05-03-2024  2:06 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Police Detain Driver Who Accelerated Toward Protesters at Portland State University in Oregon

The Portland Police Bureau said in a written statement late Thursday afternoon that the man was taken to a hospital on a police mental health hold. They did not release his name. The vehicle appeared to accelerate from a stop toward the crowd but braked before it reached anyone. 

Portland Government Will Change On Jan. 1. The City’s Transition Team Explains What We Can Expect.

‘It’s a learning curve that everyone has to be intentional about‘

What Marijuana Reclassification Means for the United States

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The Justice Department proposal would recognize the medical uses of cannabis but wouldn’t legalize it for recreational use. Some advocates for legalized weed say the move doesn't go far enough, while opponents say it goes too far.

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.

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...

Democratic officials criticize Meta ad policy, saying it amplifies lies about 2020 election

ATLANTA (AP) — Several Democrats serving as their state's top election officials have sent a letter to the parent company of Facebook, asking it to stop allowing ads that claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen. In the letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the...

Police detain driver who accelerated toward protesters at Portland State University in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Police said Thursday they detained the driver of a white Toyota Camry who briefly accelerated toward a crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Portland State University in Oregon and then ran off spraying what appeared to be pepper spray toward protesters who confronted...

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

New White House Plan Could Reduce or Eliminate Accumulated Interest for 30 Million Student Loan Borrowers

Multiple recent announcements from the Biden administration offer new hope for the 43.2 million borrowers hoping to get relief from the onerous burden of a collective

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...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

It started with a tweet. What if Harry Potter attended an HBCU? Now it's a book series

It all began with a post on Twitter. It was 2020 during the height of the pandemic and LaDarrion Williams was thinking about the lack of diversity in the fantasy genre. He proposed: “What if Harry Potter went to am HBCU in the South?” “Growing up, I watched ‘Twilight,' I...

Larry Demeritte is just the second Black trainer since 1951 to saddle a horse for the Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — If Larry Demeritte is looking for a positive sign heading into his first Kentucky Derby as a trainer, it's right where his horse is assigned. Long-shot West Saratoga is staying in Barn 42 at Churchill Downs, the same location where Seattle Slew was before he...

Judge grants autopsy rules requested by widow of Mississippi man found dead after vanishing

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge granted a request Thursday by the widow of a deceased man who vanished under mysterious circumstances to set standards for a future independent autopsy of her late husband's body. Hinds County Chancery Judge Dewayne Thomas formalized...

ENTERTAINMENT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 5-11

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 5-11: May 5: Actor Michael Murphy is 86. Actor Lance Henriksen (“Millennium,” ″Aliens”) is 84. Comedian-actor Michael Palin (Monty Python) is 81. Actor John Rhys-Davies (“Lord of the Rings,” ″Raiders of the Lost Ark”) is 80....

Select list of nominees for 2024 Tony Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Select nominations for the 2024 Tony Awards, announced Tuesday. Best Musical: “Hell's Kitchen'': ”Illinoise"; “The Outsiders”; “Suffs”; “Water for Elephants” Best Play: “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”; “Mary Jane”; “Mother...

Book Review: 'Crow Talk' provides a path for healing in a meditative and hopeful novel on grief

Crows have long been associated with death, but Eileen Garvin’s novel “Crow Talk” offers a fresh perspective; creepy, dark and morbid becomes beautiful, wondrous and transformative. “Crow Talk” provides a path for healing in a meditative and hopeful novel on grief, largely...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Universities take steps to prevent pro-Palestinian protest disruptions of graduation ceremonies

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — With student protests over the Israel-Hamas war disrupting campuses nationwide, several...

Google, Justice Department make final arguments about whether search engine is a monopoly

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google's preeminence as an internet search engine is an illegal monopoly propped up by more...

A Chinese flavor of rap music is flourishing as emerging musicians find their voices

CHENGDU, China (AP) — In 2018, the censors who oversee Chinese media issued a directive to the nation's...

China sends a probe to get samples from the less-explored far side of the moon

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China on Friday launched a lunar probe to land on the far side of the moon and return with...

A Chinese flavor of rap music is flourishing as emerging musicians find their voices

CHENGDU, China (AP) — In 2018, the censors who oversee Chinese media issued a directive to the nation's...

Colombia breaks diplomatic ties with Israel but its military relies on key Israeli-built equipment

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia has become the latest Latin American country to announce it will break...

Michael Pearson, Matt Smith and Jethro Mullen CNN

(CNN) -- Edward Snowden's hopes of finding asylum from U.S. prosecution on espionage charges appeared to dim Tuesday as country after country denied his request or said he would have to find a way to travel to their territory to apply.

While Bolivia and Venezuela seemed supportive, at least 11 of the more than 19 countries he's applied to through the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks have said they will deny his request or can't consider it until he shows up at one of their embassies or on their borders.

Five countries hadn't responded as of Monday morning, Norway was noncommittal, and Snowden had already withdrawn his asylum request with Russian authorities after President Vladimir Putin said he would have to "stop his work aimed at harming our American partners" if he wanted to stay in the country.

But Bolivian President Evo Morales said he would be willing to grant Snowden asylum.

"Yes, why not," Morales said, Russia's state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing an interview with the Russia Today news network. "We are worried at the demeanor of countries such as U.S.A."

And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Snowden deserves protection, not prosecution, according to Reuters.

"What crime has he committed? Did he kill anyone? Did he plant a bomb and kill anyone?" the news agency quoted him as saying. "No, much better, he has prevented wars, and he has stopped illegalities being committed against the entire world. For this, he deserves the protection of the world."

But as of Tuesday morning, it did not appear that either country had made a firm offer of asylum, or any way for him to leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport.

