11-19-2024  2:56 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

'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.

Trump Was Elected; What Now? Black Community Organizers on What’s Next

The Skanner spoke with two seasoned community leaders about how local activism can counter national panic. 

NEWS BRIEFS

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 ...

Janelle Bynum Statement on Her Victory in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District

"I am proud to be the first – but not the last – Black Member of Congress from Oregon" ...

Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11: Honoring a Legacy of Loyalty and Service and Expanding Benefits for Washington Veterans

Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) is pleased to share the Veterans Day Proclamation and highlight the various...

What is a 'bomb cyclone'?

A powerful storm is bearing down on the West Coast and bringing with it a scary-sounding weather term - bomb cyclone. Bomb cyclone is a term used by weather enthusiasts to describe a process that meteorologists usually call bombogenesis. It's the rapid intensification of a cyclone in...

'Bomb cyclone' threatens Northern California and Pacific Northwest

SEATTLE (AP) — Northern California and the Pacific Northwest are bracing for what is expected to be a powerful storm, with heavy rain and winds set to pummel the region and potentially cause power outages and flash floods. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall...

Cal Poly visits Eastern Washington after Cook's 24-point game

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-2) at Eastern Washington Eagles (1-2) Cheney, Washington; Sunday, 7 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Eagles -6.5; over/under is 157.5 BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Washington hosts Cal Poly after Andrew Cook scored 24 points in Eastern...

Sellers throws career-high 5 TD passes, No. 23 South Carolina beats No. 24 Missouri 34-30

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer got a text recently from an SEC rival coach impressed with freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers. “You've got ‘Superman’ back there,” the message read, Beamer said. Sellers may not be the “Man of...

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

Former West Virginia jail officers plead guilty to civil rights violation in fatal assault on inmate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two more former correctional officers in West Virginia have pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights violation in the death of a man who died less than a day after being booked into a jail. As part of plea agreements, Johnathan Walters entered a plea Monday...

Woman faces hate crime charges after confronting Palestinian man wearing `Palestine' shirt

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago woman faces hate crime charges for allegedly confronting a Palestinian man wearing a sweatshirt with “Palestine” written on it and trying to knock a cellphone out of his pregnant wife's hands as she recorded the encounter, authorities and the man...

Tens of thousands crowd New Zealand's Parliament grounds in support of Māori rights

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — As tens of thousands crowded the streets in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, on Tuesday, the throng of people, flags aloft, had the air of a festival or a parade rather than a protest. They were marching to oppose a law that would reshape the...

ENTERTAINMENT

Winston Churchill portrait returns to Ottawa after international art caper

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A stolen portrait of Winston Churchill that was swapped with a forgery during the pandemic has returned to its rightful place, after two Ottawa police detectives traveled to Rome to retrieve it. Police said ”The Roaring Lion" was stolen from the Fairmont...

Book Review: A young Walt Longmire battles animal and human predators on Alaska’s North Slope

In December, 1970, Walt Longmire, back in the States after fighting in Vietnam, was working security for an oil company on Alaska’s North Slope. There, he found himself battling predators, both animal and human, in brutal weather conditions. Now, after his career as sheriff of...

From 'The Exorcist' to 'Heretic,' why holy horror can be a hit with moviegoers

In the new horror movie, “Heretic,” Hugh Grant plays a diabolical religious skeptic who traps two scared missionaries in his house and tries to violently shake their faith. What starts more as a religious studies lecture slowly morphs into a gory escape room for the two...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

'Bomb cyclone' threatens Northern California and Pacific Northwest

SEATTLE (AP) — Northern California and the Pacific Northwest are bracing for what is expected to be a powerful...

Jets fire general manager Joe Douglas after team goes 3-8 to start the season

First, Robert Saleh. Now, Joe Douglas. Woody Johnson is cleaning house for his woeful New York Jets...

Prosecution rests in trial over death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia nursing student Laken Riley texted and called her mom as she headed out for a run to...

Lula urges G20 members to take action to slow global warming

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's president opened the second day of a meeting of the world's 20 major economies...

Croatia to hold a presidential election on Dec. 29

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia will hold a presidential election on Dec. 29, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković...

Italy recovers Etruscan artifacts worth .5 billion bound for black market

ROME (AP) — Italian authorities announced Tuesday the seizure of an illegal excavation of an Etruscan burial...

Suzanne Gamboa the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The National Urban League is calling on African-Americans to get out and vote come election time as a means of countering state laws the group says threaten education and economic gains made by blacks.

Borrowing from the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 101-year-old civil rights group made "Occupy the Vote" the theme for its annual State of Black America report to be released Wednesday at Howard University. The report evaluates African-Americans progress toward equality, and this year's version "Occupy the Vote to Employ, Educate & Empower" also measures white and Latino equality.

The campaign will include, among other things, a website dedicated to monitoring voter laws and providing information on voting requirements. The league also hopes to conduct get-out-the-vote bus tours, said CEO Marc Morial.

A concern, Morial said, is that some state laws could widen the equality gap between white and black Americans by discouraging political participation of African-Americans. He says their votes are needed to ensure continued support of programs that have helped close the equality gap.

"I refuse to operate from a standpoint of, `Woe is me,'" said Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans. "We have to tell people we are not going to let these laws stop us."

According to the report, improvements in health and education among blacks have made up for losses in civic engagement, economics and social justice.

"The bottom line is that the recession has caused slippage of progress in the status economically of African-Americans and when we talk about these issues, we are trying to ensure that any recovery that's being articulated and designed is a recovery that includes everyone, that it is not just a recovery for some," Morial said.

But concerns abound among civil rights and minority leaders that new state photo ID and other laws will widen the gap between blacks and whites. Several states have implemented laws that narrow the list of acceptable forms of identification needed to vote. Some states have restricted who can register new voters, or they have eliminated early voting days such as Sundays before elections, which are popular among black churches.

Supporters of the laws have said they will curb voter fraud, but the NAACP has said they are a concerted effort to suppress the vote of minorities, students and the elderly. Some states are offering to provide free IDs, in cases where cost of getting an ID is an issue; but civil rights groups say the laws still will deter legitimate voters, such as Bettye Jones, 76, of Wisconsin.

Jones has been registered to vote in Ohio since 1956. But she moved to Wisconsin, which requires voters to show Wisconsin Department of Transportation-issued driver's licenses or state IDs. To get one of those she has to show a birth certificate, as required by federal law. However, Jones was born at home and doesn't have a birth certificate.

"They know there was an era where black people, colored people, Negro people, their records were not cared about," said Debra Crawford, Jones' daughter.

Jones is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the Advancement Project and others challenging Wisconsin's law as discriminatory.

Morial's call for an "Occupy the Vote" movement comes as civil rights leaders commemorated the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" violence that erupted around voting rights protests in Selma, Ala. Protesters were beaten and gassed, and some died. Civil rights activists have been using this year's anniversary events to condemn the new state voting laws.

Black Americans have built a strong record at the voting booth - the 2008 turnout of 65.2 percent of black eligible voters nearly matched the 66.1 percent turnout of white eligible voters. Although turnout and registration slipped in 2010, 1.1 million more black Americans showed up to vote two years ago than in 2006, according to Pew Hispanic Center's research.

Rather than the new ID requirements, other steps can be taken to address fraud, errors and other problems in the voting system, the National Urban League said in its report. Registering people to vote when they turn 18 in the same way young men are required to register for the draft or the way taxpayers are automatically enrolled to start paying taxes are two suggestions made in the league's report by the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, which works to get young people active in elections.

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Follow Suzanne Gamboa at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa

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Online: National Urban League: http://www.nul.org/

Advancement Project: http://www.advancementproject.org/

National Voting Rights Museum and Institute: http://www.nvrm.org/

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