09-18-2024  11:43 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

WNBA Awards Portland an Expansion Franchise That Will Begin Play in 2026

The team will be owned and operated by Raj Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal. The Bhathals started having conversations with the WNBA late last year after a separate bid to bring a team to Portland fell through. It’s the third expansion franchise the league will add over the next two years, with Golden State and Toronto getting the other two.

Strong Words, Dilution and Delays: What’s Going On With The New Police Oversight Board

A federal judge delays when the board can form; critics accuse the city of missing the point on police accountability.

Oregon DMV mistakenly registered more than 300 non-citizens to Vote

Oregon DMV registered more than 300 non-citizens as voters by mistake since 2021. The  “data entry issue” meant ineligible voters received ballot papers, which led to two non-citizens voting in elections since 2021

Here Are the 18 City Council Candidates Running to Represent N/NE Portland

Three will go on to take their seats at an expanded Portland City Council.

NEWS BRIEFS

Common Cause Oregon on National Voter Registration Day, September 17

Oregonians are encouraged to register and check their registration status ...

New Affordable Housing in N Portland Named for Black Scholar

Community Development Partners and Self Enhancement Inc. bring affordable apartments to 5050 N. Interstate Ave., marking latest...

Benson Polytechnic Celebrates Its Grand Opening After an Extensive Three Year Modernization

Portland Public Schools welcomes the public to a Grand Opening Celebration of the newly modernized Benson...

Attorneys General Call for Congress to Require Surgeon General Warnings on Social Media Platforms

In a letter sent yesterday to Congress, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who is also president of the National Association of...

Washington State Library Set to Re-Open on Mondays

The Washington State Library will return to normal public operating hours Monday after remaining partially closed for the past 11...

Accusations of dishonesty fly in debate between Washington gubernatorial hopefuls

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington’s longtime attorney general and a former sheriff known for his work hunting down a notorious serial killer traded accusations of lying to voters during their gubernatorial debate Wednesday, as each made his case for becoming the next governor of the Democratic...

WNBA awards Portland an expansion franchise that will begin play in 2026

The WNBA is headed back to Portland, with Oregon's biggest city getting an expansion team that will begin play in 2026. The team will be owned and operated by Raj Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who also own the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer...

Brady Cook helps No. 6 Missouri rally past No. 24 Boston College 27-21

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Brady Cook passed for a touchdown and ran for another TD, helping No. 6 Missouri top No. 24 Boston College 27-21 on Saturday. Nate Noel rushed for 121 yards for the Tigers (3-0), who trailed 14-3 early in the second quarter. Blake Craig kicked four field goals. ...

Missouri gets Board of Curators approval for 0 million renovation of Memorial Stadium

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri Board of Curators approved a 0 million renovation for Memorial Stadium on Thursday during a meeting attended by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The project, which will break...

OPINION

No Cheek Left to Turn: Standing Up for Albina Head Start and the Low-Income Families it Serves is the Only Option

Since 1975 when I was first named director of Albina Head Start, I’ve had the privilege of serving our community by providing educational opportunities for low-income Pre-K students and watching the program flourish.This month,

DOJ and State Attorneys General File Joint Consumer Lawsuit

In August, the Department of Justice and eight state Attorneys Generals filed a lawsuit charging RealPage Inc., a commercial revenue management software firm with providing apartment managers with illegal price fixing software data that violates...

America Needs Kamala Harris to Win

Because a 'House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand' ...

Student Loan Debt Drops $10 Billion Due to Biden Administration Forgiveness; New Education Department Rules Hold Hope for 30 Million More Borrowers

As consumers struggle to cope with mounting debt, a new economic report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York includes an unprecedented glimmer of hope. Although debt for mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and more increased by billions of...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Why is Congo struggling to contain mpox?

KAVUMU, Congo (AP) — Health authorities have struggled to contain outbreaks of mpox in Congo, a huge central African country where a myriad of existing problems makes stemming the spread particularly hard. Last month, the World Health Organization declared the outbreaks in Congo...

A news site that covers Haitian-Americans is facing harassment over its post-debate coverage of Ohio

NEW YORK (AP) — Journalists at a news site that covers the Haitian community in the United States say they've been harassed and intimidated with racist messages for covering a fake story about immigrants eating the pets of people in an Ohio town. One editor at the Haitian Times, a...

A 10-year-old Japanese student stabbed near his school in China has died

BEIJING (AP) — Officials in Tokyo said Thursday that a 10-year-old Japanese student attending a Japanese school in southern China who was attacked the day before has died, asking Beijing to provide details of the stabbing and take preventive measures. A suspect is in custody. ...

ENTERTAINMENT

,000 literary award named for the late author Gabe Hudson goes to Ayana Mathis' 'The Unsettled'

NEW YORK (AP) — A ,000 literary award named for the late author-editor-podcaster Gabe Hudson has been established by the publisher McSweeney's, where Hudson once worked. The inaugural winner, Ayana Mathis' “The Unsettled,” was announced Thursday, on what would have been...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 22-28

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 22-28: Sept. 22: Singer-dancer Toni Basil is 81. Actor Paul Le Mat (“American Graffiti”) is 79. Singer David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Deep Purple) is 73. Actor Shari Belafonte is 70. Singer Debby Boone is 68. Country singer June Forester of...

Book Review: Joe Posnanski scores with poignant, informative, hilarious 'Why We Love Football'

Joe Posnanski is getting pretty good at this whole sports countdown thing. The award-winning sportswriter's previous books have profiled significant ballplayers ("The Baseball 100") and ticked off 50 of the biggest occasions in the history of our national pastime ("Why We Love...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Colombia suspends peace talks with ELN rebel group after a deadly attack on the military

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia on Wednesday suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN,...

