MAY 10, 2017
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 32
25
CENTS
News ..........................3,9,10,12 A & E .................................... 6-8
Opinion ...................................2 Violence in School Sports .. 9
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
PHOTO COURTESY OF
LONDER LEARNING CENTER
PRESERVE THE ACA
Advocates of the Londer Learning Center attended
a budget hearing on May 3 to support the program
which is facing elimination due to budget cuts.
Program offers free
education to any adult
on probation or parole in
Multnomah County
By Melanie Sevcenko
Of The Skanner News
R
honda McLeod battled drug ad-
diction for 30 years. In 2009, as a
felon and parolee, she came to the
Londer Learning Center in south-
west Portland to take care of some un-
finished business.
McLeod had never received a high
school education. Yet with the help of
the LLC, she earned a General Educa-
tional Development degree, or GED,
over the course of three years.
“I really struggled with math, and
they were amazing,” McLeod said of the
AP PHOTO/RODRIGO AND, FILE
See LONDER on page 3
In this Jan. 30, 2010, file photo, people stand in the
rubble of a collapsed building in the aftermath of a
massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince.
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Budget
Cuts Could
Kill Londer
Center
Several dozen people showed up at Westlake Park May 5 for a rally organized by SEIU to protest the House Republicans repeal and replacement of the
Affordable Care Act.
Clean-Air Advocates Holding Their Breath
SB 1008 would direct use of Oregon’s portion of Volkswagen settlement
By Christen McCurdy
Of The Skanner News
T
he state of Oregon has
tens of millions of dol-
lars to reduce diesel
emissions — but the
bill that would specify how
that money can be spent is
floundering in the Legisla-
ture.
Senate Bill 1008 creates a
Clean Diesel Engine Fund
separate from the state’s
general fund, much of it
for retrofitting diesel ve-
hicles to ensure cleaner
burning.
But an amended version
of the bill does away with
the timeline requiring
certain diesel vehicles to
be retrofitted, rendering
it toothless, said Mary Pe-
veto, co-founder of Neigh-
bors for Clean Air.
“Everything was pretty
much gutted from the bill
except for the glide path
for the VW money,” Peveto
told The Skanner.
Last summer the fed-
eral government fined
Volkswagen more than
$15 billion for cheating
on emissions tests, after
an investigation revealed
the cars it had marketed it
as “clean diesel” vehicles
were anything but — and a
court settlement set aside
$85 million for the state
of Oregon, which had the
highest per capita owner-
ship of Volkswagen cars in
the country.
When the settlement
was announced, Gov. Kate
Brown and Attorney Gen-
eral Ellen Rosenblum said
the bulk of Oregon’s mon-
ey — $65 million — would
go toward reducing diesel
emissions.
Multnomah County has
the highest level of diesel
emissions in the state, and
African Americans are
three times more likely to
live in census tracts with
high rates of diesel emis-
sions. The CDC estimates
400 people get sick every
year as a direct result of
exposure to diesel exhaust.
Other studies have linked
exposure to diesel exhaust
with asthma, respiratory
cancers, low birthweight
and even poor school at-
tendance.
Sen. Michael Dembrow
(D-Portland), who intro-
duced SB 1008 in March,
said he’s confident the bill
can be restored to its orig-
inal form and can pass.
Advocates were taken
by surprise in late April
when the senate’s envi-
ronment and natural re-
sources committee failed
to pass the bill — after Sen.
Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay)
unexpectedly changed his
vote. Roblan could not be
Immigrants
From Haiti May Microloans Give Needed Boost to Small Businesses
MESO receives $1 million to fund
Lose Protected Micro-lender
underserved entrepreneurs
Status
page 9
By Melanie Sevcenko
Of The Skanner News
Recipes for Mother’s
Day Brunch
page 8
T
hree years into launching her
liquor company, Royalty Sprits,
Portland native Chaunci King
received her first business loan
just two months ago.
With no investors or professional
experience in distilling, King was in
the position of so many small busi-
ness hopefuls: down on her luck.
“You’re a high risk as a new busi-
ness. Traditional banks are just
afraid if you’re a startup,” said King.
“That’s been a problem for many
years. If you don’t have a lot of collat-
eral to put up, then it’s even harder.”
According to a 2016 report from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, women
make up only 22.7 percent of alcohol
wholesalers — and only 10.6 percent
are Black.
See MICROLOANS on page 3
See CLEAN AIR on page 3
Chaunci King is the owner of Royalty Spirits,
which launched Miriu Vodka in 2014. King
recently received a small business loan from
micro-lender MESO.