11-25-2024  2:04 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

  • Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris hold up their fists in the air in unison after she delivered a concession speech after the 2024 presidential election, Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

    Black Women are Rethinking their Role as Americas Reliable Political Organizers 

    Donald Trump's victory has dismayed many politically engaged Black women, and they're reassessing their enthusiasm for politics and organizing. Black women often carry much of the work of getting out the vote, and they had vigorously supported the historic candidacy of Kamala Harris. AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters, found that 6 in 10 Black women said the future of democracy was the single most important factor Read More
  • Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., accompanied by Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., left, and House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., right, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

    Trump Picks Oregon Rep Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor Secretary 

    President-elect Donald Trump has named Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions in her district but lost reelection in November. Chavez-DeRemer has a legislative record that has drawn plaudits from unions, but organized labor leaders remain skeptical about Trump's agenda for workers. Trump, in general, has not supported policies that make it easier for workers to organize. Read More
  • Photo: NNPA

    15 Democrats Join Republicans in Backing Bill Critics Call a Dictator’s Dream

    The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495) grants the Treasury secretary unilateral authority to label nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations” and strip them of their tax-exempt status without due process. Read More
  • Photo: NNPA

    Medicaid Faces Uncertain Future as Republicans Target Program Under Trump Administration

    Medicaid’s role in American healthcare is substantial. It supports nearly half of all children in the U.S., covers significant portions of mental health and nursing home care, and plays a vital part in managing chronic conditions. Read More
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NORTHWEST NEWS

'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. 

More Logging Is Proposed to Help Curb Wildfires in the US Pacific Northwest

Officials say worsening wildfires due to climate change mean that forests must be more actively managed to increase their resiliency.

Democrat Janelle Bynum Flips Oregon’s 5th District, Will Be State’s First Black Member of Congress

The U.S. House race was one of the country’s most competitive and viewed by The Cook Political Report as a toss up, meaning either party had a good chance of winning.

NEWS BRIEFS

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...

Multnomah County Library Breaks Ground on Expanded St. Johns Library

Groundbreaking marks milestone in library transformations ...

Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week

WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) — Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to forecasts across the U.S., while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages. In California, where two...

AP Top 25: Alabama, Mississippi out of top 10 and Miami, SMU are in; Oregon remains unanimous No. 1

Alabama and Mississippi tumbled out of the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25 poll Sunday and Miami and SMU moved in following a chaotic weekend in the SEC and across college football in general. Oregon is No. 1 for the sixth straight week and Ohio State, Texas and Penn State held...

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 woman who fatally shot Black neighbor through door faces manslaughter sentence in Florida

A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor's boisterous children faces sentencing Monday for her manslaughter conviction. Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.”...

After Trump's win, Black women are rethinking their role as America's reliable political organizers

ATLANTA (AP) — As she checked into a recent flight to Mexico for vacation, Teja Smith chuckled at the idea of joining another Women’s March on Washington. As a Black woman, she just couldn’t see herself helping to replicate the largest act of resistance against then-President...

National monument proposed for North Dakota Badlands, with tribes' support

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A coalition of conservation groups and Native American tribal citizens on Friday called on President Joe Biden to designate nearly 140,000 acres of rugged, scenic Badlands as North Dakota's first national monument, a proposal several tribal nations say would preserve the...

ENTERTAINMENT

Book Review: Chris Myers looks back on his career in ’That Deserves a Wow'

There are few sports journalists working today with a resume as broad as Chris Myers. From a decade doing everything for ESPN (SportsCenter, play by play, and succeeding Roy Firestone as host of the interview show “Up Close”) to decades of involvement with nearly every league under contract...

Was it the Mouse King? ‘Nutcracker’ props stolen from a Michigan ballet company

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Did the Mouse King strike? A ballet group in suburban Detroit is scrambling after someone stole a trailer filled with props for upcoming performances of the beloved holiday classic “The Nutcracker.” The lost items include a grandfather...

Wrestling with the ghosts of 'The Piano Lesson'

The piano on the set of “The Piano Lesson” was not a mere prop. It could be played and the cast members often did. It was adorned with pictures of the Washington family and their ancestors. It was, John David Washington jokes, “No. 1 on the call sheet.” “We tried to haunt...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

In South Korea, nations meet in final round to address global plastic crisis

Negotiators gathered in Busan, South Korea, on Monday in a final push to create a treaty to address the global...

Overhauls of 'heritage brands' raise the question: How important are our products to our identities?

