11-30-2024  3:04 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Oregon Tribe Has Hunting and Fishing Rights Restored Under a Long-Sought Court Ruling

The tribe was among the dozens that lost federal recognition in the 1950s and ‘60s under a policy of assimilation known as “termination.” Congress voted to re-recognize the tribe in 1977. But to have their land restored, the tribe had to agree to a federal court order that limited their hunting, fishing and gathering rights. 

Forecasts Warn of Possible Winter Storms Across US During Thanksgiving Week

Two people died in the Pacific Northwest after a rapidly intensifying “bomb cyclone” hit the West Coast last Tuesday, bringing fierce winds that toppled trees and power lines and damaged homes and cars. Fewer than 25,000 people in the Seattle area were still without power Sunday evening.

Huge Number Of Illegal Guns In Portland Come From Licensed Dealers, New Report Shows

Local gun safety advocacy group argues for state-level licensing and regulation of firearm retailers.

'Bomb Cyclone' Kills 1 and Knocks out Power to Over Half a Million Homes Across the Northwest US

A major storm was sweeping across the northwest U.S., battering the region with strong winds and rain. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Grants up to $120,000 Educate About Local Environmental Projects

Application period for WA nonprofits open Jan. 7 ...

Literary Arts Opens New Building on SE Grand Ave

The largest literary center in the Western U.S. includes a new independent bookstore and café, event space, classrooms, staff offices...

Vote By Mail Tracking Act Passes House with Broad Support

The bill co-led by Congressman Mfume would make it easier for Americans to track their mail-in ballots; it advanced in the U.S. House...

OMSI Opens Indoor Ice Rink for the Holiday Season

This is the first year the unique synthetic ice rink is open. ...

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

Portland Fire & Rescue extends their wish to you for a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday. ...

Oregon tribe has hunting and fishing rights restored under a long-sought court ruling

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) — Drumming made the floor vibrate and singing filled the conference room of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, as hundreds in tribal regalia danced in a circle. For the last 47 years, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz...

Schools are bracing for upheaval over fear of mass deportations

Last time Donald Trump was president, rumors of immigration raids terrorized the Oregon community where Gustavo Balderas was the school superintendent. Word spread that immigration agents were going to try to enter schools. There was no truth to it, but school staff members had to...

Judd and Missouri host Jacksonville State

Jacksonville State Gamecocks (4-1) at Missouri Tigers (6-3) Columbia, Missouri; Sunday, 3 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Missouri takes on Jacksonville State after Ashton Judd scored 22 points in Missouri's 85-57 victory against the Wichita State Shockers. The...

Missouri tops Lindenwood 81-61 as Perkins nets 18, Warrick adds 17; Tigers' Grill taken to hospital

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Tony Perkins scored 18 points and Marques Warrick added 17 to lead Missouri to an 81-61 win over Lindenwood on Wednesday night but the victory was dampened by an injury to Caleb Grill. The Tigers said that Grill, a graduate guard, suffered a head and neck injury...

OPINION

A Loan Shark in Your Pocket: Cellphone Cash Advance Apps

Fast-growing app usage leaves many consumers worse off. ...

America’s Healing Can Start with Family Around the Holidays

With the holiday season approaching, it seems that our country could not be more divided. That division has been perhaps the main overarching topic of our national conversation in recent years. And it has taken root within many of our own families. ...

Donald Trump Rides Patriarchy Back to the White House

White male supremacy, which Trump ran on, continues to play an outsized role in exacerbating the divide that afflicts our nation. ...

Why Not Voting Could Deprioritize Black Communities

President Biden’s Justice40 initiative ensures that 40% of federal investment benefits flow to disadvantaged communities, addressing deep-seated inequities. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Today in History: November 30, WTO protesters and police clash in Seattle

Today is Saturday, Nov. 30, the 335th day of 2024. There are 31 days left in the year. Today in history: On Nov. 30, 1999, an estimated 40,000 demonstrators clashed with police as they protested against the World Trade Organization as the WTO convened in Seattle. ...

Trump promised federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe. Will he follow through?

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — When Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigned in North Carolina, both candidates courted a state-recognized tribe there whose 55,000 members could have helped tip the swing state. Trump in September promised that he would sign legislation to grant federal...

First popularly elected Black mayor in New England, Thirman Milner, has died at 91

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former Hartford Mayor Thirman Milner, the first popularly elected Black mayor in New England, has died, the Connecticut NAACP said on Friday. He was 91. Milner's death was announced Friday afternoon in a statement on the Instagram page for the Connecticut...

ENTERTAINMENT

Music Review: The Breeders' Kim Deal soars on solo debut, a reunion with the late Steve Albini

When the Pixies set out to make their 1988 debut studio album, they enlisted Steve Albini to engineer “Surfer Rosa,” the seminal alternative record which includes the enduring hit, “Where Is My Mind?” That experience was mutually beneficial to both parties — and was the beginning of a...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 1-7

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 1-7: Dec. 1: Actor-director Woody Allen is 89. Singer Dianne Lennon of the Lennon Sisters is 85. Bassist Casey Van Beek of The Tractors is 82. Singer-guitarist Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult is 80. Drummer John Densmore of The Doors is 80....

