11-13-2024  9:10 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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NORTHWEST NEWS

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.

‘Black Friday’ Screening Honors Black Portlanders, Encourages Sense of Belonging

The second annual event will be held Nov. 8 at the Hollywood Theatre.

Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson Wins Governor’s Race in Washington

Ferguson came to national prominence by repeatedly suing the administration of former President Donald Trump, including bringing the lawsuit that blocked Trump’s initial travel ban on citizens of several majority Muslim nations. 

NEWS BRIEFS

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...

Nkenge Harmon Johnson honored with PCUN’s Cipriano Ferrel Award

Harmon Johnson recognized for civil rights work in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest ...

FBI offers up to ,000 reward for information about suspect behind Northwest ballot box fires

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI said Wednesday it is offering up to ,000 as a reward for information about the suspect behind recent ballot box fires in Oregon and Washington state. Authorities believe a male suspect that may have metalworking and welding experience was behind...

Family of security guard shot and killed at Portland, Oregon, hospital sues facility for M

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The family of a security guard who was shot and killed at a hospital in Portland, Oregon, sued the facility for million on Tuesday, accusing it of negligence and failing to respond to the dangers that the gunman posed to hospital staff over multiple days. ...

Mississippi Valley State visits Missouri following Grill's 33-point game

Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils (1-1) at Missouri Tigers (2-1) Columbia, Missouri; Thursday, 7:30 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Missouri hosts Mississippi Valley State after Caleb Grill scored 33 points in Missouri's 84-77 victory over the Eastern Washington Eagles. ...

Grill makes 8 3s, scores career-high 33 points to lead Missouri over Eastern Washington 84-77

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Caleb Grill matched a career best with eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 33 points to lead Missouri to an 84-77 victory over Eastern Washington on Monday night. Grill, who missed Missouri's final 23 games last season with a wrist injury, shot 10 of 13...

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

Dutch lawmaker Wilders wants to deport those convicted of violence against Israeli soccer fans

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Hard-right Dutch political leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday blamed “Moroccans” for attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week, asserting that they “want to destroy Jews” and recommending the deportation of people convicted of involvement if they...

Black and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach tentative settlement

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Black and Latino families who were pushed out of a Palm Springs neighborhood in the 1960s reached a .9 million tentative settlement agreement with the city. The deal was announced Wednesday, and the city council will vote on it Thursday. The history of...

Former West Virginia jail officer pleads guilty to civil rights violation in fatal assault on inmate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former correctional officer in southern West Virginia pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal civil rights violation in the death of a man who died less than a day after being booked into a jail. Mark Holdren entered a plea agreement in U.S. District Court...

ENTERTAINMENT

At an art festival in Dakar, artists from both sides of the Atlantic examine the legacy of slavery

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A whirlwind of color and art at the opening of this year's Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art in the Senegalese capital stood in stark contrast to the serious topic of slavery featuring in the artworks of guest artists from the United States. The U.S....

Book Review: 'Those Opulent Days' is a mystery drenched in cruelties of colonial French Indochina

It’s not often that a historical novel is set in the Vietnam of the 1920s, a period when the land in Indochina was occupied and exploited by French colonizers. It’s also unusual that such a novel would be a whodunit murder mystery. “Those Opulent Days,” the debut novel of...

Book Review: Reader would be 'Damn Glad' to pick up a copy of actor Tim Matheson's new memoir

Tim Matheson has portrayed a president and vice president. A police officer and military officer. And more than a few doctors. He's worked with Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Jackie Gleason, Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell and Steven Spielberg. He appeared in episodes of everything from “Leave to...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

US government worker charged with leaking classified documents on Israel's plans to strike Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who worked for the U.S. government has been charged with leaking classified information...

Protests erupt in Paris over pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures

PARIS (AP) — Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures...

Elon Musk says he and Trump have 'mandate to delete' regulations. Ethics laws could limit Musk role

In picking billionaire Elon Musk to be “our cost cutter” for the U.S. government, President-elect Donald Trump...

Biden and Xi will meet in Peru as US-China relations tested again by Trump's return

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will hold talks Saturday with China's Xi Jinping on the...

Five things to know about Germany's government crisis

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced he will ask for a vote of confidence in December,...

Protests erupt in Paris over pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures

PARIS (AP) — Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures...

Christine Armario AP Education Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Wearing a hoodie. Listening to music and talking on his cellphone. Picking up Skittles for his soon-to-be stepbrother. Friends say that's how they would have imagined 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on a Sunday afternoon.

Starting a fight? Possibly high on drugs and up to no good? No, friends say that description of Martin from the neighborhood crime-watch volunteer who shot and killed the unarmed black teenager doesn't match the young man they knew.

