Mayor Tom Potter and Pastor Mary Overstreet relax at Irving Park after working together at the Annual People of Purpose Associates Re-Tilling the Soil event July 12. Groups tidied up Cornerstone Community Church, Jefferson High School and the Mallory Apartments in North Portland.

Jennifer J.W. Doncan (right) gives an award to Mariah Taylor for her work with the Jefferson High School Senior Class CommUnity Quilt Project at an awards ceremony for volunteers who have assisted in many of Doncan's projects. Doncan is the founder and coordinator of the quilt project, the Jefferson Multicultural Film Festival and the Crossing Borders Award. The CommUnity Quilt Project calls on members of the community to build a themed quilt for each senior class at JHS, which will be auctioned off during the 10 year reunion. The money from the auction will be put toward a scholarship for a Jefferson student.

CINCINNATI (NNPA) — As Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain addressed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's 99th convention Wednesday, he sounded as though he realizes that he will never be more popular than Barack Obama among Black voters.
"I am a candidate that seeks your vote and hopes to earn it," McCain said. "But whether or not I win your support, I need your goodwill and your counsel and should I succeed, I'll need it all the more."
McCain offered thickly spread compliments to the civil rights organization, calling it "an association that means more to me than any other," despite a pattern of eschewing its outreach to candidates during the primaries and opposition to its policies.
In somewhat sheepish tones, McCain began his speech with an apology for snubbing the NAACP's presidential debate last year. 
"I hope you'll excuse me for passing on the opportunity at your convention last year and not being here," he said. "As you may recall, I was a bit distracted with dealing with what reporters called an implosion in my campaign, but I'm glad you invited me again." McCain also declined to address the convention in 2000 when he was a presidential candidate....

LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - Health advocates recently gathered at the New Orleans Vieux Carre Restaurant here to discuss causes of skyrocketing HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Black women. HIV/STD reports indicate that 2.8 million new cases of Chlamydia and HIV/AIDS infections are among women, but the majority of the women who make up these new cases are African American....

Oregon Action Executive Director JoAnn Bowman speaks at the kickoff of a new national movement for universal health care. The event, held at the Garlington Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, drew dozens of local grassroots activists. ...

In Portland, there are about 300 murder cases that have gone cold. And the number keeps rising. Whenever a murder case goes unsolved and the leads dry up, Sgt. Paul Weatheroy steps in.
Weatheroy is in charge of the Cold Case Homicide Unit, a nearly 4-year-old team of detectives assigned to solve the city's most unsolveable cases. But an overload of cases — and a lack of manpower and resources — means Cold Case detectives haven't been able to manage as many cases as they would like.
"Every single day I get calls," Weatheroy told The Skanner.
So in order to provide families closure and get more murderers off the street, Weatheroy began asking retired detectives and investigators to help out with the old cases....

The Skanner News Group won three honors at the National Newspaper Publishers Association national convention last week in Louisville, KY, including the prestigious 2008 A. Phillip Randolph Messenger Award.
Considered the very highest honor given in the field of African American journalism, The Skanner's former news editor, Helen Silvis, has now won the prize twice for the newspaper, in 2005 and in 2008....

In the 1950s, the American Medical Association recognized that addiction was a medical condition. Today, a handful of states are implementing programs that are trying to expand the role the medical community plays in reducing the harm associated with drug abuse and addiction.
Since January, Oregon has encouraged doctors to verbally screen their patients for signs of substance abuse indicators. While doctors have used routine physicals and other visits to screen for signs of addictive behaviors for years ...

What's happening for you in your City 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.

Joey Thomas, a cornerback for the Miami Dolphins shows Jamar Kemp, 11, how to run a route at the second annual Joey Thomas "Make It Happen" Youth Football Camp. Thomas, who recently signed with the Dolphins, played at John F. Kennedy High School in Burien. About 100 boys and girls ages 6 to 14 attended the camp on July 7 and 8. 

Photo by Susan Fried