Refugees in New Hampshire turn to farming for an income and a taste of home

DUNBARTON, N.H. (AP) — It's harvest time in central New Hampshire, and one farm there appears to have been...

Threats and assassination attempts come with the office Donald Trump once held and is seeking again

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump, following an apparent assassination attempt on him on Sunday,...

A Hungarian company is linked to the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — In a duplex in a quiet neighborhood of the Hungarian capital is the headquarters of a...

A war with Hezbollah may be looming. Is Israel prepared?

JERUSALEM (AP) — With Israel's defense minister announcing a “new phase” of the war and an apparent Israeli...

A 10-year-old Japanese student stabbed near his school in China has died

BEIJING (AP) — Officials in Tokyo said Thursday that a 10-year-old Japanese student attending a Japanese school...

By Alan Duke CNN

 




AEG Live's CEO wrote two days before Michael Jackson died that a doctor Jackson was seeing "scares us to death because he is shooting him up with something," court testimony shows.

Randy Phillips' e-mail could contradict his earlier testimony that he had no idea Jackson was getting prescription drugs while he was preparing for his comeback concerts.

Phillips is on the witness stand for a fifth day Tuesday in the Jackson wrongful death trial, which is in its seventh week.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos sent jurors out of the courtroom at one point Monday afternoon so she could lecture Phillips about arguing with Jackson lawyer Brian Panish and appearing to evade his questions.

"Arguing with the lawyers is not going to help," Palazuelos told Phillips. "It's not going to help your case. It's not going to help anybody. It's lengthening your testimony. "

Jackson's mother and three children are suing AEG Live, saying the concert promoter is liable in Jackson's death because it hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Phillips and other AEG Live executives ignored "red flags" that should have alerted them that Jackson's health was at risk as they pressured him and his doctor to stop missing rehearsals as the "This Is It" tour premiere approached in the summer of 2009, Jackson lawyers argue.

Jackson, not AEG Live, chose and controlled Murray, company lawyers argue. Although they negotiated a contract to pay Murray $150,000 a month to attend to Jackson, it was never fully executed because Jackson died before they signed, they say.

AEG executives -- including Co-CEO Paul Gongaware, who had managed Jackson's last two tours -- had no way of knowing that Jackson was abusing drugs, especially the surgical anesthetic propofol, which the coroner ruled played the largest role in his death, AEG Live lawyers argue.

Murray told investigators he was infusing propofol into Jackson nearly every night to treat his insomnia so Jackson would be rested for rehearsals.

On Monday, Panish confronted Phillips about an e-mail exchange that he had two days before Jackson's death in which Phillips was asked if Dr. Arnold Klein was "on the list of doctors that will help get us from today to the opening night."

"He scares us to death because he is shooting him up with something," Phillips replied.

Michael Kane, who was Jackson's business manager, shared with Phillips that Klein's office sent him a $48,000 bill for Jackson's frequent visits to his Beverly Hills dermatology clinic in the months before his death.

Klein's invoice said Jackson had been treated with Restalyne, Botox and unidentified drug injections, Kane wrote to Phillips.

"There were a lot of bills for injections, I didn't know what it was," Phillips said in his deposition before the trial.

Klein or his staff injected Jackson with 6,500 milligrams of Demerol during the last three months of his life, according to documents and testimony at Murray's criminal trial.

"Since we owe him $48K and he wants payment, maybe I should stop paying him so he would stop shooting him up," Kane told Phillips. "I have the details of what he is doing."

It was unclear why Kane would share Jackson's medical records with an AEG Live executive since the company's lawyers insist they were not involved with and did not pry into Jackson's health care.

Phillips' testimony differs from CNN interview

Phillips met with Jackson, Dr. Murray and show director Kenny Ortega on June 20, 2009, after production manager John "Bugzee" Houghdahl sent an e-mail to producers titled "trouble at the Front."

"I have watched him deteriorate in front of my eyes over the last 8 weeks. He was able to do multiple 360 spins back in April. He'd fall on his ass if he tried now," Houghdahl wrote about Jackson.

Ortega sent Jackson home from a rehearsal the night before because of his strange behavior.

"He was a basket case and Kenny was concerned he would embarrass himself on stage, or worse yet -- get hurt," Houghdahl wrote. "The company is rehearsing right now, but the DOUBT is pervasive."

Phillips' testimony about the meeting this week contradicts what he told CNN's Don Lemon in 2010, just before the first anniversary of Jackson's death.

He testified Monday that it was a "highly charged situation" because of producers' concerns about Jackson's readiness for the show just three weeks away, although he downplayed the drama in the CNN interview.

Contrary to the production manager's e-mail, Phillips told CNN there was no concern about Jackson's dancing. "You know, there was very little to worry about him performing."

"Kenny felt that Michael was taking this show a little too nonchalantly," Phillips told CNN.

Phillips testified Monday that the meeting with Dr. Murray and Jackson -- which he called "an intervention" in an e-mail -- was called to find out what was wrong with Jackson.

But in the CNN interview, Phillips denied it was AEG Live who wanted Murray to be there. "Michael brought him," he said. "That was Michael's choice. He brought Dr. Murray into the meeting."

"I didn't invite Dr. Murray into the meeting," Phillips said in response to a follow up question by Lemon. "Michael brought Dr. Murray into the meeting."

"Why would Jackson feel he needed his doctor to meet with the concert promoters?" Lemon asked.

"Because he was using Dr. Murray like he would a manager or a representative," Phillips said. "He wanted him to speak for him."

"Did that seem odd to you?" Lemon asked.

"No, nothing seems odd in Michael world," he said.

CNN's Stan Wilson contributed to this report.