04-24-2024  1:35 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

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

Don’t Shoot Portland, University of Oregon Team Up for Black Narratives, Memory

The yearly Memory Work for Black Lives Plenary shows the power of preservation.

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.

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 ...

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...

Ex-police officer wanted in 2 killings and kidnapping shoots, kills self in Oregon, police say

SEATTLE (AP) — A former Washington state police officer wanted after killing two people, including his ex-wife, was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a chase in Oregon, authorities said Tuesday. His 1-year-old baby, who was with him, was taken safely into custody by Oregon...

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

Pro-Palestinian student protests target colleges' financial ties with Israel

Students at a growing number of U.S. colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel — or any companies that empower its ongoing war in Gaza. The demand has its roots in a decades-old campaign against Israel's...

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. ...

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...

ENTERTAINMENT

What to stream this weekend: Conan O’Brien travels, 'Migration' soars and Taylor Swift reigns

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...

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....

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

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...

Pro-Palestinian student protests target colleges' financial ties with Israel

Students at a growing number of U.S. colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their...

The Latest | Germany will resume working with UN agency for Palestinians, following review

Germany said Wednesday that it plans to follow several other countries in resuming cooperation with the U.N....

World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says

LONDON (AP) — The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and...

Villagers in Mexico organize to take back their water as drought, avocados dry up lakes and rivers

VILLA MADERO, Mexico (AP) — As a drought in Mexico drags on, angry subsistence farmers have begun taking direct...

Haiti's government scrambles to impose tight security measures as council inauguration imminent

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Armored vehicles roll slowly past Haiti’s National Palace as police scan the...

By Ashley Killough CNN

(CNN) -- As Mitt Romney delivers a foreign policy address Monday in Virginia, he'll be met with a new television ad by his opponent's re-election campaign that highlights the GOP nominee as "reckless" and "amateurish" on international affairs.

President Barack Obama's team released a new commercial that they say will run on Virginia airwaves, which criticizes Romney over his recent forays into foreign policy, including his foreign trip and comments on the Libya consulate attack.


The 30-second spot features critical news clips of what the commercial calls Romney's "gaffe-filled" trip to England, Israel and Poland. During his tour, the Republican was accused of insulting Palestinian culture and criticizing London's handling of the Olympic Games.

Romney also faced negative headlines over his quick response to the consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Soon after word broke of the violence, the GOP nominee fired off a statement blasting the Obama administration, a reaction many labeled too critical and too soon.


"The New York Times said Romney's knee-jerk response 'showed an extraordinary lack of presidential character.' And even Republican experts said Romney's remarks were 'the worst possible reaction to what happened'," the narrator says referring to a quote by in Time Magazine by Anthony Cordesman, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain.

Romney, however, has since stood by his statement, while the administration has also been under fire during its investigation of the situation.

In his remarks at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington Monday, Romney is expected to continue to hit Obama over the Libya attack, building onto criticism of the administration for changing its tune on the cause of the attack.

He will say, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks, the violence "was likely the work of the same forces that attacked our homeland on September 11th, 2001," rather than a spontaneous attack spurred by protests over anti-Islam video. In late September, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a statement saying they had revised its assessment to conclude that the violence in fact was a premeditated attack.

The new Obama ad, which comes two weeks before the candidates face off in a debate over foreign policy, blasts Romney as being unprepared to manage such high-stakes issues.

"If this is how he handles the world now," the narrator says, "Just think what Mitt Romney might do as president."

Responding to the ad, a Romney campaign spokeswoman said Obama was the one who had "weakened" the United States' standing in the world.

"In every region of the world-and particularly in the Middle East-American influence has been weakened by President Obama's failed foreign policy. American security and the cause of freedom cannot afford four more years like the last four years, and Mitt Romney will restore the bi-partisan tradition of American leadership abroad that President Obama has not lived up to. Mitt Romney understands that a strong America is vital to ensuring peace and prosperity for our nation and our friends and allies," Amanda Henneberg said in a statement.


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The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast