THE FASH <<In early 2021, Sammich Schott-Deputy was living in a Safe Rest Village not far from the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, wearing a GPS ankle bracelet as part of court-ordered probation. Inside the same courthouse that kept records about Schott-Deputy’s whereabouts and their upcoming court hearings, attorneys for far-right blogger Andy Ngo argued …
Tag Archives: homelessness
8/24/2023 News Roundup Part 2
HOMELESSNESS <<Deschutes County is contracting armed security guards to patrol rural homeless encampments north of Bend. The contract — worth a maximum of $25,000 — would require Compass Security and Investigations to visit the encampments in Juniper Ridge twice a day, checking on county-provided toilets and hand-washing stations. Guards carrying firearms would also assess potential …
8/17/2023 News Roundup Part 2
SPEEDY TRIAL <<Court cases across Oregon are taking longer and longer to resolve. This has a variety of consequences, including the fact that pretrial defendants are spending more time behind bars. It’s a particularly acute problem in Multnomah County, according to Oregon Judicial Department reports reviewed by WW. Less than half of criminal cases in …
8/10/2023 News Roundup
REVIEW BOARD <<A proposal for a new police oversight panel approved by voters almost three years ago will come before the Portland City Council on Aug. 31. Council members are already signaling it may be in trouble. After the George Floyd protests, 82% of Portland voters in November 2020 approved the creation of a new …
8/4/2023 News Roundup
JAIL DEATHS <<Advocates are calling for an independent investigation into the deaths of eight inmates at Multnomah County jails within the past 12 months. Five of those have occurred in just the past three months. It is an unusually high number of deaths, and the sheriff’s office announced a plan of action on Thursday that …
8/3/2023 News Roundup
SHOOTING <<Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that happened at a mobile home park in Kelso Tuesday morning. At about 7 a.m., officers responded to a hit-and-run investigation involving multiple vehicles in the South Kelso area. Police say the investigation led them to the Three Rivers Mobile Home Park at 914 South 12th Avenue. Police …
7/30/2023 News Roundup
OLCC <<The former director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission filed a tort claim notice with the state Friday alleging Gov. Tina Kotek ousted him earlier this year at the behest of La Mota CEO Rosa Cazares. Cazares, her partner Aaron Mitchell, and La Mota contributed generously to Kotek’s gubernatorial campaign. Kotek forced Steve …
7/29/2023 News Roundup
HOMELESSNESS <<For years, the areas around Hunnell and Clausen roads were filled with tents and RVs. Now, those same streets are empty and much quieter. The city of Bend completed removal of its largest homeless encampments, after a monthslong battle between officials and the dozens of people living there came to an end.>> <<Even at …
7/22/2023 News Roundup
HOMELESSNESS <<Urban Alchemy describes itself as a job-creation program for formerly incarcerated people. It was cofounded in 2018 by Lena Miller, a PhD in psychology who has spent decades on a mission to heal the affliction of violence in urban communities. She says that the traumas that the formerly incarcerated have experienced increase their emotional …
7/20/2023 News Roundup
NOT COPS <<Dozens of Portland nonprofits, businesses, advocacy groups and state lawmakers are urging the city’s elected officials to fully fund and expand Portland Street Response, the city program that sends mental health workers — instead of police — to 911 calls related to people having behavioral health crises outside. The coalition released a petition …