That appeared to leave Snowden in much the same pickle he's been in since he left Hong Kong last month for Moscow. Russian authorities say he remains in the airport transit area -- technically a free man, but unable to travel after the United States revoked his passport.

Neither WikiLeaks nor Snowden has commented on the rejections. The group released a statement attributed to Snowden late Monday in which he blasted the Obama administration for trying to block his efforts to seek refuge.

"These are the old, bad tools of political aggression," Snowden said. "Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me." But he added, "I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many."

In Monday's statement, Snowden criticized the Obama administration for yanking his passport once criminal charges were filed, "leaving me a stateless person." But he said the administration isn't afraid of people like him or others accused of disclosing U.S. secrets.

"No, the Obama administration is afraid of you," he said. "It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised -- and it should be."

The United States has been pressing countries to refuse Snowden entry and hand him over to face espionage charges. His disclosures about widespread U.S. surveillance of telephones and Internet users in the United States and abroad -- based largely on documents he has acknowledged taking while an National Security Agency contractor in Hawaii -- have created a political storm at home and diplomatic headaches overseas for President Barack Obama.

On Monday, Obama had to defend U.S. intelligence practices after fresh reports about alleged U.S. surveillance of European Commission offices in the United States and Europe, as well as surveillance at diplomatic facilities in the United States.

The German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday that information from Snowden detailed NSA bugging of European Union offices in Washington and New York, as well as an "electronic eavesdropping operation" that tapped into an EU building in Brussels, Belgium.

The reports generated a furor among European leaders, who demanded the United States come clean about the surveillance. Some, including French President Francois Hollande, said ending any such surveillance would be necessary before European leaders would be willing to start negotiations on a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement championed by Obama.

Asked at a news conference in Tanzania about the latest leaks involving Snowden, Obama said he needed more information on the specific programs cited in the Der Spiegel report, but made clear such spying was commonplace.

"I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders," Obama said. "That is how intelligence services operate."

Asylum applications

WikiLeaks, which has been assisting Snowden's effort to find a haven from the U.S. charges, said it had sent new asylum requests to representatives of Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

The organization said that the documents it had submitted for the latest asylum requests "outline the risks of persecution Mr. Snowden faces in the United States."

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa told the British newspaper The Guardian that the American fugitive would have to reach Ecuadorian territory for his request to be considered.

"Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It's not logical," he told The Guardian, one of the recipients of Snowden's leaks. "The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia."

He added that the decision to issue Snowden temporary travel documents that allowed him to leave Hong Kong was "a mistake on our part," The Guardian reported.

Over the weekend, Correa said Vice President Joe Biden asked Ecuador to reject Snowden's request.

Obama said Monday that Snowden had traveled to Russia without a valid passport or legal papers and that he hoped that Moscow would handle the case as it would any other travel-related matter.

Here's a rundown of what countries are saying about Snowden's asylum requests:

• Austria: His request is not valid, because applicants must be in Austria and submit their applications in person.

• Bolivia: Despite WikiLeaks' statement, Morales, the Bolivian president, said Bolivia has not received a request for asylum on Snowden's behalf, Itar-Tass reported.

• Brazil: The country won't grant asylum or even respond to the request, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

• China: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday it had no information to offer on Snowden's case.

• Cuba: No response yet.

• Ecuador: The South American country has said that it's considering Snowden's request but that he needs to reach its territory.

• Finland: "We don't have an official application from Snowden," Jorma Vuorio, director general for the migration department of the Interior Ministry, told CNN. "He just left a letter requesting asylum at the Finnish Embassy in Moscow. According to Finnish legislation, it is not possible to leave an asylum application outside the Finnish territory."

• France: Hollande, the French president, said he has "not received any particular demands from Mr. Snowden," according to French television reports.

• Germany: Asylum requests must be made from within the country, but an Interior Ministry spokesman also said "the German right of residence principally entails the possibility of acceptance from abroad, if this seems necessary for international legal or urgent humanitarian reasons, or for the ensuring of political interests of the federal republic of Germany. This needs to be examined thoroughly in the case of Mr. Snowden."

• Iceland: Officials have said asylum seekers need to be in Icelandic territory in order to apply.

• India: Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said Tuesday that India will deny the request.

• Ireland: The Irish Justice Ministry declined to confirm whether it had received a request on Snowden's behalf, but said Irish law requires that applicants reach the country's borders before a request can be considered.

• Italy: The Italian Foreign Ministry said it received an asylum request by fax. The country accepts requests done in Italian territory or at the border, the ministry said.

• The Netherlands: Snowden would need to be in Holland to formally request shelter, a spokesman for the Dutch state secretary said Tuesday.

• Nicaragua: No response yet.

• Norway: The country confirms the receipt of his request, but usually, asylum seekers must be in the country already to be allowed to apply. The Ministry of Justice is considering whether or not to process his application.

• Poland: Snowden's request for asylum doesn't fulfill requirements, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

• Russia: Snowden has withdrawn his request for permission to stay in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to the news agency RIA Novosti.

• Spain: The country is not reviewing Snowden's request because it must be made from within or on its borders, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

• Switzerland: Applicants for political asylum have to be on Swiss soil, a spokeswoman for the Swiss federal office for migration said Tuesday. Swiss authorities aren't aware of any application by Snowden, the spokeswoman said.

• Venezuela: "We haven't been asked for help, but when he asks, he will have an answer," Maduro, the Venezuelan president, said Tuesday.

CNN's Arkady Irshenko, Tom Cohen, Sumnima Udas, Steve Brusk, Barbara Starr, Miriam Falco, Kathryn Tancos, Alexander Hunter, Claudia Rebaza, Patrick Oppmann, Josh Levs, Catherine Shoichet, Carol Jordan, Al Goodman, Steffi Ott and Susanna Palk contributed to this report.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast