04-18-2024  9:22 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

Four Ballot Measures for Portland Voters to Consider

Proposals from the city, PPS, Metro and Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District.

Washington Gun Store Sold Hundreds of High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines in 90 Minutes Without Ban

KGW-TV reports Wally Wentz, owner of Gator’s Custom Guns in Kelso, described Monday as “magazine day” at his store. Wentz is behind the court challenge to Washington’s high-capacity magazine ban, with the help of the Silent Majority Foundation in eastern Washington.

Five Running to Represent Northeast Portland at County Level Include Former Mayor, Social Worker, Hotelier (Part 2)

Five candidates are vying for the spot previously held by Susheela Jayapal, who resigned from office in November to focus on running for Oregon's 3rd Congressional District. Jesse Beason is currently serving as interim commissioner in Jayapal’s place. (Part 2)

NEWS BRIEFS

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 ...

Bank Announces 14th Annual “I Got Bank” Contest for Youth in Celebration of National Financial Literacy Month

The nation’s largest Black-owned bank will choose ten winners and award each a jumi,000 savings account ...

Literary Arts Transforms Historic Central Eastside Building Into New Headquarters

The new 14,000-square-foot literary center will serve as a community and cultural hub with a bookstore, café, classroom, and event...

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Announces New Partnership with the University of Oxford

Tony Bishop initiated the CBCF Alumni Scholarship to empower young Black scholars and dismantle financial barriers ...

Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Returns to Mt. Hood Community College with Acclaimed Artists

Performing at the festival are acclaimed artists Joshua Redman, Hailey Niswanger, Etienne Charles and Creole Soul, Camille Thurman,...

Idaho's ban on youth gender-affirming care has families desperately scrambling for solutions

Forced to hide her true self, Joe Horras’ transgender daughter struggled with depression and anxiety until three years ago, when she began to take medication to block the onset of puberty. The gender-affirming treatment helped the now-16-year-old find happiness again, her father said. ...

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down airport highways and key bridges in major US cities

CHICAGO (AP) — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation's most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway. ...

The sons of several former NFL stars are ready to carve their path into the league through the draft

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. wears his dad’s No. 54, plays the same position and celebrates sacks and big tackles with the same signature axe swing. Now, he’s ready to make a name for himself in the NFL. So are several top prospects who play the same positions their fathers played in the...

Caleb Williams among 13 confirmed prospects for opening night of the NFL draft

NEW YORK (AP) — Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams, the popular pick to be the No. 1 selection overall, will be among 13 prospects attending the first round of the NFL draft in Detroit on April 25. The NFL announced the 13 prospects confirmed as of Thursday night, and...

OPINION

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. ...

COMMENTARY: Is a Cultural Shift on the Horizon?

As with all traditions in all cultures, it is up to the elders to pass down the rituals, food, language, and customs that identify a group. So, if your auntie, uncle, mom, and so on didn’t teach you how to play Spades, well, that’s a recipe lost. But...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Armenian victims group asks International Criminal Court to investigate genocide claim

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A human rights organization representing ethnic Armenians submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court on Thursday, arguing that Azerbaijan is committing an ongoing genocide against them. Azerbaijan’s government didn't immediately comment...

A Georgia beach aims to disrupt Black students' spring bash after big crowds brought chaos in 2023

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Thousands of Black college students expected this weekend for an annual spring bash at Georgia's largest public beach will be greeted by dozens of extra police officers and barricades closing off neighborhood streets. While the beach will remain open, officials are...

Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson is first Native American to represent the US solo at Venice Biennale

VENICE. Italy (AP) — Jeffrey Gibson’s takeover of the U.S. pavilion for this year’s Venice Biennale contemporary art show is a celebration of color, pattern and craft, which is immediately evident on approaching the bright red facade decorated by a colorful clash of geometry and a foreground...

ENTERTAINMENT

Robert MacNeil, creator and first anchor of PBS 'NewsHour' nightly newscast, dies at 93

NEW YORK (AP) — Robert MacNeil, who created the even-handed, no-frills PBS newscast “The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour” in the 1970s and co-anchored the show with his late partner, Jim Lehrer, for two decades, died on Friday. He was 93. MacNeil died of natural causes at New...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 21-27

Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 21-27: April 21: Actor Elaine May is 92. Singer Iggy Pop is 77. Actor Patti LuPone is 75. Actor Tony Danza is 73. Actor James Morrison (“24”) is 70. Actor Andie MacDowell is 66. Singer Robert Smith of The Cure is 65. Guitarist Michael...

What to stream this week: Conan O’Brien travels, 'Migration' soars and Taylor Swift will reign

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Democrats clear path to bring proposed repeal of Arizona’s near-total abortion ban to a vote

PHOENIX (AP) — Democrats in the Arizona Senate cleared a path to bring a proposed repeal of the state’s...

