Around the state

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Holocaust education added to curriculum — Oregon will require public schools to teach about the Holocaust under a measure sent to the governor. Lawmakers unanimously voted Tuesday to add Holocaust instruction to the curriculum starting in the 2019-20 school year. Ten other states require some level of genocide education. A recent poll found that 1 in 5 American millennials surveyed were unfamiliar with the Holocaust. Some say those awareness gaps can have consequences. The Anti-Defamation League reports that anti-Semitic incidents at K-12 schools quadrupled from 2015 to 2017. Rep. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, says the bill honors Holocaust survivor Alter Wiener, who died last year. Sollman says Wiener spoke publicly about his Nazi concentration camps and hoped that “by sharing his painful story over and over, history would not repeat itself.”

Oregon man arraigned in disappearance of woman, young son — An Oregon man arrested Friday in Portland following the disappearance of a Salem woman and their 3-year-old son has been arraigned and will be held without bail. Michael Wolfe, 52, appeared in court Tuesday and will remain in the Yamhill County Jail. Neither Karissa Fretwell nor William has been found, but authorities believe they have probable cause to charge Wolfe with kidnapping and aggravated murder. An affidavit filed Tuesday indicates Fretwell and Wolfe were together around the time Fretwell and William disappeared May 13. The affidavit says Wolfe told police he had no recent contact with them and didn’t know where they were. Documents show Wolfe had recently been ordered to pay over $900 a month in child support and that a babysitter told investigators that Wolfe and his wife had threatened to take custody of the boy.

Job training centers to close — The Trump administration said it will close two U.S. Forest Service job training centers in Oregon and Washington. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that the Timber Lake Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Estacada and the Fort Simcoe center near Yakima, Washington, are two of nine facilities nationwide that will close. The job centers offer programs in vocational fields like forestry and renewable resources, hospitality and construction. They offer no-cost vocational training targeting low-income, at-risk youth. The programs include room and board and some paid on-the-job training opportunities.

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