07-08-2024  8:00 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Records Shatter as Heatwave Threatens 130 million Across U.S. 

Roughly 130 million people are under threat from a long-running heat wave that already has broken records with dangerously high temperatures and is expected to shatter more inot next week from the Pacific Northwest to the Mid-Alantic states and the Northeast. Forecasters say temperatures could spike above 100 degrees in Oregon, where records could be broken in cities such as Eugene, Portland and Salem

Cascadia AIDS Project Opens Inclusive Health Care Clinic in Eliot Neighborhood

Prism Morris will provide gender-affirming care, mental health and addiction services and primary care.

Summer Classes, Camps and Experiences for Portland Teens

Although registration for a number of local programs has closed, it’s not too late: We found an impressive list of no-cost and low-cost camps, classes and other experiences to fill your teen’s summer break.

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. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Local Photographer Announces Re-Release of Her Book

Kelly Ruthe Johnson, a nationally recognized photographer and author based in Portland, Oregon, has announced the re-release of her...

Multnomah County Daytime Cooling Centers Will Open Starting Noon Friday, July 5

Amid dangerous heat, three daytime cooling centers open. ...

Pier Pool Closed Temporarily for Major Repairs

North Portland outdoor pool has a broken water line; crews looking into repairs ...

Music on Main Returns for Its 17th Year

Free outdoor concerts in downtown Portland Wednesdays, July 10–August 28 ...

Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care Marks One Year Anniversary

New agency reflects on progress and evolves strategies to meet early care needs ...

Searing heat wave grips large parts of the US and causes deaths in the West

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — After causing deaths and shattering records in the West over the weekend, a long-running heat wave will again grip the U.S. on Monday, with hot temperatures also predicted for large parts of the East Coast and the South. The dangerous temperatures caused...

Persistent heat wave in the US shatters new records, causes deaths in the West and grips the East

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the U.S. persisted on Sunday, baking parts of the West with dangerous temperatures that caused the death of a motorcyclist in Death Valley and held the East in its hot and humid grip. An...

Missouri governor says new public aid plan in the works for Chiefs, Royals stadiums

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday that he expects the state to put together an aid plan by the end of the year to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from being lured across state lines to new stadiums in Kansas. Missouri's renewed efforts...

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...

OPINION

Minding the Debate: What’s Happening to Our Brains During Election Season

The June 27 presidential debate is the real start of the election season, when more Americans start to pay attention. It’s when partisan rhetoric runs hot and emotions run high. It’s also a chance for us, as members of a democratic republic. How? By...

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. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Scorched by history: Discriminatory past shapes heat waves in minority and low-income neighborhoods

NEW YORK (AP) — Ruben Berrios knows the scorching truth: When it comes to extreme heat, where you live can be a matter of life and death. The 66-year-old lives in Mott Haven, a low-income neighborhood in New York’s South Bronx, where more than 90 percent of residents are Latino or...

The plane is ready, the fundraisers are booked: Trump's VP search comes down to its last days

NEW YORK (AP) — The future Republican vice presidential candidate's plane is currently parked in an undisclosed hangar, an empty spot on its fuselage for where a decal featuring his or her name will soon be placed. Fundraisers have been planned. All that's left: an...

Essence Festival wraps up a 4-day celebration of Black culture

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For 30 years, the Essence Festival of Culture has brought together people from all walks of life and from around the world to connect through conversation, shared experiences and, of course, music. The nation’s largest annual celebration of Black culture ended...

ENTERTAINMENT

Veronika Slowikowska worked toward making it as an actor for years. Then she went viral

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Veronika Slowikowska graduated from college in 2015, she did what conventional wisdom says aspiring actors should do: Work odd jobs to pay the bills while auditioning for commercials and background roles, hoping you eventually make it. And although the...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of July 7-13

Celebrity birthdays for the week of July 7-13: July 7: Bandleader Doc Severinsen is 97. Drummer Ringo Starr is 84. Singer-guitarist Warren Entner of the Grass Roots is 81. Actor Joe Spano is 78. Singer David Hodo (the construction worker) of The Village People is 77. Country singer...

No shield required: 'Captain America' star Anthony Mackie's own super power is swimming with sharks

When National Geographic approached Anthony Mackie with an opportunity to swim with sharks to kick off its SharkFest programming, it was an easy yes for the Marvel star who is the new Captain America. The water, says Mackie, is a “safe space” where he “can just tune everybody...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Searing heat wave grips large parts of the US and causes deaths in the West

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — After causing deaths and shattering records in the West over the weekend, a...

June sizzles to 13th straight monthly heat record. String may end soon, but dangerous heat won't

Earth's more than year-long streak of record-shattering hot months kept on simmering through June, according to...

Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza City in pursuit of militants. Thousands flee again

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip's largest city in pursuit of...

South Korea abandons plan to suspend licenses of striking doctors to resolve medical impasse

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's government announced Monday it will abandon its plan to suspend the...

Leaders across Europe express relief mixed with concern about the French election result

BERLIN (AP) — Leaders across Europe reacted with relief but also some concern to the result of the French...

Is it a hurricane or a tropical storm? Here's a breakdown of extreme weather terms

Hurricane Beryl is barreling through Texas Monday after devastating parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. ...

Mike Mount CNN

(CNN) -- More prisoners have joined a hunger strike at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The number of suspected terrorists involved has risen to 24 as of Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale said.

There were 14 last week. U.S. military officials deny detainee lives are in danger.

Breasseale said eight require feeding tubes that are administered through the mouth.

There are 166 suspected terrorists being held at the detention facility.

"The medical staff continuously monitors and provides outstanding medical care to detainees in our custody," Breasseale said.

"The health and well-being of detainees is their primary mission and they take this duty as seriously as they would a duty to treat our own service members or any patient in their care," he said.

Beginning last year through mid-February, between five and six detainees started and stopped hunger strikes, Breasseale said.

But the numbers grew after lawyers for some of the detainees drew attention to conditions at the facility, Breasseale said.

"The reports of hunger-strike related deteriorating health and detainees losing massive amounts of weight are simply untrue," Breasseale said.

David Remes, a Washington-based lawyer who represents 15 detainees at Guantanamo, said his February visit shocked him.

"I think every one of the clients I saw had lost 30 pounds or more when I was there," Remes said. "They were weak and chilled."

Remes said two of his clients were unable to meet because they were too weak from their hunger strike. He said he knows that at least six of his clients are participating.

He said his clients told him the strikes were "the last straw" in response to what was described as more intrusive treatment in recent months.

For instance, his clients were unhappy with an early February search of detainee personal items and an intent to search Korans, something that had stopped in 2006.

"It is incredibly insulting to Islam as far as these men are concerned, most of whom are very devout Muslims, and it seems to be solely to demonstrate the administration's (Guantanamo commanders) power and not on a justification basis," Remes said.

He said checking Korans pushed them toward the hunger strike but other incidents stoked their anger.

In one last January, a guard in a watch tower shot at a group of detainees who had gathered to complain about another issue.

"Rarely does what is relayed to defense counsel by the detainees, which some members of the defense council then dutifully take to the press, match with reality," Breasseale said in response.

"This is another example of myth-making by the detainees. Only after detainees attempted to climb the fence and then hurled stones at the guards in the tower, was a single shot fired and only after reasonable cause, was a cell ever searched," according to Breasseale.

Last Thursday, Remes and more than 50 other lawyers who represent detainees at Guantanamo wrote to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, complaining that they have been receiving reports by detainees that the, "health of the men has continued to deteriorate in alarming and potentially irreparable ways."

The letter asks Hagel to meet with the lawyers to work out a solution.