October 17, 2018 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3
News
the 33-year-old Crown
Prince Mohammed bin
Salman, about the fate of
the journalist who wrote
critically about the Sau-
dis for the Washington
Post.
While it was all smiles
and handshakes in Ri-
yadh, one prominent Re-
publican senator said he
believed that the crown
prince, widely known
was ongoing.
Police planned a sec-
ond search at the Saudi
consul general’s home, as
well as some of the coun-
try’s diplomatic vehicles,
Turkey’s Foreign Min-
ister Mevlut Cavusoglu
said. Leaked surveillance
video show diplomatic
cars traveled to the con-
sul general’s home short-
ly after Khashoggi went
One prominent Republican
senator said he believed
that the crown prince,
widely known as MBS, had
Khashoggi ‘murdered’
as MBS, had Khashoggi
“murdered.”
“This guy has got to go,”
said Sen. Lindsey Gra-
ham, R-South Carolina,
speaking on Fox televi-
sion.
“Saudi Arabia, if you’re
listening, there are a lot
of good people you can
choose, but MBS has
tainted your country and
tainted himself.”
Saudi officials have
called
Turkish
alle-
gations that a team of
15 Saudi agents killed
Khashoggi
“baseless,”
but U.S. media reports
suggested that the king-
dom may acknowledge
the writer was killed at
the consulate, perhaps as
part of a botched interro-
gation.
The close U.S. ally is
ruled entirely by the Al
Saud monarchy, and all
major decisions in the
ultraconservative king-
dom are made by the roy-
al family.
The high-level Turkish
official told the AP that
police found “certain ev-
idence” of Khashoggi’s
slaying at the consulate,
without elaborating. The
official spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity be-
cause the investigation
Cannabis
into the consulate.
Consul General Mo-
hammed al-Otaibi left
Turkey Tuesday after-
noon, state media report-
ed, just as police began
putting up barricades
around his official resi-
dence.
Saudi Arabia did not
immediately
acknowl-
edge he had left or offer a
reason for his departure.
Earlier in the day, U.N.
human rights chief Mi-
chelle Bachelet said the
“inviolability or immu-
nity” of people or prem-
ises granted under the
1963 Vienna Convention
on Consular Relations
“should be waived imme-
diately.”
That convention covers
diplomatic immunity, as
well as the idea that em-
bassies and consulates
sit on foreign soil in their
host countries.
“Given there seems to
be clear evidence that
Mr. Khashoggi entered
the consulate and has
never been seen since,
the onus is on the Sau-
di authorities to reveal
what happened to him,”
Bachelet said.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
State Mailing Ballots This Week
The U.S. Postal Service began delivering ballots Oct. 17 for the Nov. 6 General Election. Multnomah County voters who do not receive a
ballot by Oct. 25 should call the county elections office at (503) 988-3720.
Voters can sign up to track their ballot and get a virtual “I Voted” sticker. A voted ballot can also be sent to the elections office with one
first-class stamp or by dropping it off at any official ballot drop site in Oregon. Official ballot drop sites include all Multnomah County
Library locations and nine 24-hour official drop sites. To find your nearest official ballot drop site, go online to bit.ly/MultCoDropSites.
Voted ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 6. For more information about the Nov. 6 General Election, please visit www.
mcelections.org.
URM
cont’d from pg 1
safe in a major earthquake.
It’s part of an ongoing push
to prepare older structures
throughout the city for a ma-
jor earthquake, including a 9.0
megaquake scientists say may hit
the Northwest region.
And while civil rights leaders
say the need to ensure commu-
nity safety is critical, they’re
unhappy with how the city has
approached seismic upgrades –
leaving vulnerable voices out in
a way that could replicate old pat-
terns of displacement and exacer-
bate gentrification.
“The only way they can make
this equitable and the only way to
make this make any sense is for
this entire process to be stopped
is to bring everyone to the ta-
ble,” said the Rev. E.D. Mondainé,
president of the NAACP Portland
branch and pastor of Celebration
Tabernacle Church.
