11-24-2024  11:58 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

'Bomb Cyclone' Kills 1 and Knocks out Power to Over Half a Million Homes Across the Northwest US

A major storm was sweeping across the northwest U.S., battering the region with strong winds and rain. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect. 

'Bomb Cyclone' Threatens Northern California and Pacific Northwest

The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks beginning Tuesday and lasting through Friday. Those come as the strongest atmospheric river  that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season bears down on the region. 

More Logging Is Proposed to Help Curb Wildfires in the US Pacific Northwest

Officials say worsening wildfires due to climate change mean that forests must be more actively managed to increase their resiliency.

Democrat Janelle Bynum Flips Oregon’s 5th District, Will Be State’s First Black Member of Congress

The U.S. House race was one of the country’s most competitive and viewed by The Cook Political Report as a toss up, meaning either party had a good chance of winning.

NEWS BRIEFS

OMSI Opens Indoor Ice Rink for the Holiday Season

This is the first year the unique synthetic ice rink is open. ...

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

Portland Fire & Rescue extends their wish to you for a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday. ...

Portland Art Museum’s Rental Sales Gallery Showcases Diverse Talent

New Member Artist Show will be open to the public Dec. 6 through Jan. 18, with all works available for both rental and purchase. ...

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Oregon Announces New State Director and Community Engagement Coordinator

“This is an exciting milestone for Oregon,” said DELC Director Alyssa Chatterjee. “These positions will play critical roles in...

Multnomah County Library Breaks Ground on Expanded St. Johns Library

Groundbreaking marks milestone in library transformations ...

AP Top 25: Alabama, Mississippi out of top 10 and Miami, SMU are in; Oregon remains unanimous No. 1

Alabama and Mississippi tumbled out of the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25 poll Sunday and Miami and SMU moved in following a chaotic weekend in the SEC and across college football in general. Oregon is No. 1 for the sixth straight week and Ohio State, Texas and Penn State held...

Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week

WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) — Forecasters through the U.S. issued warnings that another round of winter weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages. In California,...

Moore and UAPB host Missouri

Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (1-5) at Missouri Tigers (4-1) Columbia, Missouri; Sunday, 5 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Tigers -34.5; over/under is 155.5 BOTTOM LINE: UAPB visits Missouri after Christian Moore scored 20 points in UAPB's 98-64 loss to...

Carroll runs for 3 TDs, Missouri beats Mississippi State 39-20

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Things had a chance to unravel for Missouri early in its matchup with Mississippi State on Saturday, but a big play changed it all. Trailing 3-0 and giving up great field position to the Bulldog offense, the Tigers got a fumble recovery from Dylan Carnell...

OPINION

A Loan Shark in Your Pocket: Cellphone Cash Advance Apps

Fast-growing app usage leaves many consumers worse off. ...

America’s Healing Can Start with Family Around the Holidays

With the holiday season approaching, it seems that our country could not be more divided. That division has been perhaps the main overarching topic of our national conversation in recent years. And it has taken root within many of our own families. ...

Donald Trump Rides Patriarchy Back to the White House

White male supremacy, which Trump ran on, continues to play an outsized role in exacerbating the divide that afflicts our nation. ...

Why Not Voting Could Deprioritize Black Communities

President Biden’s Justice40 initiative ensures that 40% of federal investment benefits flow to disadvantaged communities, addressing deep-seated inequities. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

After Trump's win, Black women are rethinking their role as America's reliable political organizers

ATLANTA (AP) — As she checked into a recent flight to Mexico for vacation, Teja Smith chuckled at the idea of joining another Women’s March on Washington. As a Black woman, she just couldn’t see herself helping to replicate the largest act of resistance against then-President...

National monument proposed for North Dakota Badlands, with tribes' support

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A coalition of conservation groups and Native American tribal citizens on Friday called on President Joe Biden to designate nearly 140,000 acres of rugged, scenic Badlands as North Dakota's first national monument, a proposal several tribal nations say would preserve the...

What to know about Scott Turner, Trump's pick for housing secretary

Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term. Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Chris Myers looks back on his career in ’That Deserves a Wow'

There are few sports journalists working today with a resume as broad as Chris Myers. From a decade doing everything for ESPN (SportsCenter, play by play, and succeeding Roy Firestone as host of the interview show “Up Close”) to decades of involvement with nearly every league under contract...

Was it the Mouse King? ‘Nutcracker’ props stolen from a Michigan ballet company

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Did the Mouse King strike? A ballet group in suburban Detroit is scrambling after someone stole a trailer filled with props for upcoming performances of the beloved holiday classic “The Nutcracker.” The lost items include a grandfather...

Wrestling with the ghosts of 'The Piano Lesson'

The piano on the set of “The Piano Lesson” was not a mere prop. It could be played and the cast members often did. It was adorned with pictures of the Washington family and their ancestors. It was, John David Washington jokes, “No. 1 on the call sheet.” “We tried to haunt...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83

NEW YORK (AP) — Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love...

Israel says rabbi who went missing in the UAE was killed. The government arrests 3

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the...

Uruguay's once-dull election has become a dead heat in the presidential runoff

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguayans went to the polls Sunday for a second round of voting to choose their next...

Canada's top military commander calls out US senator for questioning a woman's role in combat

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — The first woman to command Canada's military called out a U.S. senator on Saturday...

Deadly alcohol poisoning casts shadow over the Laotian backpacker town

VANG VIENG, Laos (AP) — A little town known as a backpacker paradise in northern Laos has come under spotlight...

Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 37 people

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Fighting between armed Sunni and Shiite groups in northwestern Pakistan killed at...

Suzanne Manneh, New America Media

No one denies – at least openly – that racial profiling is bad practice. The question at hand, and one raised during a Senate committee hearing on civil and human rights earlier this week, is how to end it.

On Tuesday, April 17, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights listened to testimony from legislators, legal experts, law enforcement officials, and advocates expressing their views on the state of racial profiling in America.

The issue has taken on a heightened sense of urgency in the wake of the shooting death of 17-year-old African American Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. The shooter, George Zimmerman – who is of Jewish and Hispanic descent – is now on trial for Martin's death.

Members of the committee debated the merits of The End Racial Profiling Act of 2011 – which supporters say would help strengthen ties between minority communities and law enforcement agencies that are supposed to serve them.

Opponents describe the bill, first introduced last October by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), as an insult to police officers everywhere.

Captain Frank Gale, with the Denver Sheriff's office, says the bill would only "make matters worse." The language, he argues, is "too broad" and calls for policies that are "in real life not practical."

Gale, who is the National Second Vice President with the Fraternal Order of Police, also took aim at the bill's financial consequences. The legislation, he says, "threatens to penalize local and state law enforcement agencies" by withholding federal funding unless these agencies comply with the requirements of the bill.

Those requirements include providing training to all officers on racial profiling issues, collecting racial and other sociological data in accordance with federal regulation, and establishing an independent audit program to ensure appropriate response to allegations of racial profiling.

"How can we fight the battle if we also propose to deny these funds to agencies that need them," asked Gale, "because they can't afford training or personnel to document allegations of racial profiling issues?"

Roger Clegg, President and General Counsel for the conservative think-tank Center for Equal Opportunity, echoes Gale's concerns.

Claiming that the frequency of racial profiling is often "exaggerated," he urged committee members to exercise caution when analyzing related date. His later remarks caused a stir.

"I am opposed to profiling, particularly to profiling in the traditional law enforcement context where frequently it is African Americans who are the victims of that profiling," he said. "Nonetheless, I think we have to recognize that it's going to be tempting for the police and individuals to profile so long as a disproportionate amount of street crime is committed by African Americans."

Legal analysts and supporters of the bill argue Clegg's comment misses the point, which revolves not around street crime but around the need to build community trust.

"The issue is how we deploy our street officers in ways that are effective, fair, and carry out the most important ideals of our society," said University of Pittsburg Professor David Harris.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Miami) spoke passionately about the treatment of minority youth, especially African American males, at the hands of law enforcement, referencing the Trayvon Martin case as a "textbook example of racial profiling."

"When my son learned how to drive, I bought him a cell phone because I knew he would be profiled… and he was," she said.

In Illinois, said U.S. Senator and Subcommittee member Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), "Hispanic motorists are two to four times more likely to be searched and African Americans are two to three more times as likely to be subject to consent searches than white motorists."

Pointing out that white motorists were "89 percent more likely than Hispanic motorists and 26 percent more likely than African American motorists to have contraband in their vehicles," the statistics around incidents of racial profiling "made no sense from a law enforcement" point of view, he added.

The debate has reignited a level of intensity around the topic of racial profiling that has not been seen since the days and months following the 9/11 terror attacks, when Muslim Americans across the country complained of being targeted for their religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Many who testified at this week's hearing argued that ensuring a strong relationship between Muslims and Law enforcement is critical, especially in the continued fight against homegrown terror. Most recently, an Associated Press series documented the New York Police Department's spying on the Muslim community.

Citing the scandal, Congresswoman Judy Chu (D,CA-32) reminded fellow lawmakers that "the only thing they were guilty of was practicing Islam."

Sen. Cardin ended the hearing by recognizing the differing viewpoints and stressing that at its core, the issue is one of "accountability."

"We serve the public," he said, and whether elected or appointed, "accountability has to be part of that service."

The debate around the bill, meanwhile, is expected to continue.

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