LONDON (AP) — When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the...

South Korea holds memorial for forced laborers at Sado mines, a day after boycotting Japanese event

SADO, Japan (AP) — South Korea paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island Gold...

New Zealanders save more than 30 stranded whales by lifting them on sheets

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — More than 30 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a beach in New Zealand were...

Landslide and flash floods hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island, leaving 16 dead and 6 missing

KARO, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers in Indonesia recovered 16 bodies under tons of mud and rocks or that were swept...

DHL cargo plane crashes and skids into a house in Lithuania, killing at least 1

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A DHL cargo plane crashed on approach to an airport in Lithuania's capital and skidded...

MICHAEL MAROT, AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Geno Auriemma marvels at what his colleagues accomplished this season.

In six short years, Oregon State coach Scott Rueck took a program that needed open tryouts to fill its roster six years ago to the women's Final Four.

First-time college head coach Mike Neighbors needed three seasons to lead Washington to an improbable tourney run.

Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman rewarded the school's 10-year wait its greatest season.

And on Sunday, those three first-time Final Four participants will join Auriemma's perennial powerhouse in Indianapolis on the sport's biggest stage.

Click through the slideshow below to see pictures of the teams during their recent wins. 

 

"I remember in 1991, when we went to the Final Four and we were the first team from north of the Mason-Dixon line to ever play in the Final Four, and it was like we had somehow landed on the moon," Auriemma said during a national conference call with reporters Wednesday. "Now 20-some years later, you have three teams in the Final Four for the first time — and not three teams that were knocking on the door and finally got there. These are three teams that by all measures, only the kids on those teams and only the coaches expected them to be there."

Inside the programs, there also were questions.

Rueck acknowledged later Wednesday that when he took over at Oregon State, he wasn't sure if the Beavers could even crack the top half of the Pac-12 in six years — much less play on the season's final weekend. And after one of his top players, Sydney Wiese, was injured early this season, he again wondered whether his team could achieve its ultimate goal.

The NCAA's selection committee didn't make things any easier by setting up a contest against powerhouse Baylor on its pseudo-home court, in Dallas.

"There was still — I can't lie and say — I mean, there was still a little bit of doubt, can we get all the way to this level?" Rueck said. "You know things need to go your way a bit."

But Oregon State overcame all of those obstacles and will now face the unbeaten and the three-time defending champion Huskies on Sunday.

The Beavers might not have even had the toughest road to Indy.

Washington, which had only reached one Sweet 16 in the previous 19 seasons, upset second-seeded Maryland on its home court, upset third-seeded Kentucky on its home court and then had to beat perennial Pac-12 power Stanford in Lexington, Kentucky, to earn a ticket to Indy.

The Huskies won them all with a rotation of seven to eight players and for a coach who once took a $58,000 pay cut to pursue his dream of coaching college basketball and will now face Syracuse, a team also getting acclimated to the Final Four environment.

"There are a lot of responsibilities that we're not used to having to go through," Neighbors said. "It kind of started here yesterday (Tuesday). We had a press conference here that was full of cameras and reporters. We haven't even had one of those here and we know that's going to magnify us. So it is a little bit beneficial that we're not facing an opponent that's been through that and will be going through it the first time as well."

Syracuse's climb might have been even steeper.

Auriemma, who played the Orange in the old Big East Conference, credited Hillsman with bringing the program from "nowhere" to the precipice of playing for a national championship.

How bad was the program? Auriemma said even the people in Syracuse didn't know it existed.

After spending a lot of time talking to men's coach Jim Boeheim about his vaunted zone defense, Hillsman instilled it into the women's program and nobody can quibble with the results.

Syracuse beat a school-record five ranked teams this season, reached its first Sweet 16, then upset top-seeded South Carolina in the regional semifinals and Tennessee to get a ticket to Indy.

"When we started this journey to get to this point, we've always talked about winning championships," said Hillsman, the second black male to coach in the women's Final Four. "We never shied away from that, and I start every media day here at Syracuse by saying I want to go 48-0 and I want to win a national championship."

Auriemma, whose team is the heavy favorite to win an unprecedented fourth straight, wants No. 11.

But even he is impressed with what's happened around him.

"I think this is a great message to everybody: Stop focusing on what Connecticut does and start paying attention to what a lot of these other schools are doing, and you will see that there's a lot of great stuff going on out there," he said. "It just sometimes doesn't get the attention that it deserves because it's easy to write about Connecticut."

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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