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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2018)
JANUARY 10, 2018 Portland and Seattle Volume XL No. 15 Opinion ..........................2 Calendars .................. 4-5 A & E ........................... 6-9 Bids/Classifieds ...........11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW 25 CENTS INSIDE: Martin Luther King, Jr. SPECIAL EDITION PHOTO BY MOTOYA NAKAMURA/MULTNOMAH CO. SEATTLE TAP JAM State of County, April 21, 2017 Commissioner Smith kicks off campaign for city council, while county chair is asked to resign by community members By Melanie Sevcenko Of The Skanner News PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Tensions Rise and Subside in County Politics Tap dancers of all ages and abilities took to the stage Jan. 7 at the Royal Room in Columbia City for the Seattle Tap Jam. The event was hosted by Tap dance instructor Jesse Sawyers. M AP PHOTO/SILVIA IZQUIERDO,FILE See SMITH on page 3 In this Nov. 13, 2017 photo, a woman with the word “Legalize” painted on her mouth marches against a recent congressional committee vote to make abortion illegal without exception nationwide, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Abortion is currently allowed in cases of rape, a pregnancy that threatens a woman’s life or a fetus with anencephaly, but the committee adopted a measure that would remove those exceptions. Women Speak On Illegal Abortion in Brazil page 10 Blank Panther Movie Excitement page 6 U.S. Black Unemployment Rate Lowest Ever At 6.8 percent, rate is still nearly double its White counterpart The Skanner News he close of 2017 brought historically positive news for un- employment among African Americans nation- wide. The annual average unemployment rate for Blacks fell to 7.5 percent last year. And in Decem- ber, Black unemployment dropped to 6.8 percent — the lowest ever recorded by the US Labor Depart- ment since it started track- ing the rate back in 1972. T The Black unemploy- ment rate is still almost double its White counter- part, however, which sits at 3.7 percent. Last year’s numbers re- flect the sunnier times of 2000, when the annual av- erage for Black unemploy- ment was 7.6 percent and the monthly low swooped to seven percent in April of that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This week’s figures indi- cate that recovery from the Great Recession of 2008 is starting to reach a wider range of demographics, which is good news com- pared to the past decade. In the fallout of the fi- nancial crisis, unemploy- ment for Black Americans reached 16.8 percent in 2010. That means more than one out of every six African Americans was without work. In Oregon, unemploy- ment figures based on race are not tracked the same way “We have to use a differ- ent source of data for the Black unemployment rate, so we can’t make a direct comparison with the na- tion,” said Nick Beleiciks, state employment econo- mist with the Oregon Em- ployment Department, who added that numbers for 2017 are not yet avail- able. Even so, what the depart- ment can provide from pre- vious years tells a bleaker tale for Black Oregonians. In 2016, the unemploy- ment rate of African See UNEMPLOYMENT on page 3 What to Look for in Next Month’s Legislative Session Health care, transportation, clean air expected to take center stage in February The Skanner News he 2018 legislative session starts Feb. 5. It’s a short session — the state’s regular legislative ses- sions meet for several months in odd-numbered years, and for a month in even-numbered years. But a lot can happen in a month. The Skanner News reached out to a variety of legislators and advocacy groups to ask what readers should keep their eyes on in the weeks ahead. The final deadline to file bills is Jan. T 16 and submitted bills will not be assigned bill numbers until later this month. PHOTO BY M.O. STEVENS VIA WIKIPEDIA ultnomah County released a statement Tuesday saying Com- missioner Loretta Smith and County Chair Deborah Kafoury had their first sit-down meeting over the weekend since a Dec. 21 incident in which Kafoury addressed Smith with an expletive at the end of a county board meeting. HEALTH CARE Legislators are keeping a close eye on the fate of Measure 101, the state- wide ballot measure to The Oregon State Legislature convenes for a special short impose a temporary as- session Feb. 5. sessment on some health care organizations in order to fund the state’s budget. The bill was put the state’s health care programs. The on the ballot by a group of legislators election is Jan. 23 and its outcome who weren’t happy with sections of could have critical implications for See LEGISLATION on page 3
