11-30-2024  11:21 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

Oregon Tribe Has Hunting and Fishing Rights Restored Under a Long-Sought Court Ruling

The tribe was among the dozens that lost federal recognition in the 1950s and ‘60s under a policy of assimilation known as “termination.” Congress voted to re-recognize the tribe in 1977. But to have their land restored, the tribe had to agree to a federal court order that limited their hunting, fishing and gathering rights. 

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. 

NEWS BRIEFS

Grants up to $120,000 Educate About Local Environmental Projects

Application period for WA nonprofits open Jan. 7 ...

Literary Arts Opens New Building on SE Grand Ave

The largest literary center in the Western U.S. includes a new independent bookstore and café, event space, classrooms, staff offices...

Allen Temple CME Church Women’s Day Celebration

The Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes, senior pastor/presiding elder, and First Lady Doris Mays Haynes are inviting the public to attend the...

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. ...

Oregon tribe has hunting and fishing rights restored under a long-sought court ruling

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) — Drumming made the floor vibrate and singing filled the conference room of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, as hundreds in tribal regalia danced in a circle. For the last 47 years, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz...

Schools are bracing for upheaval over fear of mass deportations

Last time Donald Trump was president, rumors of immigration raids terrorized the Oregon community where Gustavo Balderas was the school superintendent. Word spread that immigration agents were going to try to enter schools. There was no truth to it, but school staff members had to...

Brady Cook rushes for TD with 1:53 remaining as No. 24 Missouri beats Arkansas 28-21

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Brady Cook rushed for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:53 remaining, and No. 24 Missouri beat Arkansas 28-21 on Saturday at a snow-covered Faurot Field. Cook was 10 for 20 for 168 yards. He also had 12 carries for 63 yards for Missouri (9-3, 5-3 SEC). ...

Arkansas DE Landon Jackson carted off field and taken to hospital with neck injury

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson was carted off the field and taken to a hospital with a neck injury late in the first half of Saturday's game at No. 24 Missouri. Jackson appeared to injure his neck while trying to tackle Missouri running back Jamal...

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

Today in History: December 1, Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat

Today is Sunday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2024. There are 30 days left in the year. Today in history: On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus; the incident sparked...

Young men swung to the right for Trump after a campaign dominated by masculine appeals

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, Pat Verhaeghe didn’t think highly of Donald Trump as a leader. Then Verhaeghe began seeing more of Trump’s campaign speeches online and his appearances at sporting events. There was even the former president’s pairing with Bryson...

From Bach to Beyonce, why a church orchestra aims to lift up young musicians of color

ANAHEIM, California (AP) — For over two years, Ebonie Vazquez searched to find a mentor of color for her son, Giovanni, now 11 and passionate about playing the violin. She has now found that space at a local church. New Hope Presbyterian Church, a multiethnic congregation led by a...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 1-7

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 1-7: Dec. 1: Actor-director Woody Allen is 89. Singer Dianne Lennon of the Lennon Sisters is 85. Bassist Casey Van Beek of The Tractors is 82. Singer-guitarist Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult is 80. Drummer John Densmore of The Doors is 80....

Music Review: Father John Misty's 'Mahashmashana' offers cynical, theatrical take on life and death

The title of Father John Misty's sixth studio album, “Mahashmashana,” is a reference to cremation, and the first song proposes “a corpse dance.” Religious overtones mix with the undercurrent of a midlife crisis atop his folk chamber pop. And for those despairing recent events, some lyrics...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Romania's parliamentary vote risks being overshadowed by presidential race chaos

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Hundreds of protesters gathered in Bucharest after a far-right populist unexpectedly...

Emboldened 'manosphere' accelerates threats and demeaning language toward women after US election

CHICAGO (AP) — In the days after the presidential election, Sadie Perez began carrying pepper spray with her...

What to know about the plastic pollution crisis as treaty talks conclude in South Korea

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — The world’s nations will wrap up negotiating a treaty this weekend to address the...

Trump threatens 100% tariff on the BRIC bloc of nations if they act to undermine US dollar

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a bloc of...

Battered by war and divisions, Lebanon faces a long list of challenges after ceasefire deal

BEIRUT (AP) — Hours after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah went into...

Protesters gather for third night of demonstrations after Georgia announces suspension of EU talks

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Protesters gathered across Georgia on Saturday night in a third straight night of...

From Staff and Wire Reports

A chart at the top of the facebook developers website Thursday tracked response time for repairs to the social network Wednesday and Thursday.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Untold millions of Facebook users scrambled desperately to access Bejeweled, Mafia Wars and Farmville today as the mega-social network crashed and stayed down for hours.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old wunderkind behind Facebook is making a move to become a player in philanthropy just before the opening of a film that portrays him as less than charitable.
The site's heavy crash sent waves of panic around much of the world, demonstrating how the tentacles of its applications. The Associated Press quoted TechCrunch's analysis: "This is a problem not just because the site is down, but Facebook's omnipresent Like button is also completely down, and so is Connect, and Platform — in other words, the entire Internet (or a good percentage of it) is feeling this pain."
Normal service was restored just after 5 p.m. Eastern standard time.
Zuckerberg no doubts eyes will return to his $100 million donation — thought to be the biggest of his young life — to the Newark public schools, a long-struggling district that could use the money to become a laboratory for reforms.

 

Facebook tycoon Mark Zuckerberg
The donation is being announced Friday on Oprah Winfrey's TV show in an arrangement that brings together the young Internet tycoon, Newark's celebrated Democratic mayor and a governor who has quickly become a star of the Republican party.
The unusual coalition is more evidence of the growing cache of the cause of remaking urban public schools, an issue that has long confounded educators and advocates.
"What you're seeing is for the under-40 set, education reform is what feeding kids in Africa was in 1980," said Derrell Bradford, the executive director of the Newark-based education reform group Excellent Education for Everyone. "Newark public schools are like the new Live Aid."
Zuckerberg is not the first person to get rich on technology and then donate some of his wealth to urban schools.
Last year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $290 million in education grants, along with $45 million for research into effective teaching. The grants included $100 million to Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Fla., and $90 million to Memphis City Schools. The Gates Foundation also has given than $150 million to New York City schools over the past eight years, primarily for a project to transform its high schools into small schools.
An official familiar with the Newark plan confirmed it to The Associated Press on Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the parties have been told not to usurp the announcement on Winfrey's show. The donation was first reported by The Star-Ledger of Newark.
The state Education Department, Facebook and the Newark mayor's office have been mum on the donation, but that hasn't stopped Gov. Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker from hinting about it on their Twitter accounts.
Booker tweeted: "Looking forward to Oprah on Friday! Please tune in to learn more about what's going on in Newark." Christie replied: "See you in Chicago," then added: "Great things to come for education in Newark."
The deal also sets the stage for Christie's announcement next week on his plans to reform the state's schools.
Some suggested that altruism was not the only thing driving the gift.
The announcement comes a week before the film "The Social Network" opens widely. The movie, whose tagline is "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies," portrays Zuckerberg as taking the idea for Facebook from other Harvard students. It is to debut at the New York Film Festival on Friday.
"I hate to be cynical and there are few districts in the nation that couldn't use an infusion of cash more than Newark," wrote blogger Christopher Dawson on ZDNet. "However, the timing of the announcement, coinciding with a high-profile return of district control from the state of New Jersey to the municipality of Newark, on Oprah no less, feels a little too staged."
Forbes.com on Thursday was asking readers: "Was the gift heartfelt or cunning PR?"
Zuckerberg is worth $6.9 billion, good enough to make him the 35th wealthiest American, according to Forbes magazine rankings out this week. His massive donation establishes him as a major player in philanthropy, placing him alongside others made wealthy by technology innovations, including Microsoft Corp. co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
Details have not been disclosed on how the money may be spent in Newark, where the school district budget this year is $940 million, but it will likely give Booker some control over his city's school district.
The schools have been state-run since 1995 but consistently have some of the state's lowest scores on standardized tests and worst graduation rates. The problems have continued to mount despite major infusions of funds from the state government, which has been under court order to improve schools in Newark and other impoverished New Jersey cities.
According to the official with knowledge of the plans, Christie won't give up state control of Newark schools as part of the deal, but will authorize Booker to implement the education plan. Christie will still have ultimate control and can veto any moves.
Christie, like Booker, is an advocate of more publicly funded charter schools, using public money to send children to private schools and paying teachers partly based on how well students perform. The ideas from both often make teachers unions bristle, though union officials in Newark declined to comment.
For Christie, the deal may be a way to recover from the biggest misstep of his administration so far: Last month, the state missed out on a $400 million federal education grant because of a simple error on its application. Former state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler was fired in the aftermath.
Education scholars and advocates will be watching closely.
Newark and other impoverished New Jersey districts have received infusions of state funding over the last two decades, but they've still lagged far behind schools in the suburbs. Advocates are hoping the effort brings reform, not just money.
"Just throwing a lot of money at a problem doesn't necessarily solve anything, and I think past history demonstrates this," said Joseph DePeirro, dean of education at Seton Hall University.
Bradford, of the Newark-based education reform group, said: "If you are enormously successful, then you really have outlined a model of how you can use private philanthropy to break the status quo. And if you fail, you've given everybody a billion reasons never to try again."
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Mulvihill reported from Trenton. Associated Press writer Beth DeFalco in Trenton contributed to this report.

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