Oregon State Sen. Avel Gordly, after receiving The Skanner Foundation's Drum Major for Justice Award, talked to the crowd of over 1,000 about the importance of community-based mental health centers. She called upon Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (left) and Senate President (right) Peter Courtney to act to protect patients at the Oregon State Hospital.

Charges of domestic violence have been dropped against Seattle Councilmember Richard McIver after a judge ruled that statements his wife made to police were hearsay.
Marlaina Kiner-McIver gave two different accounts of an argument to 9-1-1 operators and police, and has refused to testify at trial against her husband of 30 years. The Oct. 10 9-1-1 call Kiner-McIver placed stated that the couple had gotten into a purely verbal argument after McIver had come home after several drinks...

NAIVASHA, Kenya -- Ethnic clashes convulsed western Kenya on Sunday as gangs fought with crude weapons and set homes ablaze in this tourist gateway, pushing the death toll from a month of violence over the country's flawed presidential election to nearly 800.
The bloodshed -- with Sunday marking exactly one month since the Dec. 27 vote -- has transformed this once-stable African country, pitting longtime neighbors against each other and turning towns where tourists used to gather for luxury holidays into no-go zones....

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) -- Overwhelming support from Black voters fueled Barack Obama to a decisive win over Hillary Rodham Clinton in South Carolina's primary, a boost to his campaign just 10 days before a coast-to-coast presidential nomination competition in which nearly half the U.S. states will vote.
Former Sen. John Edwards, who has yet to win any of the early state contests, finished third Saturday, a sharp setback in his native state, where he triumphed in the 2004 campaign....

Thanks to globalization, many blue-collar manufacturing jobs have packed up and left the country. Workers in developing countries will do the same jobs, but for far less money. And costs for employers are lower all round. For American workers, however, this exodus has left a huge void where traditional living wage jobs used to be. Now a new environmental justice movement says the future security of working class families will depend on "green collar" jobs.
"The chief moral obligation of the 21st Century is to build a green economy that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty,"....

This week Mayor Tom Potter moved his office to Jefferson High School. Here he is pictured along with students Sheree Bull, 16, and Tiana Rasin, 17, at a Listening Lunch circle. At the circle, the mayor and other representatives from city and state government ate with students and listened to student views on the on important issues affecting them and their school.

Hate crimes, discrimination in employment, housing and justice. Communities all over the world are struggling to find solutions to the problem of discrimination based on race, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, or religion — and Portland is no different.
That's why this week, after four years without any governmental office whose mission is dealing with discrimination, Mayor Potter brought legislation to the city council that will create a new human relations commission, to handle discrimination claims, educate the public about the issues, advocate for equality and advise other agencies and organizations.
"I'm truly excited by the possibilities …," Mayor Potter said last week. "I think the time is right and the growing diversity of Portland demands it....

For the Weiss/Parker family, each New Year means another opportunity to continue a precious family tradition: giving blood at the Red Cross along with their relatives the Parkers. This year, on Jan. 5, Dr. T. Allen Bethel and Charles W. Hunter Sr., community activists and ministers came to the American Red Cross donor center in North Portland to learn how giving blood has become a 33-year tradition for this Oregon family.
Morris Weiss inaugurated the custom in 1976 by as a "Living New Year's Resolution to give the "Gift of Life."  During his lifetime he donated 22 gallons of blood.

Retired Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez talks with Powerful Reading tutor Kathryn Bryson at the 2008 Powerful School Kick Off Party Jan. 13 at the Mt. Baker Community Clubhouse.  Edgar Martinez and his wife Holli sponsored the event for the nationally recognized non-profit organization that works with several thousand students in seven elementary schools in southeast Seattle to improve achievement in reading writing and the arts.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Historic housing and lending discrimination against Black Americans has created a significant discrepancy in their overall wealth – a gap that may take reparations to close, according to research published by two Oregon State University faculty members.
Jonathan Kaplan, associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy, and Andrew Valls, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, published their study in the July issue of Public Affairs Quarterly. In the study, they argue for a shift from viewing reparations in the framework of slavery to emphasizing relatively recent housing discrimination practices which continue to put people of color at a disadvantage.
The average Black American has only about 15 percent as much wealth as the average White American, even though Black Americans earn about 60 percent as much as White Americans. And at every income level, White Americans have much more wealth than Blacks.