09-20-2024  1:32 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Governor Kotek Uses New Land Use Law to Propose Rural Land for Semiconductor Facility

Oregon is competing against other states to host multibillion-dollar microchip factories. A 2023 state law created an exemption to the state's hallmark land use policy aimed at preventing urban sprawl and protecting nature and agriculture.

Accusations of Dishonesty Fly in Debate Between Washington Gubernatorial Hopefuls

Washington state’s longtime top prosecutor and a former sheriff known for his work hunting down a notorious serial killer have traded accusations of lying to voters during their gubernatorial debate. It is the first time in more than a decade that the Democratic stronghold state has had an open race for its top job, with Gov. Jay Inslee not seeking reelection.

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.

NEWS BRIEFS

St. Johns Library to Close Oct. 11 to Begin Renovation and Expansion

Construction will modernize space while maintaining historic Carnegie building ...

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...

Takeaways from AP’s story on the role of the West in widespread fraud with South Korean adoptions

Western governments eagerly approved and even pushed for the adoption of South Korean children for decades, despite evidence that adoption agencies were aggressively competing for kids, pressuring mothers and bribing hospitals, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. ...

Western nations were desperate for Korean babies. Now many adoptees believe they were stolen

Yooree Kim marched into a police station in Paris and told an officer she wanted to report a crime. Forty years ago, she said, she was kidnapped from the other side of the world, and the French government endorsed it. She wept as she described years spent piecing it together, stymied...

No. 7 Missouri, fresh off win over Boston College, opens SEC play against Vanderbilt

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Vanderbilt and Missouri both got wake-up calls last week, albeit much different ones. The Commodores got the worst kind: one that ended with a loss on a last-minute touchdown by Georgia State, preventing them from getting off to a 3-0 start for the first time...

Vanderbilt heads to seventh-ranked Missouri as both begin SEC play

Vanderbilt (2-1) at No. 7 Missouri, Saturday, 4:15 p.m. ET (SEC) BetMGM College Football Odds: Missouri by 21. Series record: Missouri leads 11-4-1. WHAT’S AT STAKE? Vanderbilt and Missouri begin SEC play after wildly different results in...

OPINION

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

This month, Albina Head Start filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to defend itself against a misapplied rule that could force the program – and all the children it serves – to lose federal funding. ...

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

French cult film 'La Haine' returns as hip-hop musical with tensions persisting in poor suburbs

Watching “La Haine” nearly 30 years ago, there was a sense of something inexorable about violence in the French suburbs. French director Mathieu Kassovitz’s critically acclaimed black-and-white film opens with video images of news footage of urban riots. The film then follows...

Trump vows to be 'best friend' to Jewish Americans, as allegations of ally's antisemitism surface

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday decried antisemitism hours after an explosive CNN report detailed how one of his allies running for North Carolina governor made a series of racial and sexual comments on a website where he also referred to himself as a “black...

Rwanda begins vaccinations against mpox amid a call for more doses for Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Rwanda has started a vaccination campaign against mpox with 1,000 doses of the vaccine it obtained from Nigeria under an agreement between the two countries, the African health agency said Thursday. The vaccinations started Tuesday targeting seven districts...

ENTERTAINMENT

After docs about Taylor Swift and Brooke Shields, filmmaker turns her camera to NYC psychics

Filmmaker Lana Wilson had never thought much about psychics. But the morning after Election Day in 2016, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, she found herself drawn towards a sign that promised “ psychic readings” and wandered in. Much to her surprise, she found it to be a rather...

Book Review: Raymond Antrobus transitions into fatherhood in his poetry collection 'Signs, Music'

Becoming a parent is life changing. Raymond Antrobus’ third poetry collection, “Signs, Music," captures this transformation as he conveys his own transition into fatherhood. The book is split between before and after, moving from the hope and trepidation of shepherding a new life...

Wife of Jane's Addiction frontman says tension and animosity led to onstage scuffle

BOSTON (AP) — A scuffle between members of the groundbreaking alternative rock band Jane’s Addiction came amid “tension and animosity” during their reunion tour, lead singer Perry Farrell’s wife said Saturday. The band is known for edgy, punk-inspired hits “Been Caught...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Hezbollah leader vows retaliation against Israel for attacks on devices as both sides trade strikes

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Hezbollah vowed Thursday to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week's...

The FBI says Iran tried to send hacked files to Democrats. It's another sign of foreign meddling

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the FBI said this week that Iran had tried to provide Democrats with material stolen from...

Justice Department opens civil rights probe of sheriff's office after torture of 2 Black men

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into a Mississippi...

UK leader Starmer is facing flak for taking freebies. He says he's done nothing wrong

LONDON (AP) — Less than three months after he was elected on a promise to restore trust in politics, British...

Takeaways from AP’s story on the role of the West in widespread fraud with South Korean adoptions

Western governments eagerly approved and even pushed for the adoption of South Korean children for decades,...

Flood-hit regions in Central Europe will get billions in EU aid

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday pledged billions of euros in aid for...

Lisa Loving of The Skanner

Portland Police today released their report on alleged sexual abuse in 2006 by former Vice President Al Gore against a massage therapist in a downtown Portland luxury hotel.
The story, which was broken this week by the National Enquirer, has also been investigated by the Portland Tribune, which filed a records request with the police bureau to obtain the documents released Wednesday.
The identity of the massage therapist has not been revealed. It appears that the alleged incident took place as Gore was touring the country with a slideshow about global warming – which eventually grew into the Academy Award-winning film, "An Inconvenient Truth."
The story has particular resonance because Gore and his wife of many years, Tipper, split up this spring -- amid much speculation that their relationship was a solid counterpoint of fidelity compared to that of former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hilary.
The records show that Gore was investigated by the Portland Police sexual assault detail, but that the alleged victim declined to be interviewed by officers until January of last year.
Read the Portland Police report about the alleged sexual abuse here

Police officials released this statement at 4 p.m. Wednesday:

A national tabloid magazine has published a story discussing allegations made by a Portland woman against former Vice President Al Gore. The Portland Police Bureau does not generally disclose information regarding sex crimes, as they are deemed confidential. However, because of the high-profile nature of this case and the fact that the woman involved provided reports to a media outlet, we will provide the following information:
In December 2006, a local attorney contacted the Portland Police Bureau and said he had a client that wanted to report an unwanted sexual contact by Mr. Gore. This allegation stemmed from an incident on October 24, 2006, when the woman involved, a Licensed Massage Therapist, was called to a local hotel to provide a massage to Mr. Gore.
After repeated attempts by Portland Police Detectives to interview the woman involved, the Police Bureau was told by her attorney in January 2007, that they were pursuing civil litigation and declined the assistance of the Portland Police Bureau's Detective Division. A special report was written and the case was exceptionally cleared—a standard procedure when the person involved declines to talk to police. The District Attorney's Office was consulted during this time.
On January 6, 2009, the woman involved came to the Detective Division and explained that she would like to give a statement. On January 8, 2009, a Detective and a victim advocate assigned to the Sexual Assault Detail met with the woman. The woman read from a prepared statement and detailed the events of October 24, 2006. She reported that she was repeatedly subjected to unwanted sexual touching while in his presence.
The woman reported that she still had clothes that she had worn during the encounter. But due to the description she gave of the incident, detectives did not collect the clothes as evidence because they did not feel there was any evidentiary value to the clothing.
After interviewing the woman, the Police Bureau provided additional services per the victim advocate program. The case was not investigated any further because detectives concluded there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
In June 2010, the woman involved contacted Detectives and asked for a copy of her statement, which she was given. She then asked if she could edit her statement and was told she could provide detectives with additional clarifications that would be added to her original report. She also advised that she was going to take the case to the media.
The District Attorney's Office has a copy of the reports. At this point, the Police Bureau does not consider this an ongoing investigation unless new evidence is received in this case.
The Police Bureau is releasing the redacted reports concurrent with this news release. In 2007, the Police Bureau released the initial special report regarding the incident after it received a public records request by the Portland Tribune.