05-16-2024  10:31 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Iconic Skanner Building Will Become Healing Space as The Skanner Continues Online

New owner strives to keep spirit of business intact during renovations.

No Criminal Charges in Rare Liquor Probe at OLCC, State Report Says

The investigation examined whether employees of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission improperly used their positions to obtain bottles of top-shelf bourbon for personal use.

Portland OKs New Homeless Camping Rules That Threaten Fines or Jail in Some Cases

The mayor's office says it seeks to comply with a state law requiring cities to have “objectively reasonable” restrictions on camping.

Safety Lapses Contributed to Patient Assaults at Oregon State Hospital

A federal report says safety lapses at the Oregon State Hospital contributed to recent patient-on-patient assaults. The report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigated a recent choking attack and sexual assault, among other incidents. It found that staff didn't always adequately supervise their patients, and that the hospital didn't fully investigate the incidents. In a statement, the hospital said it was dedicated to its patients and working to improve conditions. It has 10 days from receiving the report to submit a plan of correction. The hospital is Oregon's most secure inpatient psychiatric facility

NEWS BRIEFS

Oregon Community Foundation Welcomes New Board Members

Oregon Community Foundation’s Board of Directors has elected two new members who bring extensive experience in community engagement...

Governor Kotek Issues Statement on Role of First Spouse

"I take responsibility for not being more thoughtful in my approach to exploring the role of the First Spouse." ...

Legislature Makes Major Investments to Increase Housing Affordability and Expand Treatment in Multnomah County

Over million in new funding will help build a behavioral health drop in center, expand violence prevention programs, and...

Poor People’s Campaign and National Partners Announce, “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. and to the Polls” Ahead of 2024 Elections

Scheduled for June 29th, the “Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C.: A Call to...

Legendary Civil Rights Leader Medgar Wiley Evers Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

Evers family overwhelmed with gratitude after Biden announces highest civilian honor. ...

Prosecutors say Washington officer charged with murder ignored his training in killing man in 2019

KENT, Wash. (AP) — A suburban Seattle police officer ignored his training and unnecessarily resorted to deadly force when he shot and killed a man outside a convenience store in 2019, prosecutors said as the officer's murder trial opened Thursday. Auburn Police Officer Jeff Nelson...

Oregon man convicted of sexually abusing 2 teen girls he met online gets 12 1/2 years in prison

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man who met two 15-year-old girls on Snapchat, sexually abused them while traveling through three states and finally abandoned them at a park has been sentenced to more than a decade behind bars, prosecutors said Thursday. Albert Wayne Johnson was...

Defending national champion LSU boosts its postseason hopes with series win against Texas A&M

With two weeks left in the regular season, LSU is scrambling to avoid becoming the third straight defending national champion to miss the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers (31-18, 9-15) won two of three against then-No. 1 Texas A&M to take a giant step over the weekend, but they...

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...

OPINION

The Skanner News May 2024 Primary Endorsements

Read The Skanner News endorsements and vote today. Candidates for mayor and city council will appear on the November general election ballot. ...

Nation’s Growing Racial and Gender Wealth Gaps Need Policy Reform

Never-married Black women have 8 cents in wealth for every dollar held by while males. ...

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...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Latinos found jobs and cheap housing in a Pennsylvania city but political power has proven elusive

HAZLETON, Pa. (AP) — Latinos seeking jobs and affordable housing have transformed Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in recent decades, but a federal lawsuit argues the way representatives are elected to their local school board is unfairly shutting them out of power. Nearly two-thirds of...

70 years after Brown v. Board, America is both more diverse — and more segregated

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court laid out a new precedent: Separate but equal has no place in American schools. The message of Brown v. Board of Education was clear. But 70 years later, the impact of the decision is still up for debate. Have Americans truly ended segregation in...

Violence rages in New Caledonia as France rushes emergency reinforcements to its Pacific territory

PARIS (AP) — Violence raged across New Caledonia for the third consecutive day Thursday, hours after France imposed a state of emergency in the French Pacific territory, boosting security forces’ powers to quell unrest in the archipelago that has long sought independence. French...

ENTERTAINMENT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 19-25

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 19-25: May 19: TV personality David Hartman is 89. Actor James Fox is 85. Actor Nancy Kwan is 85. Musician Pete Townshend is 79. Singer-actor-model Grace Jones is 73. Drummer Phil Rudd AC/DC is 70. Actor Steven Ford is 68. Actor Toni Lewis...

Book Review: Anonymous public servants are the heart of George Stephanopoulos' 'Situation Room'

The biggest challenge for an author tackling the history of the Situation Room, the basement room of the White House where some of the biggest intelligence crises have been handled in recent decades, is the room itself. As a setting, it's pretty underwhelming. In “The Situation...

Book Review: A grandfather’s 1,500-page family history undergirds Claire Messud’s latest novel

Secrets and shame — every family has its share. When it came time to write her most autobiographical novel, Claire Messud relied on a 1,500-page family history compiled by her paternal grandfather. The result, “This Strange Eventful History,” sprawls over a third as many pages — 423, to be...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Trump will campaign in Minnesota after attending his son Barron's graduation

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will head to Minnesota on a day off from his hush money...

