04-24-2024  12:20 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

A Conservative Quest to Limit Diversity Programs Gains Momentum in States

In support of DEI, Oregon and Washington have forged ahead with legislation to expand their emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in government and education.

Epiphanny Prince Hired by Liberty in Front Office Job Day After Retiring

A day after announcing her retirement, Epiphanny Prince has a new job working with the New York Liberty as director of player and community engagement. Prince will serve on the basketball operations and business staffs, bringing her 14 years of WNBA experience to the franchise. 

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

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 ...

Biden administration announces plans for up to 12 lease sales for offshore wind energy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A new five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production was announced Wednesday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, with up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028. Haaland...

A conservative quest to limit diversity programs gains momentum in states

A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is gaining momentum in state capitals and college governing boards, with officials in about one-third of the states now taking some sort of action against it. Tennessee became the latest when the Republican...

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

2021 death of young Black man at rural Missouri home was self-inflicted, FBI tells AP

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal investigation has concluded that a young Black man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a rural Missouri home, not at the hands of the white homeowner who had a history of racist social media postings, an FBI official told The Associated Press Wednesday. ...

Ancestry website cataloguing names of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The names of thousands of people held in Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II have been digitized and made available for free, genealogy company Ancestry announced Wednesday. The website, known as one of the largest global online resources of...

Ethnic Karen guerrillas in Myanmar leave a town that army lost 2 weeks ago as rival group holds sway

BANGKOK (AP) — Guerrilla fighters from the main ethnic Karen fighting force battling Myanmar’s military government have withdrawn from the eastern border town of Myawaddy two weeks after forcing the army to give up its defense, residents and members of the group said Wednesday. ...

ENTERTAINMENT

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....

Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots to headline the BET Experience concerts in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cardi B, Queen Latifah and The Roots will headline concerts to celebrate the return of the BET Experience in Los Angeles just days before the 2024 BET Awards. BET announced Monday the star-studded lineup of the concert series, which makes a return after a...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Rush hour chaos in London as 5 military horses run amok after getting spooked during exercise

LONDON (AP) — Five military horses spooked by noise from a building site bolted during routine exercises on...

Get better sleep with these 5 tips from experts

Spending too many nights trying to fall asleep — or worrying there aren’t enough ZZZs in your day? You’re...

Biden says the US is rushing weaponry to Ukraine as he signs a billion war aid measure into law

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he was immediately rushing badly needed weaponry to...

A Russian Orthodox priest who took part in services for Navalny is suspended by the patriarch

The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Chuch has suspended a priest who participated in services for the late...

A Russian deputy defense minister is ordered jailed pending trial on bribery charges

A Russian deputy defense minister in charge of military construction projects and accused of living a lavish...

Poland's prosecutor general says previous government used spyware against hundreds of people

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's prosecutor general told the parliament on Wednesday that powerful Pegasus spyware...

Diana Magnay CNN

BERLIN (CNN) -- Luka Rocco Magnotta, the Canadian porn actor accused of killing and dismembering a man and mailing body parts to politicians, will not fight extradition following his arrest in Germany, a Berlin police official said Tuesday.

Magnotta told a Berlin magistrate that he will return voluntarily to face charges in the death of university student Jun Lin, Chief Supt. Stefan Redlich of the Berlin police said.

The 29-year-old did not make any comment regarding the accusations against him, Redlich said.

Magnotta faces first-degree murder and other charges in the killing last month of Lin, a 33-year-old Concordia University student from China.

Authorities accuse Magnotta of dismembering the student, mailing parts of his body to Canadian politicians and taunting authorities by posting a video of the grisly act on the Internet.

Berlin police arrested Magnotta on Monday at an Internet cafe where he was browsing articles about himself. The arrest ended an international manhunt that began when the body parts were found in the mail.

If Magnotta does not fight the request, he will be back in Montreal quickly to face the charges, a legal expert said. Otherwise, it could take months.

"If he wanted to delay the proceedings, it could take as much as a year or more," Daniel Brown, a Toronto defense attorney, told CNN affiliate CBC.

But he said that costs money: "You have to have the resources to be able to sustain those types of appeals and things of that nature. I'm not sure Mr. Magnotta does."

The manhunt began last week when a package containing a severed foot addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived at his majority Conservative Party headquarters. A hand was later found at a post office addressed to the minority Liberal Party, authorities said.

Authorities quickly traced the address on the packages to Magnotta's Montreal apartment, where they searched a trash bin and discovered Lin's torso in a suitcase.

Lin's death and dismemberment were allegedly captured on a graphic video posted to the Internet, according to Montreal police. It features a man -- whom authorities believe is Magnotta -- killing another man, dismembering the corpse and performing sexual acts. Many of Lin's body parts are still missing, according to authorities.

Authorities say they believe Magnotta killed Lin on May 24 or May 25, posted the video, then took a flight to France on May 26.

He boarded a bus to Berlin on June 1, while police were searching for him in Paris, the Berlin state prosecutor's office said Tuesday.

In the end, it was the keen eye of an employee at the Internet cafe in Berlin that helped police nab Magnotta.

The employee, Kadir Anlayisli, said he recognized the slight man who walked into the nondescript Helin Spatkauf Internet Cafe on Monday, but he couldn't quite figure out why he did.

But as Magnotta surfed the Web, poring over news accounts of the case in which he himself was the suspect, the realization dawned on Anlayisli.

"I looked in the papers and said, 'That's him who they're looking for, the porno killer,' " Anlayisli told reporters.

He flagged down a carload of German police trainees.

Magnotta initially denied his identity, police said. Then he gave up without a fight, stating simply, "OK, you got me."

Magnotta, a gay porn actor, stripper and escort, was well known to animal rights activists online, who accused him of killing kittens and using the carcasses in sexual acts.

Several Canadian newspapers also reported that Magnotta had dated notorious Canadian killer Karla Homolka, who years before was arrested for the rapes and murders of three Ontario girls, including her own sister. As part of a plea bargain, Homolka served 12 years in prison.

Montreal Police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere said he could not confirm any links and said Homolka is not part of the investigation.

Investigators will now begin look to see if Magnotta is linked to other crimes as they continue their investigation into Lin's death and work toward Magnotta's extradition, Lafreniere said Monday.

"This is far from being over," he said.

CNN's Lateef Mungin contributed to this report.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast