07-27-2024  12:37 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

People Flee Idaho Town Through a Tunnel of Fire and Smoke as Western Wildfires Spread

Multiple communities in Idaho have been evacuated after lightning strikes sparked fast-moving wildfires.  As that and other blazes scorch the Pacific Northwest, authorities say California's largest wildfire is zero-percent contained after destroying 134 structures and threatening 4,200 more. A sheriff says it was started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully. Officials say they have arrested a 42-year-old man who will be arraigned Monday.

Word is Bond Takes Young Black Leaders to Ghana

“Transformative” trip lets young travelers visit painful slave history, celebrate heritage.

Wildfires Threaten Communities in the West as Oregon Fire Closes Interstate, Creates Its Own Weather

Firefighters in the West are scrambling as wildfires threaten communities in Oregon, California and Washington. A stretch of Interstate 84 connecting Oregon and Idaho in the area of one of the fires was closed indefinitely Tuesday. New lightning-sparked wildfires in the Sierra near the California-Nevada border forced the evacuation of a recreation area, closed a state highway and were threatening structures Tuesday.

In Washington State, Inslee's Final Months Aimed at Staving off Repeal of Landmark Climate Law

Voters in Washington state will decide this fall whether to keep one of the country's more aggressive laws aimed at stemming carbon pollution. The repeal vote imperils the most significant climate policy passed during outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee's three terms, and Inslee — who made climate action a centerpiece of his short-lived presidential campaign in the 2020 cycle — is fighting hard against it. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Iconic Elm Tree in Downtown Celebrated Before Emergency Removal

The approximately 154-year-old tree has significant damage and declining health following recent storms ...

Hawthorne Bridge Westbound Closes Thursday for Repairs

Westbound traffic lanes will close 2 p.m. Thursday, July 25, through 5 a.m. Friday, July 26 ...

Oregon Senate Democrats Unanimously Endorse Kamala Harris for President

Today, in unified support for Kamala Harris as president of the United States, all 17 Oregon Senate Democrats officially...

Dr. Vinson Eugene Allen and Dusk to Dawn Urgent Care Make a Historical Mark as the First African American Owned Chain of Urgent Care Facilities in the United States

Dusk to Dawn Urgent Care validated as the First African American Owned Urgent Care in the nation with chain locations ...

Washington State Black Legislators Endorse Kamala Harris for President

Members of the Washington State Legislative Black Caucus (LBC) are proud to announce their enthusiastic endorsement of Vice President...

California's largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West

California's largest active fire exploded in size on Friday evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger. The Park Fire's intensity and dramatic spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to...

California's largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across US West

California's largest active fire exploded in size on Friday evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger. The Park Fire's intensity and rapid spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the...

Chiefs set deadline of 6 months to decide whether to renovate Arrowhead or build new — and where

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs have set a deadline of six months from now to decide on a plan for the future of Arrowhead Stadium, whether that means renovating their iconic home or building an entirely new stadium in Kansas or Missouri. After a joint ballot initiative with the...

Missouri governor says new public aid plan in the works for Chiefs, Royals stadiums

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday that he expects the state to put together an aid plan by the end of the year to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from being lured across state lines to new stadiums in Kansas. Missouri's renewed efforts...

OPINION

The 900-Page Guide to Snuffing Out American Democracy

What if there was a blueprint for a future presidential administration to unilaterally lay waste to our constitutional order and turn America from a democracy into an autocracy in one fell swoop? That is what one far-right think tank and its contributors...

SCOTUS Decision Seizes Power to Decide Federal Regulations: Hard-Fought Consumer Victories Now at Risk

For Black and Latino Americans, this power-grab by the court throws into doubt and potentially weakens current agency rules that sought to bring us closer to the nation’s promises of freedom and justice for all. In two particular areas – fair housing and...

Minding the Debate: What’s Happening to Our Brains During Election Season

The June 27 presidential debate is the real start of the election season, when more Americans start to pay attention. It’s when partisan rhetoric runs hot and emotions run high. It’s also a chance for us, as members of a democratic republic. How? By...

State of the Nation’s Housing 2024: The Cost of the American Dream Jumped 47 Percent Since 2020

Only 1 in 7 renters can afford homeownership, homelessness at an all-time high ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

California date palm ranches reap not only fruit, but a permit to host weddings and quinceañeras

COACHELLA, Calif. (AP) — Claudia Lua Alvarado has staked her future on the rows of towering date palms behind the home where she lives with her husband and two children in a desert community east of Los Angeles. It’s not solely due to the fleshy, sweet fruit they give each year....

A federal court approves new Michigan state Senate seats for Detroit-area districts

Lansing (AP) — Federal judges gave final approval to a new map of Michigan state Legislature boundaries, concluding a case in which the court previously found that several Detroit-area districts' maps were illegally influenced by race. In December, the court ordered a redistricting...

Autopsy confirms Sonya Massey died from gunshot wound to head, as attorney calls shooting senseless

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Autopsy findings released Friday on Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman fatally shot in her Illinois home by a now-fired sheriff's deputy charged in her death, confirm that she died from a gunshot wound to the head. The report was released shortly before...

ENTERTAINMENT

Educators wonder how to teach the writings of Alice Munro in wake of daughter's revelations

NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, Robert Lecker has read, taught and written about Alice Munro, the Nobel laureate from Canada renowned for her short stories. A professor of English at McGill University in Montreal, and author of numerous critical studies of Canadian fiction, he has thought of Munro...

Adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s ‘Nickel Boys’ to open New York Film Festival this fall

“Nickel Boys,” an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, will open the 62nd New York Film Festival in September, organizers said Monday. Filmmaker RaMell Ross directed the drama based on the 2019 novel about two Black teenagers in an abusive reform school...

Hikers and cyclists can now cross Vermont on New England's longest rail trail, a year after floods

HARDWICK, Vt. (AP) — A year after epic summer flooding delayed the official opening of New England’s longest rail trail, the 93-mile route across northern Vermont is finally delivering on the promise made years ago of a cross-state recreation trail. The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Homeless people say they will likely return to sites if California clears them under Newsom's order

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three years ago, Joel Hernandez built a small wooden shack under the 405 freeway cutting...

A look at 'El Mayo' Zambada, the kingpin of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel who is now in US custody

PHOENIX (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the top leader and co-founder of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, eluded...

Philippine forces sail to hotly disputed shoal without incident for first time since deal with China

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine government personnel transported food and other supplies Saturday to a...

Wood pellets production boomed to feed EU demand. It's come at a cost for Black people in the South

GLOSTER, Miss. (AP) — This southern Mississippi town's expansive wood pellet plant was so close to Shelia Mae...

Museum pulls wax figure of Sinead O'Connor after complaints it does not compare to the real thing

LONDON (AP) — A wax figure of Sinéad O’Connor that did not compare to how the late singer looked caused a...

Typhoon Gaemi weakens to a tropical storm as it moves inland carrying rain toward central China

BEIJING (AP) — Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making...

Heidi Vogt the Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- One of two U.S. sailors missing in Afghanistan since last week - a 30-year-old father of two - has been confirmed dead and his body recovered, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday.
The search continues for the other missing sailor, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Live video of a firefight in Afghanistan on The Skanner Video click here

Also Tuesday the Seattle Times confirmed the soldier is from west Seattle, but his identity is not being released for his safety, officials said.
The two Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sport utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. The Taliban have said they killed one of the two men in a firefight, captured the other and are holding him in a "safe place" where he will not be found.
In a statement, the NATO-led command said the body was recovered Sunday after an extensive search and that the coalition "holds the captors accountable for the safety and proper treatment of our missing service member."
NATO officials were unable to say what the two service members were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.
The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The school was headquartered in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where the body of the sailor was recovered, the officials said.
Jim Kerr, a Colorado legislator from the Denver suburb of Littleton, said the sailor killed was his wife's nephew, Justin McNeley. McNeley was from Colorado but moved to Kingman, Ariz., in 2004, three years after he joined the U.S. Navy. His mother lives in Kingman and his father is a fire official in Encinitas, Calif
Kerr told The Denver Post that McNeley, a noncommissioned officer and father of two sons, was due to return to the U.S. in August.
The only other American service member in Taliban captivity is Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared June 30, 2009, in Paktika province, also in eastern Afghanistan. That area is heavily infiltrated by the Haqqani network, which has deep links to al-Qaida. Bergdahl has since been shown in Taliban videos online.
New York Times reporter David Rohde was also kidnapped in Logar province while trying to meet with a Taliban commander. He and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most of it spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.
Hundreds of fliers, with reprinted photos of the two sailors, have been distributed throughout Logar province where NATO troops were stopping and searching vehicles. NATO has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the surviving sailor's location.
Separately in Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that a British soldier, who was serving with a task force working to counter homemade bombs, died Monday in a blast in the Sangin district of Helmand province in what may have been a case of "friendly fire."
The ministry said a smoke screen was requested to allow the soldiers to work safely, and "it is believed that one of the smoke shells may have fallen short of its intended target."
Also in the south, insurgents launched two rockets that struck the Zabul provincial governor's house Tuesday night, according to the governor's spokesman Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar. The governor escaped injury, but one girl was killed and two other children were injured, he said. A third rocket missed the house.
In the relatively peaceful northeastern province of Parwan, insurgents killed six Afghan construction workers and kidnapped a government official, NATO said.
The construction workers were driving through Siagerd district Monday when they came under fire from insurgents. Afghan police responded and drove back the militants, who kidnapped the district attorney general as they fled, NATO said.
Taliban insurgents regularly target civilians they see as complicit with the government, including those working on government-funded projects like roads and public buildings.
While the deputy provincial police chief confirmed that the dead were civilians, Faqir Ahmad said they comprised two families driving to nearby Bamiyan province for a vacation. Ahmad said two women and one child were among the dead. He did not have any information on whether there were construction workers involved.
Ahmad said the district official was released the same day through negotiations with insurgents.
Also in the east, a joint Afghan and coalition force captured a midlevel Taliban commander Monday night in Paktika province, NATO said. According to the coalition, the commander operates mainly in Mata Khan, planning bomb attacks on coalition convoys. Ammunition, bomb-making equipment and a bag of Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. cash were found at the scene, NATO said.
In neighboring Paktia province, a joint force carried out multiple precision strikes against a senior commander of the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network. NATO said it had not yet confirmed the death of the commander, who controls fighter camps in the area and is in regular contact with top Haqqani leadership across the border in Pakistan.
In other violence, the Afghan Interior Ministry said five militants were killed and 10 others were wounded Monday during a joint Afghan and international forces operation in Chardara district of Kunduz province in the north; and four militants were killed as they were planting a roadside bomb in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province in the south. The Afghan Defense Ministry said five militants were killed during a gunbattle with Afghan soldiers Monday in the Muqur district of Ghazni province in the east.
---
Associated Press writer Judith Kohler contributed to this report from Denver.

