11-04-2024  8:13 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

African American Alliance On Homeownership Turns 25, Honors The Skanner Cofounder Bernie Foster

AAAH's executive director Cheryl Roberts recalls how the efforts of Bernie Foster led to an organization that now offers one-on-one counseling for prospective home buyers, homebuyer education, foreclosure prevention services, estate planning, assistance with down payments and more.

Police Say Fires Set at Ballot Boxes in Oregon and Washington Are Connected; ‘Suspect Vehicle’ ID'd

Surveillance images captured a Volvo stopping at a drop box in Portland, just before security personnel nearby discovered a fire inside the box. That fire damaged three ballots inside, while officials say a fire at a drop box in nearby Vancouver, Washington, early Monday destroyed hundreds of ballots.

Two Major Affordable Housing Developments Reach Milestones in Portland

Both will provide culturally specific supportive services to residents. 

Washington State AG and Ex-Sheriff Face off in Governor's Race

Former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert is trying to become Washington’s first GOP governor in 40 years. But he faces a difficult hurdle in the Democratic stronghold against longtime Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a darling of liberals for his many lawsuits against the Trump administration. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Merkley Statement on the Passing of Bob Sallinger

“Bob was a trusted voice, advising me on ways to safeguard the state’s natural wonders and wildlife and fighting against climate...

Troutdale Library Now Renovation Complete

Library provides refreshed experience for patrons with new, comfortable seating and carpeting ...

AG Rosenblum Releases Election Guidance to Law Enforcement and Message to Registered Oregon Voters

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum: Haven’t received your ballot? Contact your county elections office! ...

Oregon Begins Rollout of New Housing Benefits for Eligible OHP Members With Health Conditions

The housing benefits include rent assistance for up to six months, utility set-up and payments for up to six months, home...

Oregon Department of Education Releases Cell Phone Policy Guidance

ODE recommends creating policies to limit or reduce cell phone use during the school day. ...

Nevada lithium mine will crush rare plant habitat US said is critical to its survival, lawsuit says

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists and an advocacy group for Native Americans are suing the U.S. to try to block a Nevada lithium mine they say will drive an endangered desert wildflower to extinction, disrupt groundwater flows and threaten cultural resources. The Center for...

AP Top 25: Oregon a unanimous No. 1 ahead of 1st CFP rankings, followed by Georgia, Ohio State

Oregon was the unanimous choice for No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, strengthening its bid for the top spot in the College Football Playoff selection committee's first rankings of the season. The Ducks are No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the third straight...

Haggerty scores 22 of 25 after break to rally Memphis past Missouri 83-75 in opener

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — PJ Haggerty scored 22 of his 25 points in the second half when Memphis took over en route to an 83-75 win over Missouri in the season opener for both teams on Monday night. The Tigers trailed by 10 at halftime but shot 58% in the second half, while going 17-20...

Memphis hosts Missouri to start season

Missouri Tigers at Memphis Tigers Memphis, Tennessee; Monday, 8 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Tigers -4.5; over/under is 154.5 BOTTOM LINE: Memphis opens the season at home against Missouri. Memphis went 22-10 overall with a 13-2 record at...

OPINION

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. ...

The Skanner News 2024 Presidential Endorsement

It will come as no surprise that we strongly endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president. ...

Black Retirees Growing Older and Poorer: 2025 Social Security COLA lowest in 10 years

As Americans live longer, the ability to remain financially independent is an ongoing struggle. Especially for Black and other people of color whose lifetime incomes are often lower than that of other contemporaries, finding money to save for ‘old age’ is...

The Skanner Endorsements: Oregon State and Local Ballot Measures

Ballots are now being mailed out for this very important election. Election Day is November 5. Ballots must be received or mailed with a valid postmark by 8 p.m. Election Day. View The Skanner's ballot measure endorsements. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Harris and Trump's final push before Election Day brings them to the same patch of Pennsylvania

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump made their final pitches to voters Monday in the same parts of Pennsylvania at roughly the same time, focusing on the state that could make or break their chances during the last full day of the presidential...

Harris campaign spends final hours reminding Pennsylvania of a Trump ally's joke about Puerto Rico

READING, Pa. (AP) — The day before Election Day, 17-year-old girl Carmen Hernandez held a cardboard sign with the Puerto Rican flag outside Trump’s rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, a city that is two-thirds Hispanic. “What you call trash is our treasure,” the sign read. ...

Supreme Court will weigh in on new mostly Black Louisiana congressional district, after election

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will take up a new redistricting case involving Louisiana's congressional map with two mostly Black districts. The court won't hear arguments until early next year and the 2024 elections are proceeding under the challenged map,...

ENTERTAINMENT

There's a ton of Hollywood stars on and off Broadway these days. Here's a game you can play

NEW YORK (AP) — There are so many Hollywood stars on New York theater stages or on the way that you might want to level up your stargazing game. Why not play some bingo? Sure, Robert Downey Jr., Daniel Dae Kim, Jim Parsons, Mia Farrow, and Katie Holmes are currently in New York, and...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Nov. 3-9

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Nov. 3-9 Nov. 3: Actor Lois Smith is 94. Actor-radio personality Shadoe Stevens (“Dave’s World”) is 78. Singer Lulu is 76. Actor-comedian Roseanne Barr is 72. Actor Kate Capshaw (“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) is 71. Actor Kathy...

Fourth Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland is set for release July 2026

Tom Holland is getting ready to don his Spidey suit again. The fourth installment of the blockbuster series has been set for a July 2026 release, Sony Pictures said Friday. Daniel Destin Cretton, best known for helming Marvel's “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," has also...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Boeing machinists hold contract vote that could end their 7-week strike

SEATTLE (AP) — The voting has closed for unionized factory workers at Boeing who were deciding Monday whether to...

Belarus' authoritarian ruler will face only token challengers in presidential vote

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus' election commission on Monday allowed seven politicians loyal to President...

Here's what to watch as Election Day approaches in the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day is nearly upon us. In a matter of hours, the final votes in the 2024 presidential...

South Korea and EU worry about Russia's technology transfer in return for North Korea troops

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the European Union on Monday strongly condemned North Korea’s...

Thousands rally again in Georgia to protest the parliamentary election they say was rigged

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied outside Georgia's parliament for the second...

Mexico's National Guard kills 2 Colombians and wounds 4 on a migrant smuggling route near the US

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s National Guard fatally shot two Colombians and wounded four others in what the...

Lisa Loving of The Skanner

As Portland boils with righteous anger over the police killing of a suicidally-despondent man – some in support of the shooting, many outraged by it -- the 631-page police report released this week only adds to the tragic story.

UPDATE: Mayor Sam Adams and Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman Thursday afternoon announced they'll be joining with Black leaders to call for a U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights investigation into the fatal police shooting of Aaron Campbell.
Adams and Saltzman attended the African American Alliance breakfast event held this morning at the American Red Cross office to discuss "next steps" for community organizing around the tragedy.
Saltzman staffer Shannon Callahan confirmed the coalition of elected and community leaders will request a federal investigation into the shooting "and the larger issue of the Portland Police Bureau."
"It's a highly fluid situation," Callahan told The Skanner News.
The official announcement is set for Friday, Feb. 19 at 9:30 at the Northeast Precinct, while at noon another protest march is set for 3 p.m. at Pioneer Courthouse Square to urge Oregon Attorney General John Kroger to launch an investigation into the police shooting of Aaron Campbell.
Kroger had already scheduled a special event Friday Feb. 19 at Portland state University to flesh out his priorities for the state's new Civil Rights Unit, and introduce its new chief, Assistant Attorney General Diane Schwartz.
That event starts at 3:30 p.m., at the Urban Center, Room 250, at Southwest Fifth and Mill Streets.
Rev. Jesse Jackson – who spoke to Portlanders Wednesday night at Marantha Church – inspired a hundreds-strong rally Thursday at noon, protesting Frashour's return to duty. The group stormed City Hall, demanding to speak with Mayor Sam Adams, who met with Campbell family members after a tense confrontation.
Also today the Multnomah County District Attorney released a 454-page transcript of the Grand Jury proceedings into the Campbell shooting, plus a transcript of the 9-1-1 call that triggered the police response and the Medical Examiner's report. Read it here http://www.mcda.us/index.php 
The medical document failed to specify a time of death for Campbell, 25, who did not receive medical attention after being beanbag-gunned, attacked by a German shepherd and shot in the back with an AR-15 rifle.

The Police report was released Tuesday, hours before the Rev. Jesse Jackson met with city officials and addressed a standing-room-only crowd at the Maranatha Church in Northeast Portland, calling Aaron Campbell's death an "execution."
Jackson, criticizing the Police Bureau for allowing Officer Ronald Frashour off desk duty and back to work as a community policing liaison in the East Precinct, called for people to march on City Hall as The Skanner News went to press Wednesday.
A hundreds-strong crowd confronted Mayor Sam Adams, who spoke to the group, then invited the Campbell family into his office for a private meeting before the demonstration broke up.
Also this week, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Jean Kerr Maurer ruled to release the transcripts of the Grand Jury investigation on Campbell's death, which county officials said may be available Thursday, Feb. 18 on the Multnomah County District Attorney's website.
According to the police report, Campbell, shot in the back Jan. 29 after a 90-minute standoff in the parking lot of his girlfriend's apartment complex, had just concluded a successful negotiation with police crisis counselors and agreed via text messages not to hurt himself or anyone else.
However as he exited the apartment, a "containment and custody team" assembled in the dark, rainy parking lot – one officer armed with a "less lethal" bean-bag shotgun, one providing "lethal cover" with an AR-15 rifle, and a "take down" K9 officer/dog team – had not been kept in the loop of negotiation developments, and effectively took matters into their own hands.
While the negotiator, Officer James Quackenbush, established effective – even jocular – rapport with Campbell, eventually persuading him to put away his gun and give himself up, the officers outside say they were "surprised" by Campbell's "sudden" appearance, threatened by his quick movements and "very determined manner."
As word came to the crisis negotiators that Campbell was preparing to exit the apartment, and managing Sgt. Liani Reyna was called away from the scene to report to her two commanding officers, the three officers in the parking lot all three discharged their weapons, leaving Campbell bleeding on the pavement within one minute of closing off negotiations and stepping outside.
The "involved" officers, Ryan Lewton, Ronald Frashour, and Jeff Elias, refused to be interviewed by investigators on the night of the incident, and only gave their testimony with their lawyers present on Feb. 1.
Frashour, who fired the fatal shot, told investigators he was focused on his tactical role as "lethal cover," and didn't hear all the commands given to Campbell by Lewton, who appears to have set the final situation in motion by issuing commands that Campbell followed at first.
When, as Lewton testified, Campbell didn't put his hands up over his head as he was commanded to do, Lewton fired a bean bag "into his rear end" to "gain compliance." Lewton said he kept issuing commands and shooting the bean bags, hitting Campbell with every shot.
Within seconds – as Elias' dog Bono barked loudly – Campbell started running back toward the apartment.
While police witnesses differ on the final seconds, at about the time the bean bags were being shot in rapid succession, Elias loosed his dog on Campbell, and a few seconds later Frashour fired one shot, taking Campbell down just before the dog attacked.
Elias testified that he could hear the dog biting Campbell, but he couldn't hear Campbell making any sound. Elias said he had to remind the other officers that his dog was still "on" Campbell, and since the other officers couldn't decide what to do, he called the dog back.
Nevertheless, after he was shot, officers believed Campbell was potentially armed and dangerous and under cover of a vehicle, they said, and so for more than 20 minutes, no one approached Campbell to find out whether he was alive.
The police report confirms that Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) officers approached Campbell after he was shot, using a shield, and handcuffed his hands behind his back but never provided any medical assistance.
Multiple witnesses say officers called out to Campbell where he lay, commanding him to move his feet, but that it appeared he did not move at all.
A medical examiner's report the next day determined Campbell died from the single gunshot wound to the back.
He had multiple wounds from the bean bags and dog bites on this lower right leg.
The police file does not include the autopsy report and, while large sections of the Medical Examiner's report are blacked out, does not offer a time of death.
"Officer Frashour knew suicidal persons can be irrational, unpredictable, hostile and homicidal," the police report said. "Officer Frashour said his first thought was what needed to be done to protect the children."

 

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