Frustrated farmers are rebelling against EU rules. The far right is stoking the flames

ANDEREN, Netherlands (AP) — Inside the barn on the flat fields of the northern Netherlands, Jos Ubels cradles a...

25 years after Columbine, trauma shadows survivors of the school shooting

DENVER (AP) — Hours after she escaped the Columbine High School shooting, 14-year-old Missy Mendo slept between...

Sydney teen accused of stabbing 2 clerics showed no signs of radicalization, Muslim leader says

SYDNEY (AP) — A 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics during a Sydney church service might...

Indonesians leave homes near erupting volcano and airport closes due to ash danger

MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities closed an airport and residents left homes near an erupting...

Croatia's conservatives believe they'll soon form a majority government despite inconclusive vote

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia ’s ruling conservatives said Thursday that talks have already started about the...

MICHAEL MAROT, AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Geno Auriemma marvels at what his colleagues accomplished this season.

In six short years, Oregon State coach Scott Rueck took a program that needed open tryouts to fill its roster six years ago to the women's Final Four.

First-time college head coach Mike Neighbors needed three seasons to lead Washington to an improbable tourney run.

Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman rewarded the school's 10-year wait its greatest season.

And on Sunday, those three first-time Final Four participants will join Auriemma's perennial powerhouse in Indianapolis on the sport's biggest stage.

Click through the slideshow below to see pictures of the teams during their recent wins. 

 

"I remember in 1991, when we went to the Final Four and we were the first team from north of the Mason-Dixon line to ever play in the Final Four, and it was like we had somehow landed on the moon," Auriemma said during a national conference call with reporters Wednesday. "Now 20-some years later, you have three teams in the Final Four for the first time — and not three teams that were knocking on the door and finally got there. These are three teams that by all measures, only the kids on those teams and only the coaches expected them to be there."

Inside the programs, there also were questions.

Rueck acknowledged later Wednesday that when he took over at Oregon State, he wasn't sure if the Beavers could even crack the top half of the Pac-12 in six years — much less play on the season's final weekend. And after one of his top players, Sydney Wiese, was injured early this season, he again wondered whether his team could achieve its ultimate goal.

The NCAA's selection committee didn't make things any easier by setting up a contest against powerhouse Baylor on its pseudo-home court, in Dallas.

"There was still — I can't lie and say — I mean, there was still a little bit of doubt, can we get all the way to this level?" Rueck said. "You know things need to go your way a bit."

But Oregon State overcame all of those obstacles and will now face the unbeaten and the three-time defending champion Huskies on Sunday.

The Beavers might not have even had the toughest road to Indy.

Washington, which had only reached one Sweet 16 in the previous 19 seasons, upset second-seeded Maryland on its home court, upset third-seeded Kentucky on its home court and then had to beat perennial Pac-12 power Stanford in Lexington, Kentucky, to earn a ticket to Indy.

The Huskies won them all with a rotation of seven to eight players and for a coach who once took a $58,000 pay cut to pursue his dream of coaching college basketball and will now face Syracuse, a team also getting acclimated to the Final Four environment.

"There are a lot of responsibilities that we're not used to having to go through," Neighbors said. "It kind of started here yesterday (Tuesday). We had a press conference here that was full of cameras and reporters. We haven't even had one of those here and we know that's going to magnify us. So it is a little bit beneficial that we're not facing an opponent that's been through that and will be going through it the first time as well."

Syracuse's climb might have been even steeper.

Auriemma, who played the Orange in the old Big East Conference, credited Hillsman with bringing the program from "nowhere" to the precipice of playing for a national championship.

How bad was the program? Auriemma said even the people in Syracuse didn't know it existed.

After spending a lot of time talking to men's coach Jim Boeheim about his vaunted zone defense, Hillsman instilled it into the women's program and nobody can quibble with the results.

Syracuse beat a school-record five ranked teams this season, reached its first Sweet 16, then upset top-seeded South Carolina in the regional semifinals and Tennessee to get a ticket to Indy.

"When we started this journey to get to this point, we've always talked about winning championships," said Hillsman, the second black male to coach in the women's Final Four. "We never shied away from that, and I start every media day here at Syracuse by saying I want to go 48-0 and I want to win a national championship."

Auriemma, whose team is the heavy favorite to win an unprecedented fourth straight, wants No. 11.

But even he is impressed with what's happened around him.

"I think this is a great message to everybody: Stop focusing on what Connecticut does and start paying attention to what a lot of these other schools are doing, and you will see that there's a lot of great stuff going on out there," he said. "It just sometimes doesn't get the attention that it deserves because it's easy to write about Connecticut."

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast