08-03-2024  1:02 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

1 of Last Republican Congressmen to Vote for Trump Impeachment Defends His Seat in Washington Race

Congressional primary races in Washington state are attracting outsized attention. Voters in the 4th District will decide on one next week that pits one of the last U.S. House Republicans left who voted to impeach Donald Trump against two conservative candidates whose platforms are in lock-step with the presidential nominee.

Kamala Harris’ Campaign Reinvigorates Voters – And Opportunities To Volunteer From Home

Whether you want to stump for Harris or support BIPOC candidates in battleground states, work can be done door-to-door or from the comfort of your living room.

Simone Biles and Team USA Earn 'Redemption' by Powering to Olympic Gold in Women's Gymnastics

“The Redemption Tour” ended in a familiar spot for Simone Biles: atop the Olympic podium. With Biles at her show-stopping best, the Americans’ total of 171.296 was well clear of Italy and Brazil and the exclamation point of a yearlong run in which Biles has cemented her legacy as the greatest ever in her sport and among the best in the history of the Olympics.

People Flee Idaho Town Through a Tunnel of Fire and Smoke as Western Wildfires Spread

Multiple communities in Idaho have been evacuated after lightning strikes sparked fast-moving wildfires.  As that and other blazes scorch the Pacific Northwest, authorities say California's largest wildfire is zero-percent contained after destroying 134 structures and threatening 4,200 more. A sheriff says it was started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully. Officials say they have arrested a 42-year-old man who will be arraigned Monday.

NEWS BRIEFS

Central Eastside Industrial Council & Central Eastside Together Host Avenue of Murals Celebration Ride + Tour This Weekend

The “Avenue of Murals” is a dynamic partnership with Portland Street Art Alliance (PSAA), bringing creativity to the Central...

Ranked Choice Voting Workshop at Lincoln High

Join Multnomah County and city of Portland elections staff at a workshop at Lincoln High School, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 5:30...

Albina Vision Trust, Portland Trail Blazers announce launch of the Albina Rose Alliance

Historic partnership to accelerate restorative development in Lower Albina ...

Washington State Library’s Tabletop Gaming Program Awarded $249,500 National Leadership Grant

The partnership will develop and disseminate a digital toolkit to guide libraries in implementing games-based services. ...

Iconic Elm Tree in Downtown Celebrated Before Emergency Removal

The approximately 154-year-old tree has significant damage and declining health following recent storms ...

About half of US state AGs went on France trip sponsored by group with lobbyist and corporate funds

About half the U.S. state attorneys general traveled to France in a trip cosponsored by a group mostly funded by companies, including some under scrutiny of the top state lawyers. Attorneys general are among the most visible officials in state governments and the job can be a...

Heat, erratic winds and possible lightning could complicate the battle against California wildfire

CHICO, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire of the year are preparing for treacherous conditions entering the weekend, when expected thunderstorms may unleash fire-starting lightning and erratic winds that could erode progress made over the past week. Dry, hot...

Chiefs set deadline of 6 months to decide whether to renovate Arrowhead or build new — and where

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs have set a deadline of six months from now to decide on a plan for the future of Arrowhead Stadium, whether that means renovating their iconic home or building an entirely new stadium in Kansas or Missouri. After a joint ballot initiative with the...

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...

OPINION

The 900-Page Guide to Snuffing Out American Democracy

What if there was a blueprint for a future presidential administration to unilaterally lay waste to our constitutional order and turn America from a democracy into an autocracy in one fell swoop? That is what one far-right think tank and its contributors...

SCOTUS Decision Seizes Power to Decide Federal Regulations: Hard-Fought Consumer Victories Now at Risk

For Black and Latino Americans, this power-grab by the court throws into doubt and potentially weakens current agency rules that sought to bring us closer to the nation’s promises of freedom and justice for all. In two particular areas – fair housing and...

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 ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Arizona governor negotiates pause in hauling of uranium ore across Navajo Nation

PHOENIX (AP) — A uranium producer has agreed to temporarily pause the transport of the mineral through the Navajo Nation after the tribe raised concerns about the possible effects that it could have on the reservation. Gov. Katie Hobbs said Friday that she intervened this week after...

Federal judge rules that Florida’s transgender health care ban discriminates against state employees

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s transgender health care ban discriminates against state employees and violates their civil rights. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled Thursday that the state's ban violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act...

Drexel University agrees to bolster handling of bias complaints after probe of antisemitic incidents

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Drexel University will review the “shared ancestry” discrimination complaints it has fielded in recent years and work to improve how it handles them under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday. The federal investigation began...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Call the script doctor! 'Feh' explores the toxic storyline of a religious education

A few years ago, the writer Shalom Auslander was hospitalized with a potentially fatal case of pancreatitis after taking a banned performance-enhancing drug to lose weight. His psychiatrist said he was trying to kill himself. Auslander, then unemployed, in his 40s, with a wife and two children,...

