11-17-2024  9:54 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

Trump Was Elected; What Now? Black Community Organizers on What’s Next

The Skanner spoke with two seasoned community leaders about how local activism can counter national panic. 

Family of Security Guard Shot and Killed at Portland Hospital Sues Facility for $35M

The family of Bobby Smallwood argue that Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center failed to enforce its policies against violence and weapons in the workplace by not responding to staff reports of threats in the days before the shooting.

In Portland, Political Outsider Keith Wilson Elected Mayor After Homelessness-focused Race

Wilson, a Portland native and CEO of a trucking company, ran on an ambitious pledge to end unsheltered homelessness within a year of taking office.

NEWS BRIEFS

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" ...

Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11: Honoring a Legacy of Loyalty and Service and Expanding Benefits for Washington Veterans

Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) is pleased to share the Veterans Day Proclamation and highlight the various...

More logging is proposed to help curb wildfires in the US Pacific Northwest

U.S. officials would allow increased logging on federal lands across the Pacific Northwest in the name of fighting wildfires and boosting rural economies under proposed changes to a sweeping forest management plan that’s been in place for three decades. The U.S. Forest Service...

AP Top 25: Oregon is the unanimous No. 1 team again; Georgia is back in top 10 and LSU out of Top 25

Oregon remained the unanimous No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll Sunday after its close call at Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Alabama each jumped up two spots and Georgia returned to the top 10. LSU is unranked for the first time in two years. The unbeaten...

Cal Poly visits Eastern Washington after Cook's 24-point game

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-2) at Eastern Washington Eagles (1-2) Cheney, Washington; Sunday, 7 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Eagles -6.5; over/under is 157.5 BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Washington hosts Cal Poly after Andrew Cook scored 24 points in Eastern...

Sellers throws career-high 5 TD passes, No. 23 South Carolina beats No. 24 Missouri 34-30

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer got a text recently from an SEC rival coach impressed with freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers. “You've got ‘Superman’ back there,” the message read, Beamer said. Sellers may not be the “Man of...

OPINION

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. ...

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...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Australian senate censures Indigenous lawmaker who yelled at King Charles III

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian senators on Monday voted to censure an Indigenous colleague who yelled at King Charles III during a reception in Parliament House last month. The censure of independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe is a symbolic gesture that records her colleagues’...

Justice Department demands records from Illinois sheriff after July killing of Black woman

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the shooting of an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff's deputy as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities. The...

From New Jersey to Hawaii, Trump made inroads in surprising places in his path to the White House

TOTOWA, N.J. (AP) — Patrons at Murph's Tavern are toasting not just Donald Trump's return to the presidency but the fact that he carried their northern New Jersey county, a longtime Democratic stronghold in the shadow of New York City. To Maria Russo, the woman pouring the drinks,...

ENTERTAINMENT

Ethan Slater landing the role of Boq in 'Wicked' has an element of magic to it

You could say that Ethan Slater's yellow brick road to getting cast in the big screen adaptation of “Wicked” had an element of magic to it. On the day he was asked to submit a tape of himself for the role of Boq, Slater was playing the part of actor Christopher Fitzgerald's...

On the eve of Oscars honor, James Bond producers reflect on legacy and future of 007

For the late James Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, receiving the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award was a true high point in his career. He said as much accepting the prize, a non-competitive honorary Oscar, at the Academy Awards in 1982. Roger Moore presented it to him...

Movie Review: A luminous slice of Mumbai life in ‘All We Imagine as Light’

The rhythms of bustling, working-class Mumbai are brought to vivid life in “All We Imagine as Light.” The stunning narrative debut of filmmaker Payal Kapadia explores the lives of three women in the city whose existence is mostly transit and work. Even that isn’t always enough to get by and...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Russia launches one of its fiercest missile and drone attacks at Ukraine's infrastructure

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian strike on a nine-story building in the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine killed...

Wildfire threat continues in much of the US Northeast as dry conditions persist

Firefighters in New York said Sunday that a voluntary evacuation overnight helped them protect more than 160 homes...

