The Skanner News Group

07/07/2025

On Saturday, July 5, leaders of the nation’s top civil rights organizations held a media briefing in response to the passage of a regressive federal tax bill that will rob millions of Americans of health insurance and food assistance while extending massive tax breaks to the wealthy.
Among Those Participating Were:
-National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial,
-National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton,
-National Coalition on Black Civic Participation President and CEO Melanie Campbell,
-Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law President and Executive Director Damon Hewitt,
-Legal Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel Janai Nelson, and
-National Council of Negro Women President and CEO Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley.

16/06/2025

Masses of demonstrators packed into streets, parks and plazas across the United States on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump, marching through downtowns and small towns, blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights.

Organizers of the “No Kings” demonstrations said millions had marched in hundreds of events. Governors across the U.S. had urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering.

Confrontations were isolated. But police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raidserupted a week earlier and sparked demonstrations across the country, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended. Officers in Portland also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening.

And in Salt Lake City, Utah, police were investigating a shooting during a march downtown that left one person critically injured. Three people were taken into custody, including a man believed to be the shooter, who also suffered a gunshot wound, according to Police Chief Brian Redd.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Demonstrators came out in cities across the U.S. to protest President Donald Trump. Organizers of Saturday's “No...

09/06/2025

☀️ Today's News Roundup - Albina Settlement, WA Police Use-of-Force, PCC Panthers Star, Troops in LA, and more https://mailchi.mp/theskanner/todays-news-roundup-j88xy2ybku

02/06/2025

☀️ News Roundup - Vanport Mosaic Festival, Tulsa's Black Mayor Reparations, DEI Good for Business, and more https://mailchi.mp/theskanner/news-roundup-a7lle9mezi

28/05/2025

Today's Top Stories - Prosper Portland Funding, Community Townhall, Harvard Cuts, Charles Rangel, and more https://mailchi.mp/theskanner/todays-top-stories-e8692vto95

22/05/2025

As the city council met Wednesday in a marathon session to approve the city’s annual budget, the future of Prosper Portland appeared to hang in the balance.

It is the first such budget process under the city’s new form of government, and the now 12-member council had more than 120 proposed amendments to consider before the midnight deadline. One of the most contentious of those amendments was put forward by councilors Jamie Dunphy and Mitch Green: to defund what was formerly known as the Portland Development Commission, and which now serves as the city’s economic development and small business support branch.

But Prosper Portland, its partners and supporters argue that such a move would be counterproductive to the city’s mission of inclusive economic development. Ernesto Fonseca, CEO of Hacienda CDC, told The Skanner that the proposed cuts to Prosper Portland would mean the end of one of his organization’s successful small business programs.

Two city councilors suggest ending city’s funding to wide-reaching economic development agency.

20/05/2025

Trump Alleges ‘Genocide’ in South Africa. White Afrikaner Farmers Reject That

Days before South Africa’s president meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Afrikaner farmers at the center of an extraordinary new U.S. refugee policy roamed a memorial to farm attacks in their country’s agricultural heartland, some touching the names of the dead — both Black and white.
https://www.theskanner.com/news/world/36839-trump-alleges-genocide-in-south-africa-white-afrikaner-farmers-reject-that

13/05/2025

Editor’s note: This essay by Donovan M. Smith was originally published in The Skanner News’ 50th Anniversary special issue.

My years at The Skanner News marked an era when the Black Lives Matter movement began to sweep America. From the streets to the presidential debate stage, the cries for racial justice at the hands of the state reached a fever pitch. The names of young men gunned down like Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown acted as stand-ins for the countless many whose tragedies never reached the national consciousness.

Publishing in one of the whitest cities in America – long before George Floyd

01/05/2025

42 lawmakers write to RFK Jr. demanding answers on Trump admin’s actions undermining Head Start

42 lawmakers write to RFK Jr. demanding answers on Trump admin’s actions undermining Head Start as Trump reportedly plans to...

01/05/2025

SB 611 would extend food benefits to all eligible young children, regardless of immigration status.

SB 611 would extend food benefits to all eligible young children, regardless of immigration status.