11-25-2024  11:54 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Forecasts Warn of Possible Winter Storms Across US During Thanksgiving Week

Two people died in the Pacific Northwest after a rapidly intensifying “bomb cyclone” hit the West Coast last Tuesday, bringing fierce winds that toppled trees and power lines and damaged homes and cars. Fewer than 25,000 people in the Seattle area were still without power Sunday evening.

Huge Number Of Illegal Guns In Portland Come From Licensed Dealers, New Report Shows

Local gun safety advocacy group argues for state-level licensing and regulation of firearm retailers.

'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. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Vote By Mail Tracking Act Passes House with Broad Support

The bill co-led by Congressman Mfume would make it easier for Americans to track their mail-in ballots; it advanced in the U.S. House...

OMSI Opens Indoor Ice Rink for the Holiday Season

This is the first year the unique synthetic ice rink is open. ...

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

Portland Fire & Rescue extends their wish to you for a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday. ...

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...

Eggs are available -- but pricier -- as the holiday baking season begins

Egg prices are rising once more as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with the high demand of the holiday baking season. But prices are still far from the recent peak they reached almost two years ago. And the American Egg Board, a trade group, says egg shortages at grocery...

Two US senators urge FIFA not to pick Saudi Arabia as 2034 World Cup host over human rights risks

GENEVA (AP) — Two United States senators urged FIFA on Monday not to pick Saudi Arabia as the 2034 World Cup host next month in a decision seen as inevitable since last year despite the kingdom’s record on human rights. Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dick Durbin of Illinois...

Mitchell's 20 points, Robinson's double-double lead Missouri in a 112-63 rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Mark Mitchell scored 20 points and Anthony Robinson II posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds as Missouri roared to its fifth straight win and its third straight by more than 35 points as the Tigers routed Arkansas-Pine Bluff 112-63 on Sunday. ...

Moore and UAPB host Missouri

Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (1-5) at Missouri Tigers (4-1) Columbia, Missouri; Sunday, 5 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Tigers -34.5; over/under is 155.5 BOTTOM LINE: UAPB visits Missouri after Christian Moore scored 20 points in UAPB's 98-64 loss to...

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

White Florida woman sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting Black neighbor in lengthy dispute

A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous children was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for her manslaughter conviction. Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing Ajike...

Daniel Penny doesn't testify as his defense rests in subway chokehold trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Daniel Penny chose not to testify and defense lawyers rested their case Friday at his trial in the death of an agitated man he choked on a subway train. Closing arguments are expected after Thanksgiving in the closely watched manslaughter case about the death of...

White Florida woman is sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting a Black neighbor amid a lengthy dispute

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — White Florida woman is sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting a Black neighbor amid a lengthy dispute....

ENTERTAINMENT

More competitive field increases betting interest in F1's Las Vegas Grand Prix

LAS VEGAS (AP) — There is a little more racing drama for Saturday night's Las Vegas Grand Prix than a year ago when Max Verstappen was running away with the Formula 1 championship and most of the news centered on the disruptions leading up to the race. But with a little more...

Book Review: 'How to Think Like Socrates' leaves readers with questions

The lessons of Socrates have never really gone out of style, but if there’s ever a perfect time to revisit the ancient philosopher, now is it. In “How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World,” Donald J. Robertson describes Socrates' Athens...

Music Review: The Breeders' Kim Deal soars on solo debut, a reunion with the late Steve Albini

When the Pixies set out to make their 1988 debut studio album, they enlisted Steve Albini to engineer “Surfer Rosa,” the seminal alternative record which includes the enduring hit, “Where Is My Mind?” That experience was mutually beneficial to both parties — and was the beginning of a...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Trump transition team suggests sidelining top adviser over pay-to-play allegations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top lawyer on Donald Trump's transition team investigated a longtime adviser to the...

What diversity does — and doesn't — look like in Trump's Cabinet

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration is set to be less diverse than...

What to know about the Menendez brothers' resentencing plea

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez will have to wait until next year for a decision on whether they...

Middle East latest: Israeli ambassador to US says Hezbollah ceasefire deal could come 'within days'

The Israeli ambassador to Washington says a ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based...

Germany's Merkel recalls Putin's 'power games' and contrasting US presidents in her memoirs

BERLIN (AP) — Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recalls Vladimir Putin's “power games” over the years,...

South Korean man convicted for deliberately gaining weight to evade military service

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean man has been sentenced to a suspended prison term for deliberately...

Vivian Kuo CNN

(CNN) -- Despite telling the court they were indigent, George Zimmerman and his wife discussed -- in code, according to prosecutors -- money raised online to help in his defense on second-degree murder charges, jailhouse phone calls released Monday show.

Prosecutors had claimed the Zimmermans lied about their financial means before a Florida judge set his bond, which the suspect then posted to get out of jail. Zimmerman, accused in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, is now back behind bars after the judge revoked his bail, citing the misrepresentations.

