GUILTY
In this image from video, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is taken into custody as his attorney Eric Nelson, left, watches, after his bail was revoked after he was found guilty on all three counts in his trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
COURT TV VIA AP, POOL
By Saundra Sorenson Of The Skanner News
A
bill moving through the Ore- gon Legislature confronts what many housing advocates view as discriminatory red tape around public funding for housing. Currently, state statute bars orga- nizations from applying directly for federal and state housing funding. In- stead, 18 community action agencies (CAAs) throughout the state distribute By Lindsay Whitehurst and Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press
J
ust as the guilty verdict was about to be read in the trial of former Minneapolis police of- ficer Derek Chauvin, po- lice in Ohio shot and killed a Black teenager in broad daylight during a confron- tation. The shooting of Ma'Kh- ia Bryant, 16, who was swinging a knife during a fight with another person in Columbus, is in some ways more representative of how Black and other people of color are killed during police encounters than the death of George Floyd, pinned to the ground by Chauvin and captured on video for all the world to see. Unlike Chauvin's case, many killings by police involve a decision to shoot in a heated moment and are notoriously di cult to prosecute even when they spark grief and outrage. Juries have tended to give o cers the benefit of the doubt when they claim to have acted in a life-or- death situation. While Tuesday's convic- tion was hailed as a sign of progress in the fight for equal justice, it still leaves unanswered di cult ques- tions about law enforce- ment's use of force and sys- temic racism in policing. The verdict in the Chauvin case might not be quickly repeated, even as the list of those killed at the hands of police grows. "This was something unique. The world saw what happened," said Salt Lake County District At- torney Sam Gill, who has examined over 100 use-of- force cases there. To have video, witnesses, forensic evidence and multiple po- lice o cers testify against one of their own is unique and "demonstrates how high the bar has to be in order to actually have that kind of accountability," he said. Convictions like Chau- vin's are extraordinarily rare. Out of the thousands of deadly police shootings in the U.S. since 2005, few- er than 140 o cers have been charged and just sev- en convicted of murder, ac- cording to data maintained by Phil Stinson, a crimi- nologist at Bowling Green State University. The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The City Council in Portland, Oregon, has ap- proved funding for a pilot program to divert a small number of tenants and landlords from going to court over eviction filings. Oregon Public Broadcasting re- ports the council's money, approved Wednesday, will pay for a mediator and, in some cases, provide rent as- sistance. The Council unanimously ap- proved a $150,000 contract to Port- land-based nonprofit Resolutions
High School Renamed After Years Of Being Named After KKK Leader
Grim List of Deaths at Police Hands Grows Even After Verdict
LeVar Burton to be 'Jeopardy!' Guest Host page 7 Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty sounded a note of caution saying thousands of people would be headed to court when the moratorium expired
See GUILTY on page 3 See HOUSING on page 3 See EVICTIONS on page 3
News ..............................3,8-10 Opinion ...................................2 Calendars ...........................4-5 A & E .....................................6-7
Vaccinne in Pregnancy ...8
Bids/Classifieds ....................11
APRIL21, 2021
Portland and Seattle Volume XLIV No. 15 25 CENTS
During its pilot phase, the landlord-tenant mediation program would provide somewhere between 70 and 100 mediations Currently, organizations must apply for funds through one of 18 regional agencies. Even state officials decry the system.
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
Portland Renter Mediation in Effort to Avert Evictions
Housing Advocates Push to Free Public Funds
Critics call current state system 'discriminatory,' 'antiquated' page 9
Next Page