"There's no way I can believe that, because he's not a confrontational kid," said Jerome Horton, who was one of Martin's former football coaches and knew him since he was about 5. "It just wouldn't happen. That's just not that kid."

Martin was slain in the town of Sanford on Feb. 26 in a shooting that has set off a nationwide furor over race and justice. Neighborhood crime-watch captain George Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, claimed self-defense and has not been arrested, though state and federal authorities are still investigating.

Since his death, Martin's name and photographs - in football jerseys, smiling alongside a baby, and staring into the camera in a gray hoodie - have been held up by civil rights leaders and at rallies stretching from Miami to New York demanding Zimmerman's arrest.

On Friday, President Barack Obama called the shooting a tragedy, vowed to get to the bottom of the case, and added: "When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids."

Since the slaying, a portrait has emerged of Martin as a laid-back young man who loved sports, was extremely close to his father, liked to crack jokes with friends and, according to a lawyer for his family, had never been in trouble with the law.

The son of divorced parents, he grew up in working-class neighborhoods north of Miami's downtown. He and his father, a truck driver, were active in the Miramar Optimist Club, an organization that runs sports and academic programs for young people. Tracy Martin, the teen's father, coached his son's football team.

The boy was a swift athlete, according to a friend, and played a range of positions up to about age 14. After he stopped playing, he remained active in the organization, volunteering six days a week from June through November of last year to help run the team's concession stand.

Martin cooked hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken wings alongside his father at the stand. He loved talking to the kids, asking them what position they played and whether they were good, Horton recalled. He would call the mothers "Ma'am," and if they had a stroller or an item they needed help with, Martin stepped in.

"Everyone out there loved him," Horton said.

Martin was tall and lanky - only 140 pounds, according to the family's attorney - and his nickname was "Slimm."

The teen spent a big part of his week living with his father in a one-story, peach-colored home. Neighbor Fred Collins Jr. said he would see Trayvon Martin outside every week mowing the lawn and trimming the trees. The teen also helped Collins' son learn how to ride a bike.

"He was coaching him, giving him words of advice, encouragement," Collins said.

No one answered the door on a recent afternoon, and a child's plastic tricycle sat in the driveway.

Tracy Martin often recounted how his son saved his life. The elder Martin had begun heating up some oil to fry fish and fell asleep. The grease caught fire, and when Tracy Martin awoke and tried to put out the flames, he spilled the oil on his legs, severely burning himself. Trayvon Martin pulled his father out of the home and called 911.

Martin's parents kept a close eye on him, but they didn't have to be too strict, since he stayed out of trouble, Collins said. However, he had recently been suspended from school for five days for tardiness, his English teacher, Michelle Kypriss, told the Orlando Sentinel. School officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Martin's father was not happy and grounded the teen for the duration of the suspension.

Trayvon Martin "knew he was wrong," Horton said.

Martin dreamed of becoming a pilot. He had flown on school vacations to various places around the country with his mother, skiing in Colorado one year, going off to Texas another.

"There's no little black kids that want to be pilots," Horton joked with him when he was about 13.

"Well, I'll be the first one," the teen replied.

At Dr. Michael M. Krop High School, where Martin was a junior, he was on the quiet side, but he would sit in the middle of the classroom, participate in class and especially liked math.

Schoolmates remembered his humorous side.

"Brrrrian!" Trayvon would call out, rolling his r's as is done in Spanish, whenever 16-year-old Brian Paz got a phone call from his Colombian mother, the friend recalled.

"I'd just burst out laughing," Paz said.

Paz and other friends said Martin liked rap music and funny movies. He had written some lyrics, though he hadn't had a chance yet to perform them. Martin was especially a fan of a student musical group at his school called Bison. He had two of the group's pins on his backpack and helped spread the word about shows.

John Emmanuel, 17, said the group was about encouraging young men to be strong, independent leaders.

"That's how we liked to think of ourselves," Emmanuel said.

Martin had gone up to Sanford to visit his father's fiancée, who lived there with her young son. Friends said Martin regarded the boy as his little brother and had been looking forward to watching the NBA All-Star game with him that weekend.

On that Sunday, Martin went out to get candy and an iced tea at a convenience store and was walking back to the fiancee's townhouse. Zimmerman, 28, spotted him and told a police dispatcher: "This guy looks like he is up to no good - he is on drugs or something."

After the shooting, Zimmerman claimed that Martin attacked him as he was returning to his truck.

But Martin's friends said they find that hard to believe. They said they had never seen him fight at all.

"As far as attacking the guy without him attacking him, no way," Horton said.

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