UAW's push to unionize factories in South faces latest test in vote at 2 Mercedes plants in Alabama

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union faces the latest test of its ambitious plan to unionize auto plants...

Justice Alito's home flew flag upside down after Trump's 'Stop the Steal' claims, report says

WASHINGTON (AP) — An upside-down American flag, a symbol associated with former President Donald Trump’s false...

Ukraine says it has checked Russia's offensive in a key town, but Moscow says it will keep pushing

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian units locked in street battles with the Kremlin’s forces in a key northeastern...

USS Ronald Reagan leaves its Japan home port after nearly 9 years

YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — A U.S. Navy strike group's flagship aircraft carrier left its Japanese home port on...

AP Week in Pictures: Global

May 10-16, 2024 People took part in the Piu Sik Parade at the Bun Festival in Hong Kong, Republican...

Lisa Loving of The Skanner News

The more-than 700-page plus Grand Jury transcript of the Keaton Otis shooting shows the police officer Otis shot never saw a gun, and also that Otis had assaulted a man in North Portland on Feb. 9.
The Grand Jury ruled last week that there was no wrongdoing on the part of officers in the traffic stop, which resulted in death and injury.
Officer Chris Burley was reportedly shot twice by Otis during the traffic stop May 12. Seven Portland police officers surrounded his car, three of whom fired more than 30 bullets into it.
Otis died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. Burley was hospitalized and released, and is expected to make a complete recovery.
Otis' family has publicly stated their 25-year-old son had been diagnosed with a "mood disorder." Otis, who lived with his parents, had no known gang ties, but was shot to death by members of the Portland Police anti-gang squad.
The Grand Jury documents, released Monday afternoon, show that after the hail of bullets ended and Otis stopped moving, officers were ordered to move in and Taser him, then fire three beanbag rounds at his body.
When there was no physical response, an arrest team moved in, pulled Otis' lifeless body out of the car, and handcuffed it.
An unidentified questioner during the Grand jury proceedings asks, "Just to be clear, why did you have him fire beanbag rounds?"
"…I thought potentially we could move forward and take him into custody and, in turn, get him medical care," Sgt. Don Livingstone says. "But before I did this, I wanted to make sure he was not faking, he was not lying in wait for us to make a movement and then again would shoot at us when we walked forward," he said.
A few minutes later Livingtone adds, "We move forward. They grab the suspect's arms. They pull him out of the vehicle, up onto the sidewalk and place him into custody without incident."
Another unidentified person says, "What do you mean when you say, 'They placed him into custody?'"
"They put handcuffs on him,' Livingstone says.
"Around his back on in front?"
"Behind his back, put handcuffs behind his back. We're still going to have to make sure he doesn't have a weapon on him before medical can come in and check him," Livingstone says.
Detective Erik Kammerer reported to the Grand Jury that out of 32 shell casings found at the scene, only one did not correspond with the officers' own bullets.
Kammerer said the unique bullet was found in the front passenger floor of Otis' car.
The AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform announced Monday afternoon they'll be holding a press conference to look at "Lingering questions about the incident and the investigation."
In the court transcripts released Monday, Burley testifies that he never saw a gun at the scene. Just before he was shot, he tried unsuccessfully to use a choke hold on Otis.
Burley says that "the last situation" he dealt with like that involved a meth addict who assaulted both him and his partner.
"And I'm backing up, I'm backing up, and then it looks – I'm still kind of got this vision just straight into the car of this guy. And I believe I hear – I believe I hear 'Gun'. And then it looks like he's looking over at me. And I couldn't tell if he was arched back in the seat like this or if he was – kind of bent over in the car so he's hunched over. I couldn't—couldn't tell which was he was situated, because everything's happening so quickly. And then I hear two gunshots from inside the car. And then I automatically – as soon as I hear the gunshots, I feel burning in my legs and I realized that I have been hit, and I go to the ground," Burley says.
On further questioning, Burley said he did not remember that any officers were facing him as he was shot. He said he could not recall seeing any of the officers with their guns out, and also couldn't remember whether Otis had his seatbelt on.
Also in the testimony, a local merchant with a booth at the Lloyd Center said that Otis drove up to him on the street in February, and threatened him with an aluminum baseball bat over a woman the merchant employs.
Farhan Rashtabadi said Otis was under the impression that he was a rival for the woman's affections.
The businessman said Otis waved the bat in his face, cursing and saying, "Leave her alone. She's mine."
After the altercation came to a close, Rashtabadi noted the Toyota's license plate number and reported the incident to the police.
His employee indicated she had dated Otis once, and that he still occasionally sent her "weird" text messages.
"I thought maybe he is just being a psycho or something, he is obsessed with my employee," Rashtabadi said.
As police May 12 decided to pull over Otis' car, they noted that it wasn't linked to any offenses, but that it came back "registered to a woman." After they put on sirens and tried to pull Otis over, his driving became erratic; they eventually boxed in the vehicle and began the fatal stand-off.

The Skanner Foundation's 38th Annual MLK Breakfast