The Grateful Dead and Francis Ford Coppola are among the newest Kennedy Center Honors recipients

WASHINGTON (AP) — An iconoclastic filmmaking legend and one of the world's most enduring musical acts headline this year's crop of Kennedy Center Honors recipients. Director Francis Ford Coppola and the Grateful Dead will be honored for lifetime achievement in the arts, along with...

Melania Trump to tell her story in memoir, 'Melania,' scheduled for this fall

NEW YORK (AP) — Former first lady Melania Trump has a memoir coming out this fall, “Melania,” billed by her office as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.” It's the first memoir by Trump, who has been...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

UK police brace for more far-right protests as government warns of tough response

LONDON (AP) — Several suspects arrested in violent protests that erupted after the fatal stabbing of three...

Dissidents freed in prisoner swap vow to keep up fight against Putin, recount details of release

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was suddenly moved to a detention center in...

Few Americans trust the Secret Service after a gunman nearly killed Trump, an AP-NORC poll finds

Most Americans have doubts about the Secret Service's ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last...

International Seabed Authority elects new secretary general amid concerns over deep-sea mining

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Members of the International Seabed Authority elected Leticia Carvalho of Brazil as the...

Mourners bury Hamas chief Haniyeh in Qatar as more escalation looms over the Middle East

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of mourners converged around the flag-draped coffin of Hamas' slain political chief,...

Hezbollah leader says war with Israel has entered 'new phase' after killings of top militant figures

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah’s leader warned Thursday that the conflict with Israel has entered a “new phase,”...

The Skanner News

The FBI has released case files on the shooting murder of rap artist Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, AKA Notorious B.I.G. The files, detail the case investigation, dating from Smalls' murder in 1997 through 2005 when the case was closed. Three files have been released online as part of the FBI's 'Vault' program.
 The three files contain hundreds of pages of investigation. While heavily redacted in places, the files report the speculation that Smalls was murdered in retaliation for the murder of Tupac Shakur, and that Death Row records and Los Angeles police officers were involved. The Skanner News Video: Biggie and Tupac
"Several sources have identified the shooter as a light-skinned Black male wearing a suit and a bow ties," the file says on page one. "It has also been noted by several sources that (name is redacted) and several other LAPD officers attended this party and were seen with (name redacted) just prior to the shooting."
FBI agents on both coasts participated in a nearly two-year investigation aimed at finding out who gunned down the Notorious B.I.G. and whether any Los Angeles police officers were involved, according to recently released records. 
The inquiry ended in early 2005, after federal prosecutors concluded there wasn't enough evidence to pursue a case against any officers or another man implicated in the rapper's 1997 shooting death. 
The decision was made after agents in Los Angeles, San Diego and New York tried to track down potential suspects and witnesses who might shed new light on the unsolved killing that came months after another rap superstar, Tupac Shakur, was shot dead in Las Vegas. 
The New York Daily News has reported that the files say the bullets that killed Smalls were a "very rare"  German ammunition that could pierce metal. The FBI traced the 9mm Gecko bullets to just two distributors in the U.S. -- one in New Jersey, the other in California.
The rare ammunition was found in the home of a rogue L.A. cop named David Mack, who was was arrested for armed robbery. According to the New York Daily News report, Mack's name was redacted in the files but his identity was clear because of details about his arrest for armed robbery and the discovery in his home of a "shrine" to Tupac Shakur. Mack has denied any involvement in the case.  He was released from jail in May 2010.
 Mack has denied any MM Mac
The investigation started out as a civil rights violation and public corruption review, but efforts were made to solve the homicide case. The FBI's file included police reports. 
Informants told the FBI that the killing of B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, may have been aided by corrupt police officers. The heavily redacted case files include several mentions of sources who wouldn't talk to Los Angeles police investigators about Wallace's death because of suspicions about corruption. 
The records showed that agents conducted surveillance on one man in San Diego who they thought may have fired the fatal shots at Wallace, and even went through his mail and garbage. They also showed an agent consulted frequently with a civil attorney who was pursuing a wrongful death on behalf of Wallace's estate against the city of Los Angeles. 
No one has been arrested for Wallace or Shakur's killings, although both deaths have been the subject of rampant speculation about the motives. The one-time friends became rivals and instigators in an East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry during the mid-1990s. 
Wallace was shot and killed with a 9mm gun on Wilshire Boulevard in March 1997 after leaving a Los Angeles music industry event. 
The FBI released Wallace's file on March 27 on its website, The Vault, which contains the bureau's most requested case documents that can be released. The FBI on Friday publicized that it had added more than 25 new files that it had never released electronically and by Wednesday, fans and journalists were poring over the Wallace file. 
Wallace's family dismissed a federal lawsuit against Los Angeles last year, which their attorney said was done in order for the FBI and other agencies to pursue new leads in the case. A 2005 trial ended with a mistrial after attorneys for Wallace's family discovered the city had withheld a trove of LAPD documents. 
Attorney Brad C. Gage said Wednesday he had not reviewed the recently released FBI documents.