04-26-2024  10:24 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

City Council Strikes Down Gonzalez’s ‘Inhumane’ Suggestion for Blanket Ban on Public Camping

Mayor Wheeler’s proposal for non-emergency ordinance will go to second reading.

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. 

NEWS BRIEFS

NEWS RELEASE: 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...

Mt. Tabor Park Selected for National Initiative

Mt. Tabor Park is the only Oregon park and one of just 24 nationally to receive honor. ...

Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to restore “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others. The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the...

Biden celebrates computer chip factories, pitching voters on American 'comeback'

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday sought to sell voters on an American “comeback story” as he highlighted longterm investments in the economy in upstate New York to celebrate Micron Technology's plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with...

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

Takeaways from AP's investigation into fatal police encounters involving injections of sedatives

The practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. At least 94 people died after they were...

Dozens of deaths reveal risks of injecting sedatives into people restrained by police

Demetrio Jackson was desperate for medical help when the paramedics arrived. The 43-year-old was surrounded by police who arrested him after responding to a trespassing call in a Wisconsin parking lot. Officers had shocked him with a Taser and pinned him as he pleaded that he...

South Africa will mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, South Africa, she recalls the joy she and many others felt 30 years ago when they voted for the first time. It was at this school on April 27, 1994, that Kunene joined...

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

Trading Trump: Truth Social's first month of trading has sent investors on a ride

WASHINGTON (AP) — There have been lawsuits, short-selling and rampant speculation. Now, as Trump Media &...

South Africa will mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in...

Rooting for Trump to fail has made his stock shorters millions

NEW YORK (AP) — Rooting for Donald Trump to fail has rarely been this profitable. Just ask a hardy...

Scotland's under-pressure leader insists he won't resign before crunch confidence vote next week

LONDON (AP) — Scotland's leader insisted Friday that he won't be resigning as he fights for his political...

Andrew Tate's trial on charges of rape and human trafficking can start, a Romanian court rules

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A court in Romania’s capital on Friday ruled that a trial can start in the case of...

A US-led effort to bring aid to Gaza by sea is moving forward. But big concerns remain

JERUSALEM (AP) — The construction of a new port in Gaza and an accompanying U.S. military-built pier offshore...

CNN Wire Staff

OAK CREEK, Wisconsin (CNN) -- As a lone male voice sang hymns over somber music, mourners at a memorial service Friday filed slowly past the coffins and photos of six Sikh worshippers shot to death at their Wisconsin temple.

The killings Sunday at a suburban Milwaukee gurdwara, or Sikh house of worship, ended when gunman Wade Michael Page shot himself after being wounded by police fire.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was scheduled to speak later Friday at the memorial service in the gymnasium at Oak Creek High School.

As the service began, three Sikh musicians in dark turbans sat cross-legged on the ground next to a row of six coffins and large, framed photos of the dead.

Hundreds of people slowly walked past, including Sikhs in their traditional turbans and non-Sikhs using scarves and handkerchiefs to cover their heads in keeping with Sikh custom.

"You have taken this life. This is your will," a prayer leader said between hymns. "We accept your will. Please give us strength to bear this loss."

Overhead, a large video screen displayed projected photos of the dead and wounded in the attack, including police Lt. Brian Murphy, who remains hospitalized from multiple gunshot wounds after being the first responder to the temple on Sunday.

Killed were five men -- Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65; Sita Singh, 41; Ranjit Singh, 49; Prakash Singh, 39; Suveg Singh, 84 -- and one woman, 41-year-old Paramjit Kaur.

Two other Sikhs wounded in the attack also remain hospitalized, while another was treated and released earlier this week.

On Thursday, temple members swept, scrubbed and painted over damage to their building after investigators allowed them back inside. A lone bullet hole remained in a metal door frame, which members say won't be repaired.

The attacker was a 40-year-old former soldier-turned-front man for a white supremacist rock band. He killed himself in the parking lot of the gurdwara after being shot by a police officer, the FBI said Wednesday.

Investigators say they found no clues to explain why Page went on the killing spree. Former Army colleagues said he espoused racist views during his military stint in the 1990s that became more pervasive after he left the service.

The incident occurred slightly more than two weeks after a shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, left 12 people dead and 58 wounded.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who visited the gurdwara on Thursday, said more massacres will come unless the United States tightens up its gun laws.

"It's easy to be polite to say 'We're so sorry this happened' and give the same speech at the next killing a month from now," Jackson said, calling for a move from "politeness to a change in policy."

A CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday indicates that the public remains divided on gun laws, with 50% saying they favor no restrictions or only minor restrictions on firearm ownership and 48% supporting major restrictions or a complete ban by individuals except police and other authorized personnel.

Those numbers are identical to where they were in 2011, and the number who support major restrictions or a complete ban has remained in the 48%-to-50% range for more than a decade.

The CNN survey was conducted by ORC International on Tuesday and Wednesday, after the attack on the Sikh temple.

CNN's Tom Cohen, Poppy Harlow and David Mattingly contributed to this report.

 

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast