Local African American pastors will join several groups on March 2 to launch the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS.

The campaign kicks off at 11:30 a.m. in First AME Church, 1522 14th Ave.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Taylor Branch, left, greets Urban Enterprise Center Executive Director Herman McKinney at the recent Forum on Race Breakfast, held Feb. 22 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Branch, author of a series of acclaimed biographies of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was the keynote speaker at the center's 24th "It's Time to Talk" Forum on Race.

MINNEAPOLIS—Martin Luther King III expressed hope that the dispute over the future of the nonprofit center that bears his father's name can be resolved soon.

As the Oregon Department of Transportation prepares to deliver its largest construction program to date, we continue to look for opportunities to position the agency for success.

VeriLAN Inc. this week announced that it has secured private placement investment to bolster its efforts to provide wireless services to cities nationwide. With this new financial backing, VeriLAN, under its Digital Cities initiative, submitted a request for proposal to the city of Long Beach, Calif., to deploy, operate, maintain and own a citywide Wireless Fidelity Network.

Members of Sisters in Action for Power take to the streets Wednesday to protest the negative effect of the federal No Child Left Behind Act on educational funding.

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.

These are the poignant words of Carter G. Woodson, who founded Negro History Week in 1926. Woodson created an additional bit of Black history in his own right -- he entered high school at the age of 20, graduated in two years and went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Of Oregon's children who could qualify for privately or publicly funded health care, 25 percent — or 117,000 — are still going without health insurance, according to a survey conducted by a family physician from Oregon Health & Science University.

Conducted by Dr. Jen DeVoe, the survey of low-income families enrolled in Oregon's food stamp program determined that the percentage of children without health insurance has risen from 10.1 percent in 2002 to 12.3 percent in 2004.
"Twenty-five percent of eligible children without coverage is quite a staggering number, especially when they qualify for coverage," DeVoe said. "We have existing programs that we think are covering these children, but they aren't covered. There's a lot of work to be done."

Low-income children most likely to go without health insurance are Hispanic, aged 14 and older and in families whose income approached the higher end of the low-income threshold. In some cases, they had an employed but uninsured parent.

On the first Thursday of every month, when the galleries of the Pearl District invite the public…

WOODBURN, Ore.—Many minority parents are not getting involved in their children's…