And 1st at 5 new video
just into The Newsroom,
it shows just how quickly a Beaverton
apartment building went up in flames.
Look at that, this quickly
turned into a two alarm fire,
damaging 4 units.
And now 10 people are without a home.
Thanks for joining us this evening.
I'm David Molko,
how that video?
Is it just incredible?
And I'm Laurel Porter.
Joe Raineri joins us from Beaverton,
where crews are still trying to
determine what started this fire.
And Joe witnesses say this is really
incredible that the flames were so hot.
The front. Door actually melted.
Well, David Laurel.
When firefighters got out here
last night at the Menlo Park
apartments here in Beaverton,
they tell me that the flames
were going about as high as
that second level of that unit.
Now it was these two units on the
end that suffered the most damage,
but thankfully nobody was hurt.
Now the fire started around 8:30 last
night and it quickly turned into a
two alarm fire as the flames started
to spread to three other units.
A total of 4 units were damaged
and 10 people from the different
units were displaced.
The Red Cross was out here last night.
Working with the families to find
temporary housing crews were putting
out hot spots when they discovered
something on the front porch and once
they cleared some debris from a cage,
they discovered the family,
the family's pet.
We were able to round up the Bunny
inside the cage and then brought
it over to one of the gals in
the family to reunite the Bunny
with her and she was very happy.
And that, again, that Bunny was OK.
And again everyone that was out
here in these units last night
was able to get out safely.
As you can see from the backyard out here.
Still lots of burned debris and what
used to be people personal property
out here and a fire crews are still
trying to determine what led up to this
'cause this fire out here last night.
And Beaverton Joe Raineri KGW news.
Well I hope those displaced families
get a lot of support and we're so glad
they all got out safely. Thank you, Joe.
A vote tomorrow will decide if a yam Hill
County Commissioner will keep her job.
Galen Ettlin joins us now
from Mcminnville, and Galen.
This is the second recent recall
effort like this one for that area.
That's exactly right Laurel.
We followed that recent recall
effort against two Newburgh School
Board members very recently,
and that one did not pass.
Now. This latest one,
however, is against County
Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer,
a group called Save in Hill County claims
her policies have favored self interest,
and her donors rather than
people of the county.
They say this has cost the county
millions of dollars to now.
One example that's contested is
a trail project that she blocked
saying it would infringe on farmers
land rights and would potentially.
Connect transit to the Portland area,
which she argues voters here do
not want but recall advocates
say it's much deeper than that.
Now you're going to hear from Erin Chen with,
say, VM Hill County first,
then Commissioner Bush hours response.
She wasn't representing the
needs of Yam Hill County.
She wasn't representing the needs
of the people who lived here.
When I ran, I was very clear
about what my principles were
and what my policy stances were.
Obviously there's thousands
of people that voted for you,
and now there's thousands of people
who are pushing for this recall.
What common ground do you think that
you can find to bridge that gap?
As long as we can find a way to work
together without compromising on values,
my purpose was not self interested.
It wasn't self motivated.
Over the last few months,
the debate has gotten heated.
Both sides say they've
received attacks or threats
hosting the home address of our Recall
Pack director Lynette Shaw on her
Facebook and telling people, you know,
go give her a piece of your mind.
She has since received threatening
letters at that address,
you know, death threats.
None of it's good,
right that we don't want to have that
level of discourse we we should be
able to have healthy political debates
and and be able to agree to disagree.
So it's not something I support,
but it does go both ways and I will
respond and I will stand up for myself.
Savion Hill County says it's
represented by independents,
liberals and conservatives alike,
but Commissioner Berschauer,
who is Conservative,
says this is a progressive
push to get her out of office.
Now ballots are due tomorrow.
People can mail them or they can drop
them off at a box like the one behind me.
Back to you, Galen ettlin macvin milk there.
