11-21-2024  10:58 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

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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

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 ...

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" ...

Major storm drops record rain, downs trees in Northern California after devastation further north

FORESTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A major storm moving through Northern California on Thursday toppled trees and dropped heavy snow and record amounts of rain after damaging homes, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in the Pacific Northwest. Forecasters...

Judge keeps death penalty a possibility for man charged in killings of 4 Idaho students

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The death penalty will remain a possibility for a man charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, a judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Steven Hippler was not swayed by legal arguments made by Bryan Kohberger’s defense team to...

No. 19 South Carolina looks to keep its momentum and win its fifth straight when it faces Wofford

Wofford (5-6) at No. 19 South Carolina (7-3), Saturday, 4 p.m. EST (ESPN+/SECN+) BetMGM College Football Odds: No line. Series history: South Carolina leads 20-4. What’s at stake? South Carolina, which finished its SEC season at 5-3, wants...

Pacific visits Missouri following Fisher's 23-point game

Pacific Tigers (3-3) at Missouri Tigers (3-1) Columbia, Missouri; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Pacific visits Missouri after Elijah Fisher scored 23 points in Pacific's 91-72 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Missouri finished 8-24 overall with a 6-11...

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

New study shows voting for Native Americans is harder than ever

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (AP) — A new study has found that systemic barriers to voting on tribal lands contribute to substantial disparities in Native American turnout, particularly for presidential elections. The study, released Tuesday by the Brennan Center for Justice, looked at 21...

St. Louis was once known as Mound City for its many Native American mounds. Just one remains

ST. LOUIS (AP) — What is now St. Louis was once home to more than 100 mounds constructed by Native Americans — so many that St. Louis was once known as “Mound City.” Settlers tore most of them down, and just one remains. Now, that last remaining earthen structure, Sugarloaf...

New Zealanders are banned from displaying gang symbols as a new law takes effect

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A ban on New Zealanders wearing or displaying symbols of gang affiliation in public took effect on Thursday, with police officers making their first arrest for a breach of the law three minutes later. The man was driving with gang insignia displayed on...

ENTERTAINMENT

From 'The Exorcist' to 'Heretic,' why holy horror can be a hit with moviegoers

In the new horror movie, “Heretic,” Hugh Grant plays a diabolical religious skeptic who traps two scared missionaries in his house and tries to violently shake their faith. What starts more as a religious studies lecture slowly morphs into a gory escape room for the two...

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...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

Shares in India's Adani Group plunge 20% after US bribery, fraud indictments

NEW DELHI (AP) — One of Asia’s richest men, Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, is again in the spotlight. His...

Pope warns the Vatican pension fund needs urgent reform as employees demand transparency

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis, who has imposed a series of cost-cutting measures across the cash-strapped Vatican,...

Major storm drops record rain, downs trees in Northern California after devastation further north

FORESTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A major storm moving through Northern California on Thursday toppled trees and...

Russia and China oppose changing the Kenya-led force in Haiti to a UN peacekeeping mission

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and China on Wednesday opposed a U.S.-led campaign to transform the Kenya-led...

Police in Finland arrest five suspects over separatist violence in southeast Nigeria

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Police in Finland said Thursday they had detained five suspects in connection with...

Shares in India's Adani Group plunge 20% after US bribery, fraud indictments

NEW DELHI (AP) — One of Asia’s richest men, Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, is again in the spotlight. His...

By Alan Duke CNN

 




AEG Live's CEO wrote two days before Michael Jackson died that a doctor Jackson was seeing "scares us to death because he is shooting him up with something," court testimony shows.

Randy Phillips' e-mail could contradict his earlier testimony that he had no idea Jackson was getting prescription drugs while he was preparing for his comeback concerts.

Phillips is on the witness stand for a fifth day Tuesday in the Jackson wrongful death trial, which is in its seventh week.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos sent jurors out of the courtroom at one point Monday afternoon so she could lecture Phillips about arguing with Jackson lawyer Brian Panish and appearing to evade his questions.

"Arguing with the lawyers is not going to help," Palazuelos told Phillips. "It's not going to help your case. It's not going to help anybody. It's lengthening your testimony. "

Jackson's mother and three children are suing AEG Live, saying the concert promoter is liable in Jackson's death because it hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Phillips and other AEG Live executives ignored "red flags" that should have alerted them that Jackson's health was at risk as they pressured him and his doctor to stop missing rehearsals as the "This Is It" tour premiere approached in the summer of 2009, Jackson lawyers argue.

Jackson, not AEG Live, chose and controlled Murray, company lawyers argue. Although they negotiated a contract to pay Murray $150,000 a month to attend to Jackson, it was never fully executed because Jackson died before they signed, they say.

AEG executives -- including Co-CEO Paul Gongaware, who had managed Jackson's last two tours -- had no way of knowing that Jackson was abusing drugs, especially the surgical anesthetic propofol, which the coroner ruled played the largest role in his death, AEG Live lawyers argue.

Murray told investigators he was infusing propofol into Jackson nearly every night to treat his insomnia so Jackson would be rested for rehearsals.

On Monday, Panish confronted Phillips about an e-mail exchange that he had two days before Jackson's death in which Phillips was asked if Dr. Arnold Klein was "on the list of doctors that will help get us from today to the opening night."

"He scares us to death because he is shooting him up with something," Phillips replied.

Michael Kane, who was Jackson's business manager, shared with Phillips that Klein's office sent him a $48,000 bill for Jackson's frequent visits to his Beverly Hills dermatology clinic in the months before his death.

Klein's invoice said Jackson had been treated with Restalyne, Botox and unidentified drug injections, Kane wrote to Phillips.

"There were a lot of bills for injections, I didn't know what it was," Phillips said in his deposition before the trial.

Klein or his staff injected Jackson with 6,500 milligrams of Demerol during the last three months of his life, according to documents and testimony at Murray's criminal trial.

"Since we owe him $48K and he wants payment, maybe I should stop paying him so he would stop shooting him up," Kane told Phillips. "I have the details of what he is doing."

It was unclear why Kane would share Jackson's medical records with an AEG Live executive since the company's lawyers insist they were not involved with and did not pry into Jackson's health care.

Phillips' testimony differs from CNN interview

Phillips met with Jackson, Dr. Murray and show director Kenny Ortega on June 20, 2009, after production manager John "Bugzee" Houghdahl sent an e-mail to producers titled "trouble at the Front."

"I have watched him deteriorate in front of my eyes over the last 8 weeks. He was able to do multiple 360 spins back in April. He'd fall on his ass if he tried now," Houghdahl wrote about Jackson.

Ortega sent Jackson home from a rehearsal the night before because of his strange behavior.

"He was a basket case and Kenny was concerned he would embarrass himself on stage, or worse yet -- get hurt," Houghdahl wrote. "The company is rehearsing right now, but the DOUBT is pervasive."

Phillips' testimony about the meeting this week contradicts what he told CNN's Don Lemon in 2010, just before the first anniversary of Jackson's death.

He testified Monday that it was a "highly charged situation" because of producers' concerns about Jackson's readiness for the show just three weeks away, although he downplayed the drama in the CNN interview.

Contrary to the production manager's e-mail, Phillips told CNN there was no concern about Jackson's dancing. "You know, there was very little to worry about him performing."

"Kenny felt that Michael was taking this show a little too nonchalantly," Phillips told CNN.

Phillips testified Monday that the meeting with Dr. Murray and Jackson -- which he called "an intervention" in an e-mail -- was called to find out what was wrong with Jackson.

But in the CNN interview, Phillips denied it was AEG Live who wanted Murray to be there. "Michael brought him," he said. "That was Michael's choice. He brought Dr. Murray into the meeting."

"I didn't invite Dr. Murray into the meeting," Phillips said in response to a follow up question by Lemon. "Michael brought Dr. Murray into the meeting."

"Why would Jackson feel he needed his doctor to meet with the concert promoters?" Lemon asked.

"Because he was using Dr. Murray like he would a manager or a representative," Phillips said. "He wanted him to speak for him."

"Did that seem odd to you?" Lemon asked.

"No, nothing seems odd in Michael world," he said.

CNN's Stan Wilson contributed to this report.

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