Is Howard Mitchell El Gato Negro? Or is El Gato Negro Howard Mitchell? Even the artist himself has trouble differentiating the two at times.
"I like reinventing myself," Mitchell told The Skanner about his penname, given to him by friends some years ago. The independent filmmaker, formerly of Seattle, has been living in Portland for 8 months now and has already nearly completed filming a shoestring budget short film, "Throwing Rocks at Boys," about the friendship and struggles of life between two young women.
On the set – which has been filming at various locations around Portland for the last several weeks – Mitchell says he is extremely serious. Sometimes, he admits, he borders on the tyrannical.
"I realized I could be quite difficult," he says. "I get very serious on set. … It's not a democracy."
Which could be why he feels the need to be called "El Gato Negro" when he's working. With a very limited budget, underpaid cast and crew and limited time and patience from everyone on set...

Juvenile crime in Multnomah County dropped 11 percent in 2007, according to a new report from the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice.
The department's annual survey also found that juvenile recidivism is at the lowest rate in six years, and that the rate fell more sharply than the statewide average.
Compared to Oregon's overall rate of recidivism, which decreased by half of one percent from 2005 to 2006, Multnomah County's re-incarceration rate decreased 1. 9 percent.
Dave Koch, Assistant Director of the Department of Community Justice, oversees the juvenile division. The department serves approximately 1,000 youth and 9,000 adults. 
"It's probably the steepest decline in one year that we've ever seen," Koch said...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ Minority enrollment increased at Oregon's seven colleges and universities over the past decade, but just barely, and not as fast as the state's general and high school populations.

The number of minority faculty at the universities also increased only marginally, by 1 percentage point to 9 percent in 2007-08...

NEW ORLEANS (NNPA) - Tears dripped down her face as she searched for her missing suitcase in the busy New Orleans bus station.  

"It had my ID, my children's birth certificates, my money and my credit cards," she softly cried. It was Sunday morning, one week after she was bused out of New Orleans to a military base in Arkansas. She was supposed to be at work. Her three children needed her. But she needed that suitcase...

Home for at least two months, soldiers with a combat brigade still are in the fight.
They've stopped fighting in Iraq and begun grappling with the memories and trauma of their 14-month deployment.
In turn, the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is arming soldiers and families with information like never before so combat-related stress doesn't destroy relationships or lead to alcoholism, suicide or murder.
Post-traumatic stress disorder has taken a heavy toll on soldiers, many of whom have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq three or four times. The Army now requires soldiers to undergo psychological screening before and after a deployment to identify problems, and has hired more counselors to treat them.
The leadership of an infantry battalion took another step. The officers invited a PTSD expert to speak to the soldiers and the families of the entire brigade after its return...

For lovers of live music, MusicFest Northwest offers one of the largest lineups of musical performances in the Pacific Northwest. From Wednesday, Sept. 3 to Saturday, Sept. 6, hundreds of bands will perform all over Portland for the festival, now in its eighth year....

A  South Carolina pastor and his church claim they own the building that houses a so-called Klan museum and store where KKK robes and T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs are sold, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday....

What's happening for you in Portland this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below.

What's happening for you in Seattle this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below.

Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, finally spoke to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night and to the American people. Some love her, some hate her. Here is the full text of her speech...