11-21-2024  6:02 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

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

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" ...

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...

Rain and snow pummel Northern California in latest wave of damaging weather to strike West Coast

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — A major storm pummeled Northern California with rain and snow Thursday and threatened to cause flash flooding and rockslides in the latest wave of damaging weather to wash over the West Coast. The National Weather Service extended a flood watch into...

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...

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...

Cal Poly visits Eastern Washington after Cook's 24-point game

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-2) at Eastern Washington Eagles (1-2) Cheney, Washington; Sunday, 7 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Eagles -6.5; over/under is 157.5 BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Washington hosts Cal Poly after Andrew Cook scored 24 points in Eastern...

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 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...

Nearly 0 million awarded to the family of a man fatally shot in his apartment by an officer

DALLAS (AP) — The family of a man shot and killed by a Dallas police officer who said she mistook his apartment for her own was awarded nearly 0 million Wednesday in a federal civil trial. The jury found after a three-day trial that ex-officer Amber Guyger used excessive force...

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...

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

Volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula erupts for the 7th time in a year

GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AP) — A volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland has erupted for the...

At least 38 killed as gunmen open fire on vehicles carrying Shiites in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shiite Muslims in Pakistan's restive northwest...

Federal Reserve's likely slowdown in rate cuts could disappoint borrowers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just a few weeks ago, the path ahead for the Federal Reserve looked straightforward: With...

Ex-UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is hailed as a working-class hero after his death at 86

LONDON (AP) — British politician John Prescott, a pugnacious and personable former merchant seaman who rose to...

Thai court dismisses activist's suit against Israeli spyware producer over lack of evidence

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court on Thursday threw out a lawsuit brought by a pro-democracy activist which alleged...

Southeast Asian defense chiefs discuss regional security with US, China and other partner nations

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Southeast Asian defense chiefs met Thursday with their counterparts from China, the...

Chris Boyette CNN

(CNN) -- The use of drones to carry out military strikes is controversial, to say the least.

U.S. lawmakers and international leaders continue to examine the legality of the unmanned attacks and whether their role in curbing terrorism outweighs the risk of unintended casualties.

But British artist James Bridle has made up his mind -- and he's adopting Web and mobile tools to tell his side of the story.

"There are many ways to approach the use of drones, but being against it, my take is old school: raising awareness," he told CNN. "This means not only knowing that drone strikes are happening, but knowing how we frame it, how we understand it."

His Dronestagram is a project that blends art and technology in an effort to show Americans, and others, a side of warfare that few will ever see in person.

The project collects what it says are Google Earth images of the locations of drone strikes. The photos are then posted to Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app more customarily used to share filtered images of skylines, cappuccinos and other much lighter fare.

From there, they're pushed to popular blogging platform Tumblr and Twitter.

The idea, Bridle said, is to make the strikes "just a little bit more visible, a little closer, a little more real."

He notes the irony of using technology, from GPS location data to mobile social-sharing, to report on a uniquely high-tech form of warfare.

"History, like space, is co-produced by us and our technologies," Bridle told CNN. "Those technologies include satellite mapping, social photo sharing from handheld devices, and fleets of flying death robots. "We should engage with them at every level. ... We have gotten better at immediacy and intimacy online: Perhaps we can be better at empathy too."

A spokesman for the Department of Defense declined to comment to CNN about Dronestagram or U.S. drone activity.

The largely secretive U.S. drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies has transformed the nature of modern warfare, becoming a key weapon in the U.S. arsenal against suspected terrorists. Advocates see drones as an effective tool in the fight against extremists. Opponents worry about civilian casualties and loose oversight.

While used for the past several years, the drone strikes have drawn increased attention in recent weeks since President Barack Obama nominated counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to be the next head of the CIA. Brennan is considered by many to be the mastermind behind U.S. drone policy.

A Senate committee vote on whether to confirm Brennan as CIA director is expected at the end of the month.

The New America Foundation estimates that in Pakistan, between 1,953 and 3,279 people have been killed by drones since 2004 -- and that between 18% and 23% of them were not militants. The nonmilitant casualty rate was down to about 10% in 2012, the group says.

In Yemen, the group estimates, between 646 and 928 people have been killed in a combination of drone strikes and airstrikes, and 623 to 860 of those killed were militants. About 2% of those killed have been "high-level targets," the group said.

Bridle, who describes himself as a "writer, artist, publisher, technologist and a number of other things" on his website, launched Dronestagram in October. The Instagram account now has about 6,600 followers, with about 2,400 on Twitter and more checking in on the Tumblr blog.

Bridle uses media reports and local government sites to find the locales for his images. Many, he says, are in remote areas where information on exact locations is scarce; so if a precise location is unavailable he uses satellite views near the reported location.

"I'm always concerned about misrepresentation, but I also make it as clear as possible in the project description that these are not exact locations, and they're the best I can do," he said. It's definitely far from perfect, and I'm sure mistakes have been made, but I just try to be clear about that."

To some observers, that undercuts the impact of his project.

"It's not like you have the exact longitude and latitude of each strike," said Peter Bergen, a CNN national-security analyst.

"As an art project, this (Dronestagram) is interesting," Bergen said. "As a piece of actual journalism ... it seems quite off."

Bridle also uses information from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a British independent nonprofit organization which compiles local reports of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

The debate over the use of attack drones will no doubt continue, even as U.S. troops continue to draw down in places like Afghanistan, reducing the number of combatants apt to encounter militants face-to-face.

And Bridle says he'll continue trying to put people at the scene of the strikes -- even if it's only through the screens of their smartphones, tablets or desktop computers.

"It's about trying to make it literally visible," he said. "The very nature of this kind of warfare makes the perpetrators, the victims, the landscape, essentially invisible."

CNN's Brandon Griggs and Doug Gross contributed to this story.

 

theskanner50yrs 250x300