The cost of seismic upgrades
can be “astronomical,” Mondainé
said, telling The Skanner that his
church recently paid $65,000 to
reinforce a small parapet on the
building. For lower- or middle-in-
come homeowners and small
business owners, such expenses
can be devastating.
A press release from the NAACP
also noted that the city’s own doc-
“
The cost of seis-
mic upgrades
can be ‘astro-
nomical’
umentation says its database of
buildings with unreinforced ma-
sonry – which lists about 1,600
structures – is unreliable, and so
far neither he nor other pastors
or property owners polled have
received any notification from
the city that their building is up
to code. He also likened the plac-
ard system to the city’s tagging
sites in the Albina neighborhood
as “blighted” in the 1960s and ‘70s,
forcing hundreds of individuals
in the neighborhood to relocate
without any compensation or re-
location expenses.
The process of marking the
buildings is expected to begin
in 2019, and the ordinance to re-
quire it passed with a 3-2 majori-
ty, with commissioners Nick Fish
and Chloe Eudaly abstaining.
Mondainé is also concerned
that given the likely scope of
devastation of the predicted
megaquake, the city should be
considering prioritizing safe
evacuation routes and food stor-
age rather than these buildings.
But he also said the communities
that have opposed the measure
intend to convene and talk about
next steps together.
“It’s time for it to stop. It must
be stopped. There is no other an-
tidote. It gets more ridiculous as
time goes on,” he said.
More information about the
city’s seismic retrofit project can
be found on the city’s website
at
www.portlandoregon.gov/
pbem/66306.
cont’d from pg 1
She recently worked with a cannabis
business that had just become oper-
ational, but was struggling to pay its
licensing fee for the following year.
“Something as simple as renewing
their license was about to cause them
to shut their doors,” she said.
Marijuana businesses in Portland
are regulated by the city’s cost-recov-
ery cannabis program, which is solely
funded by these very licensing and
application fees paid by local cannabis
proprietors.
Yet after some careful number
crunching, the program found it could
lower its fees and still absorb the costs
of operating.
“The (new fees) were arrived at by
looking at the number of licensees and
applicants in the past, how many were
renewed, and how many people we
think will come through the door in the
future,” said Bandon Goldner, program
coordinator of the City of Portland Can-
nabis Program. “Using the numbers
that we have, we made a conservative
estimate to make sure we’re still tak-
ing in enough revenue to fund the pro-
gram, but not taking in more than we
need.”
“
Something as sim-
ple as renewing
their license was
about to cause them
to shut their doors
Among other changes and reduc-
tions, the vote also established a So-
cial Equity Program, which offers
discounts on licensing fees for small
businesses, those owned by women or
minorities, and for businesses whose
owners or staff were impacted by can-
nabis prohibition.
That support falls in line with recent
city legislation which funnels tax rev-
enue from marijuana sales into clear-
ing records of those with past cannabis
convictions.
Tacarra Shaw is someone who under-
stands this on a personal level. More
than 10 years ago, she was busted over
what she called “a crumb” of marijuana
in her purse. As a business owner, she
would like her record expunged.
“I’m a professional and when my
background is looked up, I don’t want
anything that’s going to make me look
less than what I am, or what I’m capable
of,” Shaw said.
To ride the curve of an industry in
flux, the city is currently commission-
ing an independent market study of
Portland’s cannabis landscape, aimed
at informing the next wave of regula-
tion changes.
Moreover, Portland is compiling
a Cannabis Policy Oversight Team,
scheduled to meet in February 2019,
which will advise the city on all canna-
bis-related public policies.
According to Shaw, it’s a call to com-
munities of color to weigh in. “Having
people of color being a part of these
new boards and having a say-so in up-
COURTESY OF MARIJUANA RETAIL REPORT
“
cont’d from pg 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY
Journalist
Jeannette Ward Horton, cannabis advocate and
Project Director/Co-Founder of NuLeaf Project.
coming policy changes is going to be
important for this path.”
Those interested in joining the over-
sight team can submit an application
before Nov. 12 at www.portlandoregon.
gov/cannabis/cpot.
