06-26-2024  1:33 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Parts of Washington State Parental Rights Law Criticized as a ‘Forced Outing’ Placed on Hold

A provision outlining how and when schools must respond to records requests from parents was placed on hold, as well as a provision permitting a parent to access their student’s medical and mental health records. 

Seattle Police Officer Fired for off-Duty Racist Comments

The termination stemmed from an altercation with his neighbor, Zhen Jin, over the disposal of dog bones at the condominium complex where they lived in Kenmore. The Seattle Office of Police Accountability had recommended a range of disciplinary actions, from a 30-day suspension to termination of employment.

New Holgate Library to Open in July

Grand opening celebration begins July 13 with ribbon cutting, food, music, fun

Nurses in Oregon Take to the Picket Lines to Demand Better Staffing, Higher Pay

The Oregon Nurses Association says they're seeking a contract that includes competitive wages and sufficient staffing levels. The CEO of Providence Oregon says they’ve been preparing for the strike for months and have contracted with replacement workers to ensure patient care does not suffer. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Art Exhibit 'Feeling Our Age-Sixty Over Sixty' Opens

The exhibition runs through mid-August, 1540 NW 13th Ave. at NW Quimby. ...

PCCEP Forum on Brain Injuries, Policing, and Public Safety

This Wednesday, June 26, 6-8:30 p.m. in person at The Melody Event Center ...

Tiffani Penson to Kick Off Her Campaign for Portland City Council, District 2

Host Committee Includes Former State Senators Margaret Carter and Avel Gordly ...

Calling All Nonfiction Media Makers: Real to Reel is June 29

Join Open Signal for a day of collaboration and opportunity with Portland's community of nonfiction media makers. ...

Governor Kotek Observes Juneteenth

Governor Kotek joins Oregon Black Pioneers, Just Walk Salem Keizer and the Willamette Heritage Center for In Freedom’s Footsteps...

Gusty winds help spread fast growing central Oregon wildfire and prompt evacuations

LA PINE, Oregon (AP) — Gusty winds fueled a rapidly growing wildfire just outside the central Oregon community of La Pine and prompted evacuations Tuesday. The fire was estimated to be 2.7 square miles (6.9 square kilometers) in size Tuesday night, Central Oregon Fire Information...

Town in Washington state to pay million to parents of 13-year-old who drowned at summer camp

SEATTLE (AP) — A town in Washington state will pay the parents of a teenage boy million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit they filed after he drowned during a town summer camp outing. Darrell “DJ” McCutcheon, Jr., disappeared under water in Florence Lake on Anderson Island...

Kansas governor signs bills enabling effort to entice Chiefs and Royals with new stadiums

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' governor signed legislation Friday enabling the state to lure the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Major League Baseball's Royals away from neighboring Missouri by helping the teams pay for new stadiums. Gov. Laura Kelly's action came three days...

A Missouri mayor says a fight over jobs is back on. Things to know about Kansas wooing the Chiefs

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A plan in Kansas for luring the Kansas City's two major league sports franchises from Missouri has prompted their hometown's mayor to declare that the move ends a 5-year-old agreement by the states not to poach each other's jobs. The Kansas Legislature has...

OPINION

State of the Nation’s Housing 2024: The Cost of the American Dream Jumped 47 Percent Since 2020

Only 1 in 7 renters can afford homeownership, homelessness at an all-time high ...

Juneteenth is a Sacred American Holiday

Today, when our history is threatened by erasure, our communities are being dismantled by systemic disinvestment, Juneteenth can serve as a rallying cry for communal healing and collective action. ...

Supreme Court Says 'Yes” to Consumer Protection, "No" to Payday Lenders 7-2 Decision Upholds CFPB’s Funding

A recent 7-2 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court gave consumers a long-sought victory that ended more than a decade of challenges over the constitutionality of the agency created to be the nation’s financial cop on the beat. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Julian Assange says he broke US law by encouraging classified leaks, but says the law violates free-speech rights

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AP) — Julian Assange says he broke US law by encouraging classified leaks, but says the law violates free-speech rights....

A co-founder of the embattled venture capital firm Fearless Fund has stepped down as operating chief

NEW YORK (AP) — One of the co-founders of an Atlanta-based venture capital firm that supports women of color has stepped down as chief operating officer as the company battles a lawsuit that has become emblematic of a conservative backlash against corporate diversity programs. Ayana...

Top European rights court says Russia responsible for breaching rights in Crimea after 2014 takeover

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Europe's top human rights court ruled Tuesday that Russia was responsible for a string of human rights violations in Crimea since overrunning and later illegally annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014. The European Court of Human Rights said in a...

ENTERTAINMENT

Music Review: Concert album from the Tomasz Stanko Quartet explains the jazz lineup’s staying power

Jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stanko ’s first notes on the new album "September Night,” dark and slightly distant, sound as though they’re coming from the hereafter. Stanko died in 2018, and his new album is a previously unreleased recording of a 2004 concert by his quartet. Along with...

Music Review: Linda Thompson’s family and friends sing her songs on 'Proxy Music'

Linda Thompson, who ranks among the finest singers of her generation, hardly sings a note on “Proxy Music," her first album in over a decade. Instead, Thompson makes herself heard through her songwriting. She’s often remembered for music she made with Richard Thompson, including...

Musical 'From Here' explores life before and after the Pulse nightclub massacre

NEW YORK (AP) — Playwright Donald Rupe didn't intend to write a musical about the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida. What he wanted to write about was his friends. But the more he dug into it, the more he returned to his hometown's 2016 trauma. “The Pulse connection...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Illinois man accused in mass shooting at Fourth of July parade expected to change not-guilty plea

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A man accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens more at a Fourth of July parade...

Long-vacant storefront that once housed part of the Stonewall Inn reclaims place in LGBTQ+ history

NEW YORK (AP) — It was half of the Stonewall Inn, the gay dive bar where a 1969 police raid became a landmark...

Baby cousin with cancer inspires girls to sew hospital gowns for sick kids across U.S. and Africa

FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — Fighting brain cancer, little Giada Demma was lying in her pediatric hospital bed, her...

Canada's Liberals suffer major upset in Toronto special election, raising doubts about Trudeau

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party has suffered a major upset in a special...

Suspected Houthi attack targets a ship in the Gulf of Aden, while Iraq-claimed attack targets Eilat

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Suspected attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels early Wednesday targeted a ship in...

Anti-tax protesters storm Kenya's parliament, drawing police fire as president vows to quash unrest

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Thousands of protesters stormed Kenya’s parliament Tuesday to protest tax proposals,...

Pluria Marshall
Pluria Marshall, Jr.

Federal regulators on Thursday approved the sale of two FOX TV affiliates to longtime media executive Pluria Marshall Jr., president and CEO of Houston-based Marshall Broadcasting Group (MBG).

Marshall, also publisher of Wave Publications Group in Los Angeles, will acquire Fox affiliates KPEJ-TV in Odessa, Texas and KMSS-TV in Shreveport, La., officials from the Federal Communications Commission announced.

FCC officials approved the sale of KLJB in Quad Cities/Davenport, Iowa to Marshall Broadcasting last month. The three stations are part of a $58.5 million purchase agreement between Marshall Broadcasting and Nexstar.

The license transfer to Marshall Broadcasting was one of several approved transactions that will result in 10 new minority- and women-owned stations, FCC officials said. Thursday’s approval makes Marshall Broadcasting one of the largest minority owners of full-power, commercial TV stations in the nation.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said the license transfers announced Thursday represent an important step in fulfilling the FCC’s commitment to incubate broadcast station ownership by minority-owned companies.

“Increasing minority ownership of television broadcast stations has been an often-stated, but elusive goal,” they said in a statement released Thursday. “While there is widespread agreement on the need for progress, there has been very little by way of new ideas to solve the twin problems of access and opportunity.

“With the Media Bureau’s approval of several transactions today, however, we see the emergence of new ownership models that will not only bring more independent voices to the station ownership ranks in a manner that promotes diversity, competition, and localism,” the statement read.

Perry A. Sook, chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer of Nexstar Broadcasting Group, has said that the transactions complements Nexstar’s strategic focus on localism, including expanded local news, sports and other programming.

He said, “The MBG transaction serves as a model to increase media ownership diversity while extending Nexstar’s long-term, well-documented initiatives to serve the public interests and needs of local viewers, hometown businesses, and organizations in the markets where we operate.

“As a result of this approval, Nexstar will lead the industry in incubating a new, minority-controlled entrant to broadcasting and bringing additional news, information and specialized programming to markets where MBG will operate.”

Marshall, president and CEO of MBG, said he is “delighted to secure the approval from the FCC and the support of Nexstar” as the two companies seek to diversify the ownership of media assets among minority operators.

“We applaud the FCC for its forward-thinking approach to providing appropriate guidelines and structure that enable new entrants to own, operate and program television stations,” Marshall has said.

The Texas native also said he looks forward to playing an active role in the three communities his stations serves while “developing minority-oriented public affairs programming that will air on MBG stations and be syndicated to other television stations nationwide.”

The three Marshall Broadcasting acquisitions have been endorsed by several media monitors and by members of the Congressional Black Caucus because they would significantly boost the number of Black-owned TV stations in America, provide broader career options for Blacks in television and create an opportunity for more diverse and increased local programming in broadcasting.

Wheeler said Thursday’s approvals represent “clear-eyed market-based solutions to the longstanding challenge of low minority broadcast ownership.”

“We look forward to the continued expansion of minority ownership of broadcast stations and invite the participation of all stakeholders in working toward this goal,” the statement said.

Before the recent approvals, only a handful of the nation’s 1,300-plus full-power, commercial TV stations were Black-owned, officials say. The other transactions approved Thursday include:

  • WEVV-TV, Evansville, Indiana to DuJuan McCoy, CEO of Bayou City Broadcasting Evansville, Inc.
  • WMMP(TV), Charleston, South Carolina, WCFT(TV), Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and WJSU-TV, Anniston, Alabama to Howard Stirk Holdings, LCC, which is owned and controlled by Armstrong Williams.
  • KJCT(TV), Grand Junction, CO, KXJB(TV), Valley City, ND, KAQY(TV), Columbia, LA, and KNHL(TV), Hastings, NE to MMTC Media and Telecom Brokers, the brokerage arm of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council.