11-26-2024  6:11 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

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...

Missouri hosts Browning and Lindenwood

Lindenwood Lions (2-4) at Missouri Tigers (5-1) Columbia, Missouri; Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Lindenwood visits Missouri after Markeith Browning II scored 20 points in Lindenwood's 77-64 loss to the Valparaiso Beacons. The Tigers are 5-0 on...

Pacific hosts Paljor and UAPB

Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (1-6) at Pacific Tigers (3-4) Stockton, California; Wednesday, 10 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: UAPB faces Pacific after Chop Paljor scored 22 points in UAPB's 112-63 loss to the Missouri Tigers. The Tigers are 1-1 on their home...

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

Trump vows tariffs over immigration. What the numbers say about border crossings, drugs and crime

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a Monday evening announcement, President-elect Donald Trump railed against Mexico and Canada, accusing them of allowing thousands of people to enter the U.S. Hitting a familiar theme from the campaign trail and his first term in office, Trump portrayed the...

Walmart's DEI rollback signals a profound shift in the wake of Trump's election victory

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are re-evaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups. ...

Louisville police officer alleges discrimination over his opinion on Breonna Taylor's killing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky police officer who was shot in 2020 during protests over Breonna Taylor’s death is suing his department, alleging his superiors discriminated against him after he expressed his opinion about Taylor's shooting. Louisville Officer Robinson Desroches...

ENTERTAINMENT

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...

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....

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

After delay, Trump signs agreement with Biden White House to begin formal transition handoff

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday reached a required agreement with President Joe...

Trump's threat to impose tariffs could raise prices for consumers, colliding with promise for relief

DETROIT (AP) — If Donald Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico...

Biden proposes Medicare and Medicaid cover costly weight-loss drugs for millions of obese Americans

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans with obesity would be eligible to have popular weight-loss drugs like...

A look at the Israel-Hezbollah war, by the numbers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants after nearly 14 months...

Trump's threat to impose tariffs could raise prices for consumers, colliding with promise for relief

DETROIT (AP) — If Donald Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico...

G7 ministers throw support behind Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire but make no mention of ICC warrant

FIUGGI, Italy (AP) — Foreign ministers from leading industrialized countries threw their strong support Tuesday...

Andrew Taylor the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Thursday predicted that unemployment will remain at 9 percent next year, a gloomy scenario for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

The bleak figures from the Office of Management and Budget, which also projected overall growth this year at just 1.7 percent, serve as further confirmation of a sputtering economy while dramatizing the challenge Obama will face in making his case for re-election. The 1.7 percent growth rate is a full percentage point less than the administration predicted at the beginning of the year.

The economy promises to be the leading-edge issue of the 2012 White House sweepstakes, and Obama already is facing a host of Republican rivals challenging his financial policies. No president in modern times has won re-election with unemployment as high as 9 percent, and Obama's poll numbers have suffered in recent weeks amid a steady drumbeat of bad economic news.

On the deficit, the White House report also projects red ink totaling $1.3 trillion for the budget year coming to a close on Sept. 30. That's slightly higher than last year's deficit but more than $300 billion less than the record sum that the White House predicted in February.

Tax receipts are up unexpectedly and spending is down from the administration's earlier predictions, in part because of GOP-mandated cuts to the day-to-day operating budgets of Cabinet-level departments and agencies.

Of Thursday's report, White House budget director Jacob Lew said: "We need to get back on a sustainable fiscal path" and we must "invest in long-term economic growth and job creation."

Obama plans to outline his ideas for jump-starting the economy and creating jobs in a primetime address to a joint session of Congress and the nation on Sept. 8. That date was negotiated only after the White House and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, disagreed over Obama's request to give the speech a day earlier - Sept. 7 - at a time when the Republicans had scheduled a presidential debate.

The White House report said that higher oil prices, an economic slowdown in Europe, continuing weakness in the housing sector and the disruption in global supply chains after the devastating earthquake in Japan have dragged down the economy. Uncertainty over raising the U.S. debt ceiling hurt as well, the report said.

"In sum, economic growth and job creation, while positive, have not been strong enough to bring the unemployment rate down to an acceptable level," the budget office reported.

The grim report was expected, and it comes a week before Obama reveals his new jobs initiative. The nationally broadcast address from the Capitol will put Obama face to face with tea-party Republicans who are sure to fight any new "stimulus" spending that he might propose.

Thursday's figures do not reflect the potential effects of Obama's upcoming jobs plan on the economy or the deficit.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president's job initiative would lower unemployment and help spur a faster economic recovery than what the budget office forecast Thursday.

"The president will come forward with a specific proposal that by any objective measure would add to growth and job creation in the short term," Carney said.

The report, however, does incorporate expectations of deficit savings from a congressional "supercommittee" charged with cutting $1.2 trillion or more from the deficit over the coming decade. The panel begins its work this month, with a deadline of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The White House delayed release of the report, which was due in mid-July, as the debate over the debt limit and accompanying budget deal wore on. The delay caused a need to factor in new economic data released over the summer - including downward revisions in the growth in gross domestic product - and the result was a gloomier forecast than it would have issued based on information available in June.

The economy grew by just 0.7 percent in the first half of the year, the slowest pace since the recession ended two years ago.

The report sees the economy rebounding to a still-modest growth rate of 2.6 percent next year, a percentage point below what the administration predicted in February. It sees economic growth of 3.5 percent in 2013 and 3.9 percent in 2014, which is more optimistic than many private economists.

"We are not forecasting a double-dip recession," said Obama economic adviser Katharine Abraham

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

theskanner50yrs 250x300