Music Review: Father John Misty's 'Mahashmashana' offers cynical, theatrical take on life and death

The title of Father John Misty's sixth studio album, “Mahashmashana,” is a reference to cremation, and the first song proposes “a corpse dance.” Religious overtones mix with the undercurrent of a midlife crisis atop his folk chamber pop. And for those despairing recent events, some lyrics...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Donald Trump's call for 'energy dominance' is likely to run into real-world limits

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is set to create a National Energy Council that he says will...

Battered by war and divisions, Lebanon faces a long list of challenges after ceasefire deal

BEIRUT (AP) — Hours after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah went into...

Middle East latest: 2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

Two children and a woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery...

In Bolivia's scrappy highlands, proud Indigenous Cholas take the runway by storm

VIACHA, Bolivia (AP) — In the huddled markets, sprawling farms and pulsing parties of Viacha, a town southeast...

Ukrainian energy workers carry out repairs despite Russia's pounding of the country's power grid

On a bright winter day, workers at a Ukrainian thermal power plant repair its heavily damaged equipment as drops...

Romania's parliamentary vote risks being overshadowed by presidential race chaos

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Hundreds of protesters gathered in Bucharest after a far-right populist unexpectedly...

Computer screen
Anick Jesdanun, AP Technology Writer

Will broadband providers start charging Internet services such as Netflix to deliver the massive amounts of data that streaming video and other content require?

A court ruling this week gives providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon more flexibility to do that, even though immediate changes are unlikely.

Technically, providers have always been allowed to charge Netflix, Google and others for priority treatment. But the so-called net neutrality rules adopted by the FCC in 2010 discouraged the practice, and any attempt to do it would likely have faced a challenge from the agency.

In striking down those rules Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit lifted any uncertainty and removed any constraints broadband providers might have felt.

Services such as Netflix already pay their broadband providers to send data from their systems. What's in question is whether they'll also have to pay their subscribers' providers for delivery of the data.

Netflix's stock fell more than 2 percent Wednesday to $330.50 out of concern that if the company may someday have to pay their subscribers' broadband providers, thereby leaving the company with less money to license content. Investors also worried that Netflix Inc. might pass along any new costs to subscribers in the form of fee hikes.

Netflix had no comment Wednesday.

Few people expect immediate changes to the way people access entertainment, news and other online content. That's because major cable providers already have pledged not to block or hinder legal websites and other content.

The regulatory dispute comes down to both sides trying to avert constraints on what they're allowed to do in the future.

Public advocacy groups pushed for regulations to ensure that the Internet remains open in the years to come, so that consumers could continue to enjoy the Internet without limitations. They want to ensure that startups and nonprofits have as much of a chance to reach an audience as established companies such as Google.

Broadband providers prefer the flexibility of evolving as the Internet evolves. They want to be able to experiment with business models — including the creation of special charges for priority treatment. Even if providers don't intentionally slow traffic from content companies that choose not to pay, the effect would be the same if their rivals get faster delivery to consumers by paying.

The appeals court affirmed that the FCC had authority to create open-access rules, but it ruled that the FCC failed to establish that its 2010 regulations don't overreach.

The judges said those regulations treated all Internet service providers as common carriers — a general term for airlines, utilities and other transporters of people or goods for the general public on regular routes at set rates. But the court said the FCC itself already had classified broadband providers as exempt from treatment as common carriers, which set up a legal contradiction.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the commission will now consider its options, including an appeal.

The FCC also could draft new rules or reclassify broadband providers, or Congress could change the 1996 telecommunications law that gave the commission different authority depending on whether a company was a common carrier or not.

Concerns about discrimination grew in 2007 after The Associated Press ran tests and reported that Comcast Corp. was interfering with attempts by some subscribers to share files online through a service called BitTorrent. Although Comcast said it did so because BitTorrent was clogging its networks, public interest groups grew worried that broadband providers were becoming gatekeepers of online content. After all, the files exchanged through BitTorrent included video, something that threatens Comcast's cable TV business.

Comcast's actions drew rebuke from the FCC and a pledge by all of the major broadband providers including Comcast not to discriminate. The 2010 rules were meant to ensure that such open access continued.

Despite the court decision, Comcast is bound by the rules for another few years as part of an agreement it made when it bought NBC Universal in 2011.

Verizon, which filed the case against the FCC, said that it remained committed to an open Internet and that Tuesday's court decision “will not change consumers' ability to access and use the Internet as they do now.”

But Verizon also said the decision “will allow more room for innovation, and consumers will have more choices to determine for themselves how they access and experience the Internet.”

Those innovations and choices could one day include tolls on Netflix and other services.

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