man dead on a remote gravel road in western New Mexico. He was lying on his side, with only one sock on, his clothes gone and his shoes tossed in the snow. There were trails of blood on...

The Kentucky Derby is turning 150 years old. It's survived world wars and controversies of all kinds

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — As a record crowd cheered, American Pharoah rallied from behind and took aim at his remaining two rivals in the stretch. The bay colt and jockey Victor Espinoza surged to the lead with a furlong to go and thundered across the finish line a length ahead in the 2015 Kentucky...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

Book Review: 'Crow Talk' provides a path for healing in a meditative and hopeful novel on grief

Crows have long been associated with death, but Eileen Garvin’s novel “Crow Talk” offers a fresh perspective; creepy, dark and morbid becomes beautiful, wondrous and transformative. “Crow Talk” provides a path for healing in a meditative and hopeful novel on grief, largely...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

As Putin begins another 6-year term, he is entering a new era of extraordinary power in Russia

Just a few months short of a quarter-century as Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday will put his hand on a...

With a vest and a voice, helpers escort kids through San Francisco’s broken Tenderloin streets

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wearing a bright safety vest with the words “Safe Passage” on the back, Tatiana Alabsi...

A driver dies after crashing into a security barrier around the White House complex, authorities say

WASHINGTON (AP) — A driver died after a vehicle crashed into an outer perimeter gate of the White House complex,...

King Charles III’s openness about cancer has helped him connect with people in year after coronation

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III’s decision to be open about his cancer diagnosis has helped the new monarch...

Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list

Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday,...

London, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Mayor Sadiq Khan wins historic third term

LONDON (AP) — London Mayor Sadiq Khan has a lot of cleaning up to do. Khan, who made history...

CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- After 18 months of terror and grave devastation, Syrian children are plagued with trauma from witnessing the horrors of war first-hand, an international aid group says.

Save the Children released a report Tuesday called "Untold Atrocities," a collection of accounts from Syrian refugee children.



"A massacre took place in my village. Around 25 people were killed -- I witnessed it with my own eyes," said 15-year-old Mohamad, who has fled to Jordan with his family. "They used different ways to kill people -- electric shocks, throwing machinery and cement blocks on people's heads."

Hassan, 14, described the use of children as human shields -- akin to reports from opposition activists that the Syrian regime has used children as shields.

He said his cousin and uncle died when a rocket "caused a massacre."

"Almost every child we've spoken to has seen family members killed," Save the Children said.

Even those who survive attacks face dire circumstances.

"When we were being bombed we had nothing. No food, no water, no toys -- nothing. There was no way to buy food -- the markets and shops were bombed out," 10-year-old Ala'a said. "My father went without food for days because there wasn't enough. I remember watching him tie his stomach with rope so he wouldn't feel so hungry."

Wael, 16, summarized the trauma this way:

"I have seen children slaughtered. I don't think I'll ever be OK again."

In other developments:

On the ground: Blasts strike a Damascus compound

Dual attacks rattled a Syrian intelligence security compound in Damascus, the regime and opposition activists said Tuesday.

The compound was also the site of a major explosion in March.

Syrian state-run TV said the two improvised explosive devices were "planted by terrorists" in a school building and caused seven injuries.

Opposition activists said the Syrian military was using the school building as a base. The new school year has not yet started, Syrian state TV said, so it seems unlikely that children would have been at the site.

In June, Human Rights Watch described cases of "sexual torture" at the compound, reported by male and female detainees -- many of whom were political activists or simply attended protests.

At least 50 people have been killed across Syria on Tuesday, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition group.

Thirteen deaths have been reported in Daraa province, where regime forces are dropping improvised explosive barrels from helicopter gunships above the city of Daeel, according to the LCC.

Diplomatic front: Obama pledges support, Qatar offers a new plan for Syria

President Obama used his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to pledge U.S. support for those working for a "common good" for Syria, and sanctions against those doing harm.

"In Syria, the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people," he said.

"If there is a cause that cries out for protest in the world today, it is a regime that tortures children and shoots rockets at apartment buildings. And we must remain engaged to assure that what began with citizens demanding their rights does not end in a cycle of sectarian violence.

"Together, we must stand with those Syrians who believe in a different vision -- a Syria that is united and inclusive."

There would be consequences and sanctions for those who persecute others, Obama promised, and assistance for those who work for the good of all of Syria's people.

The U.S. president's words come a day after Qatar's prime minister proposed a "Plan B" for solving the Syrian crisis, saying a nonviolent solution is still possible despite more than a year of relentless bloodshed. He called for greater help from the United States to achieve this end.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said the plan would include havens -- which would require a no-fly zone -- and greater humanitarian aid.

"We wish and we believe that we can solve it peacefully," Al Thani said Monday. But, he said, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has only one solution: "killing his people to win the war."

"I believe within weeks, we should have a Plan B. And there is a responsibility among us," he said. "We are talking about saving the people of Syria."

When asked who would participate in the plan, Al Thani replied, "I believe there is a lot of Arab countries will participate, and there is also European countries will participate."

But what the plan really needs, Al Thani said, is help from the United States.

"I know, to be more frank, that there is an election now. ... But I hope that after the election, the American government looks at this matter in a different way. And I always meant no military intervention, but we need to take some measures ... to save the Syrian people."

The prime minister said his country is not providing weapons to Syrian rebels, but is giving humanitarian aid to refugees who have fled to other countries.

Al Thani said he hopes plans for Syria don't include a regional struggle between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

"My fear (is) that if there is a Sunni-Shia war and escalation ... nobody will win in this."

He also alluded to the diplomatic deadlock at the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China have repeatedly blocked draft resolutions that would take stronger action against al-Assad's regime.

"I really hope that Russia and China join all of us to find a solution. Not exactly what they want or what we want -- it's exactly what the Syrian people want, in my opinion."

Qatar played a key role in the revolution in Libya as the first Arab nation to recognize the rebels and support NATO's mission there.

In fact, Libyans were so thankful, they hung the Qatari flag over a compound of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli.

But Al Thani says that was possible through work via NATO and the help of the United States.

CNN's Saad Abedine, Holly Yan, Samuel Burke and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this report.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast