The federal agency responsible for preparing the country to cope with terrorist threats and natural disasters, the Department of Homeland Security, is one of the least accountable and poorest managed federal agencies.
That's according to the administration's own ratings. The 2008 President's Management Agenda Scorecard, published June 30, which measures the efficiency of federal agencies, found that on three out of five performance measures the Department of Homeland Security has "serious flaws." Only the U.S. Veterans Administration was rated equally poorly in three areas.  The Department of Defense was the only other federal agency to receive the lowest rating for its efforts to improve performance. Rep. Peter DeFazio, the single Oregonian in Congress assigned to a Homeland Security Committee, said the department is too large and disparate to function well.
"Homeland Security has been disastrous," DeFazio told the Skanner. "It's a $40 billion bureaucracy.

Portland Development CommissionThe Urban Renewal Agency for the City of Portland, OregonPortland is…

Being the first in the nation to do something is never easy. And Monique Hall's voter registration efforts are no exception.
The mother of eight children is helping to organize a voter registration drive lead by the Parent Policy Council at a number of Portland-area Head Start locations

In October, Portland's urban airwaves will sound a lot more like the Northwest. Local Hip Hop impresario Cool Nutz is teaming up with the new Jammin' 107.5 FM and a cadre of local artists for the upcoming Northwest Breakout Show. Featuring quality and upcoming regional artists from Oregon, Washington and Northern California ...

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….

Norman Lawerence performs with his band on Sept. 14 at the 2008 Pike Place Market Buskers' Festival. The festival celebrated buskers – also known as street performers. Many of the Northwest's finest street performers entertained Pike Place Market visitors.

Photo by Susan Fried

The Workforce Development Council and other job training programs are being forced to cut back their services in light of million dollar deficits.
The county has won $9.5 million from the statewide Employment Security Department to bolster workers' skills and help connect them to better jobs.
The agency's yearly grant, however, is $1 million less than the council received last year. The Employment Security Department, which receives the funds from the federal Department of Labor, also received $3 million less on the state level. "We've had to cut back our programs," said Margret Graham, a planner for the Workforce Development Council of Seattle King County. "We've received less for the past five years."
Coming during the country's economic downturn, a decrease in funding is squeezing the council to do more with less. With unemployment rates rising, the demand for re-training workers or the unemployed has increased.
"We've had to become more creative with less staff people," said Graham. "There is always more need than we can meet."
On the national level, the Workforce Initiative Act (WIA) has distributed $3.35 billion dollars for the 2008 fiscal year for employment training programs across the country. This is compared with $3.41 billion in 2007 and $3.93 billion in 2006....
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The Seattle Urban League continues with its groundbreaking "To Own and Keep Your Home" counseling workshops – just in time, as it turns out....

Engineering students will soon study cutting-edge technologies for harnessing the power of the wind, sun, biomass, fuel cells and more thanks to a $150,000 gift ...