Thank you very much, GAIL and well,
we've talked a lot about kids going
back to school in person this year,
so we thought
it was time to check in on how
things are going for students
who choose to stay virtual.
So we reached out to Salem.
Keizer public schools,
whose edge online learning
program is in its second year.
Administrators say it's not
the same as just the distance
learning so many parents remember
from early in the pandemic,
because now there are lots of
live instruction opportunities,
and this is really interesting.
While a number of public school
districts expect a drop in in
person enrollment next year,
the Edge program actually
doesn't anticipate the same.
And we're seeing about the same
number of students that are saying,
hey, we're going to go back
to in person next year.
That is about the same number of
families that are saying, hey,
we'd like to come to online next year.
Salem, Keizer and Beaverton schools
already had plans to develop an
online option for students before
the pandemic, but they plan to
keep it around long term now.
Portland Public also plans to keep
the option available next year.
By the way, registration in Salem,
Keizer and Beaverton.
That's already open for next school year,
and Portland plans to open theirs in May
with the increase in gun violence.
Throughout the area of the city of
Gresham is taking a new approach to
helping young people avoid the violence.
Bryant Clerkley spoke to the people in
charge of his new effort today and Brian.
They got quite a bit of federal
money to start this program.
That's right, Laurel Gresham City Hall
approved the $2,000,000 grant from the
American Rescue Plan Act late last year.
Much of that money will be spent
on activities and resources for
young people, so they'll hopefully
stay out of trouble. There's
definitely been a spike in gun violence,
spiking shootings, and we understand
what COVID this past two years.
They've had no services.
Morsel Frazier is the youth
Violence prevention coordinator
with the city of Gresham.
The role is new and part of Frazier's
job is investing the $2,000,000 grant
money into community based organizations
to provide services for young people.
The goal is to keep them out of trouble.
We just want to provide them positive
ITI something to do and really to.
Occupy their time because right now you know.
Friday, Saturday Sundays.
Those are dangerous times for our youth,
so our community based organizations.
They've been around some
as long as 20-30 years.
They've already been doing great work.
Now they have funding to come
do some of that great work and
Gresham Youth Services manager
Emon Ghasemi says they will largely
focus on events and activities.
Our first program actually
will be starting here in April,
and that's going to be night
time basketball and that'll
be at HP Lee Middle School.
It really will be.
Focus for middle and high
school students that will just
kind of give him an outlet to
to for for Friday evenings.
The division is still in its planning stages.
They're also working on internship programs.
Young people can participate in. Ghasemi says
they will continue to speak with
the community to get feedback
on what other services they can
provide when they're young,
maybe 10-11 years old,
get them into programs that will occupy
their time all the way to their 18,
which will hopefully lead
them into a productive life.
There will be more activities
and events to come.
You can check the Gresham City
website for more info and the
grant for the violence prevention
program will last until June 2023.
There is a chance it
could be extended. Thank
you Bryant. To the war in Ukraine.
Now the Ukrainian Government is refusing
to give in to Russian demands of
surrender in a strategic port town.
Russian forces have been relentlessly
assaulting the city of Mariupol.
Russia wants Ukraine to hand
it over in exchange for safe
passage for trapped civilians.
Ukraine is staying defiant.
There is no negotiation.
There is no trust.
There is no belief in Putin goodwill.
We can only fight and get what we need.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
has hailed those who are fighting,
saying, quote resistance for
Ukrainians is part of their soul.
And tonight on NBC Nightly News,
it's the stories of survivors
resisting the siege and Maria Pole.
The city has been cut off without food,
water or electricity for almost a month now.
Now in an emotional interview,
NBC's Gabe Gutierrez spoke with
a resident who made it out.
But says the screams of her
neighbors now haunt her.
What will you miss most about your home?
He lives the lives of people who died.
A staggering toll, a look inside the
tactics and tear within Mario Pole that's
coming up on NBC Nightly News at 5:30,
along with complete coverage of the
day's developments out of Ukraine.