Six calls made public Monday, out of about 151 total that Zimmerman made while incarcerated, appear to back up the prosecutor's assertions.

At her husband's April 20 bond hearing, Shellie Zimmerman testified she didn't know how much had been raised through the website her husband had set up before charges being filed.

And when asked whether the couple had money available to assist in his defense, she replied, "Um, not -- not that I'm aware of."

In one jailhouse phone conversation, Zimmerman asks his wife, "In my account, do I have at least $100?" She answers no, then tells him he has more like "$8, $8.60."

"So total everything, how much are we looking at?" Zimmerman asks his wife.

"Like $155," she responds.

Prosecutors claim the husband and wife were speaking in a type of code about their available funds, an assertion Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara says the defense has "never contested."

"There's no question that they were talking in this sort of simplistic kind of code, where they were talking about $155 when, without question, they were talking about $155,000," O'Mara told CNN's Piers Morgan on Monday night.

In another call, Zimmerman asks his wife to "pay off all the bills," including Sam's Club and American Express bills, prosecutors said.

The couple also discusses how much money can be accessed and what to do with it, including transferring funds that were raised online for his defense to accounts belonging to Zimmerman's sister and wife, prosecutors state in a probable cause affidavit.

Records released Monday show that tens of thousands of dollars were transferred out of a bank account. Prosecutors allege a total of $47,000 was transferred from George Zimmerman's account to his sister's account from April 16 and 17, and that Shellie Zimmerman transferred more than $74,000 from her husband's account to her account between April 16 and April 19.

After George Zimmerman was released on bond this spring, his wife transferred more than $85,500 from her account back to his account, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors allege the couple actually had about $135,000 of donations at their disposal when they both told the court, under oath, they were indigent.

O'Mara, Zimmerman's lawyer, later said his client ended up netting a total of $204,000 via PayPal accounts -- about $150,000 of which is now in an independently managed trust after $30,000 was used to pay for "life in hiding" and $20,000 has been kept liquid.

On June 1, Seminole County Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. agreed with the prosecution that the Zimmermans were dishonest about their financial status and, after revoking George Zimmerman's bond, ordered that he return to jail. He remains behind bars and has a second bond hearing set for June 29.

On June 12, Shellie Zimmerman was arrested on a perjury charge, accused of lying at her husband's bond hearing about the couple's finances. She was released later that day after meeting the conditions of a $1,000 bond, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said.

The defense team on Monday filed a motion asking a judge to reconsider the release of a witness statement and to clarify a previous ruling on the release of additional jail phone calls. Both issues will be addressed during next week's bond hearing.

It all ties into the larger case against Zimmerman, who prosecutors say ignored a police dispatcher's instruction and pursued Martin as he was walking in a Sanford, Florida, gated community last winter and shot the unarmed teenager. The 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, meanwhile, has insisted he shot Martin in self-defense.

Independent attorneys told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell the jailhouse recordings should be relevant in the case -- both as the judge weighs how high to set Zimmerman's bail and, once the trial begins, potentially affecting jurors' assessment as to whether his account of what happened February 26 can be trusted. While investigators talked to several neighbors and others, no one saw the shooting directly except for Zimmerman and the now-deceased Martin.

"His credibility is everything. Why would he risk it on something that is so trivial as this?" Georgia-based lawyer Pilar Prinz said of the Zimmermans' jailhouse discussions about their money. " I can't understand it."

O'Mara acknowledged the Zimmermans inflicted a "great blow to their credibility," making it clear the two had available funds and were not honest about it -- something that might prompt Judge Lester to order the defendant to stay in jail until the trial because he feels "he can no longer trust him."

But the lawyer said, in the 30 hours of calls between the couple, there's no indication the Zimmermans intended to deceive the judge, and also pointed out that his client came clean to him four days later. O'Mara also said the couple was stressed, fearful and distrustful at the time.

"I only hope that ... critics give it a more global perspective -- which is what (Zimmerman) was going through and what his family was going through as to why they may not have been completely honest about the money ... and sort of what they were facing," he said.

Lastly, O'Mara stressed that the questions about their finances are distinct from what happened the night of the shooting.

"It truly has so little to do with what counts in the case, which is what happened when Trayvon Martin passed away," he said.

Besides the conversations about finances, the newly released phone calls shed light on the relationship between George and Shellie Zimmerman. In one exchange, they talk optimistically about their future together.

"After this, ... you're going to be able to just have a great life," Shellie Zimmerman said.

"We will," replies her husband.

The two also talk about the support Zimmerman has received from the public, in the wake of the controversy that followed the Martin shooting.

"You're special and (an) amazing role model to people, honey," his wife said.

"Hmm, I wish, I wish I were," Zimmerman said.

 

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