05-01-2024  12:09 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

A Massive Powerball Win Draws Attention to a Little-Known Immigrant Culture in the US

An immigrant from Laos who has been battling cancer won an enormous jumi.3 billion Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month. But Cheng “Charlie” Saephan's luck hasn't just changed his life — it's also drawn attention to Iu Mien, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.

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.

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...

Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall

NEW YORK (AP) — The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion late Tuesday, with police carrying riot shields swarming the Ivy League campus, bursting into an administration building protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of...

A massive Powerball win draws attention to a little-known immigrant culture in the US

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA” as he hoisted an oversized check for jumi.3 billion above his head. The 46-year-old immigrant's luck in winning an enormous Powerball jackpot in...

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

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

Nearly 50 years later, Asian American and Pacific Islander month features revelry and racial justice

It has been almost 50 years since the U.S. government established that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and their accomplishments should be recognized annually across the nation. What started as just one week in May has evolved over the decades into a monthlong...

Hush money trial judge raises threat of jail as he finds Trump violated gag order, fines him K

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined ,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. If he does it again, the judge warned, he could...

The body of a Mississippi man will remain in state hands as police investigate his death, judge says

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The body of a Mississippi man who was found dead after vanishing under mysterious circumstances will not be released to family members until law enforcement agencies finish investigating the case, a state judge said Tuesday. At a hearing in Jackson,...

ENTERTAINMENT

Dick Van Dyke earns historic Daytime Emmy nomination at age 98

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Van Dyke is vying for a historic Daytime Emmy at age 98. The actor was nominated Friday as guest performer in a daytime drama series for his part as amnesiac Timothy Robicheaux on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives.” Van Dyke is the oldest...

Music Review: Neil Young delivers appropriately ragged, raw live version of 1990's 'Ragged Glory'

The venerable Neil Young offers a ragged and raw live take of his beloved 1990 album “Ragged Glory” with a new album, titled “Fu##in’ Up.” Of course, the 2024 version doesn't have the same semi-youthful energy that the 44-year-old Young put into the original. Maybe his voice...

Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi is 'tickled pink' to inspire a Barbie doll

Like many little girls, a young Kristi Yamaguchi loved playing with Barbie. With a schedule packed with ice skating practices, her Barbie dolls became her “best friends.” So, it's surreal for the decorated Olympian figure skater to now be a Barbie girl herself. ...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Trump's comparison of student protests to Jan. 6 is part of effort to downplay Capitol attack

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump on Tuesday lamented the possibility that Columbia University's pro-Palestinian...

New era for pot regulation leaves old problem: Many cannabis companies can't find a bank

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Biden administration's move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous but still...

Nearly 50 years later, Asian American and Pacific Islander month features revelry and racial justice

It has been almost 50 years since the U.S. government established that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and...

This fiery economist became Argentina's president railing against politicians. Now he's wooing them

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — When interviewed about his plans after a shock electoral victory last fall,...

A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10...

Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others

LONDON (AP) — A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London...

Elizabeth Landau CNN

(CNN) -- If the Curiosity rover had been sent to Mars in ancient times, it might have found itself sinking in a stream.

The 2,000-pound super-rover, which made its now-legendary landing on Mars on August 6, has come across stones in conglomerate rock suggesting that water must have flowed there in the past.



One such rock outcrop is called Hottah, after Hottah Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories. It looks like someone took a jackhammer and lifted up a sidewalk, said John Grotzinger, lead scientist for the Curiosity mission, at a press conference Thursday.

The consensus is that "this is a rock that was formed in the presence of water," Grotzinger said. "We can characterize that water as being a vigorous flow."

In and around this bedrock, Curiosity has come across rounded gravels. The rocks appear to have been subjected to a sediment transport process, carried by either water or wind, said scientist Rebecca Williams of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

The gravels seem too large to have been transported by wind, meaning it's likely that this is a stream bed.

A second rock outcrop, called Link, holds similar evidence. Scientists used data from Curiosity and the orbiters at Mars to enhance their understanding of the area.

The water flowing in these rock formations was probably somewhere between ankle and hip deep, said Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich of the University of California, Berkeley.

Scientists believe the water and sediment flowed down the crater into an alluvial fan -- a geological formation created by material that water transports. At least intermittently, this fan appears to have extended down to the area where the rover landed.

It's hard to say how long ago this water flowed -- an estimate would be "thousands to millions of years," Dietrich said.

Previously, scientists have used data from past Mars missions to speculate about channels on the planet, and whether water could have flowed in them. This is the first direct observation of streambed material, Dietrich said.

There are no plate tectonics on Mars, meaning the planet does not have moving plates underneath the surface that cause quakes. So why does this Hottah rock formation look the way it does?

Grotzinger hypothesizes that "Somewhere near this outcrop, a small impact occurred and lifted the beds up and rotated them," he said.

The rover did not employ any of its chemistry tools to examine the area; rather, scientists made their judgments about the rocks based on photos.

Curiosity is now three-quarters of the way between Hottah and Glenelg, its next official stop. Glenelg was chosen as a target because it has three types of terrain, including layered bedrock, making it a potentially interesting place for Curiosity to try out its drill.

An unsolved mystery is whether life could have been supported on Mars. Water is a necessary ingredient, but an energy source and carbon are also essential.

Curiosity can detect organic molecules and tear them apart to deliver details about them back to Earth, but they would still not be definitive evidence that life existed. Such molecules can come from nonliving sources, and Curiosity doesn't have the technology to make that distinction. That will have to wait for another mission.

This rover's ultimate destination is Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-high mountain with layers of sediment that will provide more opportunities to search for organic molecules.

Curiosity recently tested out its contact instruments on a rock called Jake Matijevic. It used its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to touch the rock, and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to take close-up photos. Another instrument, ChemCam, shot laser pulses at the rock and finished its testing on Monday.

The $2.6 billion mission is slated to last for two years, but previous rovers have far outlasted their estimated lifetimes.

The Spirit rover operated from 2004 to 2010, and the Opportunity rover has been chugging along since 2004. These twin rovers had initial mission periods of only 90 days.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast