11-21-2024  11:18 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

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 ...

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" ...

Major storm drops record rain, downs trees in Northern California after devastation further north

FORESTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A major storm moving through Northern California on Thursday toppled trees and dropped heavy snow and record amounts of rain after damaging homes, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in the Pacific Northwest. Forecasters...

Judge keeps death penalty a possibility for man charged in killings of 4 Idaho students

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The death penalty will remain a possibility for a man charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, a judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Steven Hippler was not swayed by legal arguments made by Bryan Kohberger’s defense team to...

No. 19 South Carolina looks to keep its momentum and win its fifth straight when it faces Wofford

Wofford (5-6) at No. 19 South Carolina (7-3), Saturday, 4 p.m. EST (ESPN+/SECN+) BetMGM College Football Odds: No line. Series history: South Carolina leads 20-4. What’s at stake? South Carolina, which finished its SEC season at 5-3, wants...

Pacific visits Missouri following Fisher's 23-point game

Pacific Tigers (3-3) at Missouri Tigers (3-1) Columbia, Missouri; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Pacific visits Missouri after Elijah Fisher scored 23 points in Pacific's 91-72 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Missouri finished 8-24 overall with a 6-11...

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

New study shows voting for Native Americans is harder than ever

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (AP) — A new study has found that systemic barriers to voting on tribal lands contribute to substantial disparities in Native American turnout, particularly for presidential elections. The study, released Tuesday by the Brennan Center for Justice, looked at 21...

St. Louis was once known as Mound City for its many Native American mounds. Just one remains

ST. LOUIS (AP) — What is now St. Louis was once home to more than 100 mounds constructed by Native Americans — so many that St. Louis was once known as “Mound City.” Settlers tore most of them down, and just one remains. Now, that last remaining earthen structure, Sugarloaf...

New Zealanders are banned from displaying gang symbols as a new law takes effect

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A ban on New Zealanders wearing or displaying symbols of gang affiliation in public took effect on Thursday, with police officers making their first arrest for a breach of the law three minutes later. The man was driving with gang insignia displayed on...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Brazilian police indict former President Bolsonaro and aides in alleged 2022 coup attempt

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police said Thursday they indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36...

Pope warns the Vatican pension fund needs urgent reform as employees demand transparency

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis, who has imposed a series of cost-cutting measures across the cash-strapped Vatican,...

Major storm drops record rain, downs trees in Northern California after devastation further north

FORESTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A major storm moving through Northern California on Thursday toppled trees and...

Police in Finland arrest five suspects over separatist violence in southeast Nigeria

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Police in Finland said Thursday they had detained five suspects in connection with...

Shares in India's Adani Group plunge 20% after US bribery, fraud indictments

NEW DELHI (AP) — One of Asia’s richest men, Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, is again in the spotlight. His...

4 for a coffee? Scottish farm is selling UK's most expensive cup

LONDON (AP) — It's an enormous price to pay for a little cup of coffee, but the man behind the pitch promises it...

Jennifer C. Kerr the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A majority of baby boomers say they have taken a financial hit in the past three years and most now doubt that they will be financially secure after they retire, according to a new poll.

So much for kicking back at the lake house, long afternoons of golf or pretty much anything this generation had dreamed about in retirement. The Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll found a baby boom generation planning to work into retirement years - with 73 percent planning to work past retirement, up from 67 percent this spring.

In all, 53 percent of boomers polled said they do not feel confident they'll be able to afford a comfortable retirement. That's up from 44 percent who were concerned about retirement finances in March.

"I'm not confident at all," says 63-year-old Susan Webb of West Liberty, Iowa.

Webb - one of the 77 million boomers born between 1946 and 1964 - had long hoped to retire at 65 from her job as a real estate broker. Not anymore, not since the economic downturn that led to depressed housing prices, wild stock market swings and an unemployment rate hovering at or above 9 percent for all but two months since May 2009.

Webb and her husband, who's 67, are both still working full time. They hope to ratchet back to part time at some point, but plans for a scenic lake house where they can go fishing and spend time with their two grandchildren will likely mean selling their current home - not part of the original plan.

At 50, Cheri Hubbs of Norfolk, Va., is on the younger side of the boomer spectrum. Even so, she knows she'll work in retirement.

"I just feel like I'm going to work until the day I die," says Hubbs, an administrative assistant.

Hubbs had little saved for retirement when she went to see a financial planner a few years ago. Now, she and her husband are socking away as much money as they can. She's also cut back drastically on her little luxuries - trips to the nail salon and Starbucks.

In the poll, 41 percent of boomers said they are expecting to have to scale back their lifestyle in some way in retirement and 31 percent believe they will struggle financially.

Retirement expert Olivia Mitchell says working longer and cutting back are two practical ways for boomers to save more.

"It's a kind of downscaled consumer society that I see in the next five years at least," said Mitchell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and executive director of the Pension Research Council. "Consume less and tighten the belt."

Downsizing is part of the plan for software designer Greg Schmidt of Carlisle, Mass.

Schmidt, 53, says there's no doubt he'll be working longer, likely into his 70s. With a daughter in high school and twin 12-year-old boys, he's got college tuitions to worry about as well as an aging father and father-in-law.

He plans one day to move to a smaller home, maybe in the mountains of Vermont. Almost one-quarter of boomers in the poll - 23 percent - said retirement will mean they'll have to move.

For Schmidt, the stock market is another source of anxiety.

"I am most concerned that we're going to be entering a different time and equities aren't quite as valued," he said. "I am afraid I'm a little heavy into equities."

The span between the two AP-LifeGoesStrong.com polls coincided with a 10 percent drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, which recovered most of those losses by climbing this week to above 12,000 before plunging again amid concerns about Europe's debt crisis.

In all, 62 percent of the boomers polled lost money on at least one of four core parts of retirement savings:

-A workplace retirement savings plan, 42 percent.

-Personal investments outside of an IRA/workplace savings, 41 percent.

-An IRA (individual retirement account), 32 percent.

-Real estate, 29 percent.

The AP-LifeGoesStrong.com poll was conducted Oct. 5-12 by Knowledge Networks of Palo Alto, Calif. It involved online interviews with 1,095 baby boomers, as well as companion interviews with an additional 315 adults of other age groups. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points for baby boomers and 4.8 percentage points for all adults.

Knowledge Networks used traditional telephone and mail sampling methods to randomly recruit respondents. People selected who had no Internet access were given it for free.

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AP Polling Director Trevor Tompson, Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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Online:

Poll results: http://surveys.ap.org

LifeGoesStrong.com: http://family.lifegoesstrong.com/bad-economics-midlifers-push-back-their-retirement-date-again

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