French farmers mobilize for protests over EU-Mercosur trade deal

PARIS (AP) — French farmers are mobilizing for widespread protests called Monday targeting the EU-Mercosur trade...

Putin critics lead a march in Berlin calling for democracy in Russia and an end to war in Ukraine

BERLIN (AP) — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin...

Latest typhoon lashes the Philippines, causing tidal surges and displacing massive numbers of people

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful typhoon wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds...

Gabon votes yes on new constitution a year after the military seized power

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Voters in Gabon overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, authorities said Sunday,...

Bill Mears CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal civil rights law that has stood for generations needs to be modernized, the Supreme Court effectively ruled Tuesday.

In a 5-4 vote, justices limited the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Congress passed during the height of America's volatile civil rights movement.

The court struck down a part of the law that uses a federal formula to determine which states and counties must undergo U.S. oversight of their voting procedures to prevent voter discrimination.

The ruling will make it tougher for the Obama administration to enforce the law, at least until Congress changes it.

Describing the ruling as a "setback," President Obama said in a statement that his "administration will continue to do everything in its power to ensure a fair and equal voting process."

Voting discrimination, he said, still exists, and the decision "upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair. And he called on Congress to "pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls."

The ruling said it's now up to Congress to revise the law to meet constitutional scrutiny.

"Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to the current conditions," said Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the court's decision for the majority.

Key details of the ruling include:

• Section 4, the part of the law that was struck down, is the coverage formula the federal government uses to determine which states and counties are subject to continued oversight. Roberts said that formula from 1972 was outdated and unworkable.

• Section 5 of the law effectively cannot be enforced, because it relies heavily on the coverage formula. Civil rights groups say Section 5 has been an important tool to protect minority voters from local governments that would set unfair, shifting barriers to the polls. Without it, they warn, the very power and effect of the entire Voting Rights Act would crumble. But opponents of the provision counter it should not be enforced in areas where it can be argued that racial discrimination no longer exists.

• Under Section 5, any changes in voting laws and procedures in those covered states -- including much of the South -- had to be "precleared" with Washington. Such changes could have included something as simple as moving a polling place temporarily across the street.

The case arrived at the Supreme Court because officials in Shelby County, Alabama, filed suit against the federal government. The suit said monitoring of voting procedures under the law was overly burdensome and unwarranted.

The most recent congressional action on the formula was in 2006, when lawmakers reauthorized it.

"Congress could have updated the coverage formula at that time, but did not do so," wrote Roberts. "Its failure leaves us today with no choice but to declare Section 4 unconstitutional. The formula in that section can no longer be used as a basis for subjecting jurisdictions to preclearance."

The appeal presented the court and its shaky conservative majority with two of the most hotly debated issues in politics and constitutional law: race and federalism.

It was a major test of Washington's authority and the extent to which the federal government may consider vestiges of voting discrimination that may still linger, potentially keeping some minority voters disenfranchised.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act seven years ago with "overwhelming bipartisan support."

"That determination of the body empowered to enforce the Civil Rights Amendments by appropriate legislation merits this court's utmost respect," she said. "In my judgment, the court errs egregiously by overriding Congress' decision."

She was supported by Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The Obama administration had argued that states have gotten out of Section 5. In recent years, 31 cities and counties and Virginia successfully petitioned to be exempt from the preclearance requirements, though the rest of the state remains under federal oversight.

The Justice Department on Monday announced that Hanover County, north of Richmond, would also become exempt.

Shelby County, outside Birmingham, Alabama, did not make such a request and opposed Sections 4 and 5. It is 11% African-American, compared with 28% statewide.

Some conservative groups have argued that "ancient formulas" are being applied today, not to erase discrimination, but to benefit a particular political party. Some liberal activists counter that Section 5 and federal oversight are being demonized by many on the right for purely partisan gain, and to divide Americans again over race.

The case is Shelby County, AL v. Holder (12-96).

 

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