Also Tuesday the Seattle Times confirmed the soldier is from west Seattle, but his identity is not being released for his safety, officials said.The two Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sport utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. The Taliban have said they killed one of the two men in a firefight, captured the other and are holding him in a "safe place" where he will not be found.In a statement, the NATO-led command said the body was recovered Sunday after an extensive search and that the coalition "holds the captors accountable for the safety and proper treatment of our missing service member."NATO officials were unable to say what the two service members were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The school was headquartered in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where the body of the sailor was recovered, the officials said.Jim Kerr, a Colorado legislator from the Denver suburb of Littleton, said the sailor killed was his wife's nephew, Justin McNeley. McNeley was from Colorado but moved to Kingman, Ariz., in 2004, three years after he joined the U.S. Navy. His mother lives in Kingman and his father is a fire official in Encinitas, CalifKerr told The Denver Post that McNeley, a noncommissioned officer and father of two sons, was due to return to the U.S. in August.The only other American service member in Taliban captivity is Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared June 30, 2009, in Paktika province, also in eastern Afghanistan. That area is heavily infiltrated by the Haqqani network, which has deep links to al-Qaida. Bergdahl has since been shown in Taliban videos online.New York Times reporter David Rohde was also kidnapped in Logar province while trying to meet with a Taliban commander. He and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most of it spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.Hundreds of fliers, with reprinted photos of the two sailors, have been distributed throughout Logar province where NATO troops were stopping and searching vehicles. NATO has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the surviving sailor's location.Separately in Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that a British soldier, who was serving with a task force working to counter homemade bombs, died Monday in a blast in the Sangin district of Helmand province in what may have been a case of "friendly fire."The ministry said a smoke screen was requested to allow the soldiers to work safely, and "it is believed that one of the smoke shells may have fallen short of its intended target."Also in the south, insurgents launched two rockets that struck the Zabul provincial governor's house Tuesday night, according to the governor's spokesman Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar. The governor escaped injury, but one girl was killed and two other children were injured, he said. A third rocket missed the house.In the relatively peaceful northeastern province of Parwan, insurgents killed six Afghan construction workers and kidnapped a government official, NATO said.The construction workers were driving through Siagerd district Monday when they came under fire from insurgents. Afghan police responded and drove back the militants, who kidnapped the district attorney general as they fled, NATO said.Taliban insurgents regularly target civilians they see as complicit with the government, including those working on government-funded projects like roads and public buildings.While the deputy provincial police chief confirmed that the dead were civilians, Faqir Ahmad said they comprised two families driving to nearby Bamiyan province for a vacation. Ahmad said two women and one child were among the dead. He did not have any information on whether there were construction workers involved.Ahmad said the district official was released the same day through negotiations with insurgents.Also in the east, a joint Afghan and coalition force captured a midlevel Taliban commander Monday night in Paktika province, NATO said. According to the coalition, the commander operates mainly in Mata Khan, planning bomb attacks on coalition convoys. Ammunition, bomb-making equipment and a bag of Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. cash were found at the scene, NATO said.In neighboring Paktia province, a joint force carried out multiple precision strikes against a senior commander of the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network. NATO said it had not yet confirmed the death of the commander, who controls fighter camps in the area and is in regular contact with top Haqqani leadership across the border in Pakistan.In other violence, the Afghan Interior Ministry said five militants were killed and 10 others were wounded Monday during a joint Afghan and international forces operation in Chardara district of Kunduz province in the north; and four militants were killed as they were planting a roadside bomb in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province in the south. The Afghan Defense Ministry said five militants were killed during a gunbattle with Afghan soldiers Monday in the Muqur district of Ghazni province in the east.---Associated Press writer Judith Kohler contributed to this report from Denver.