Sen. Barack Obama receives an endorsement from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson during his visit to Portland on March 21. Thousands packed into Memorial Coliseum to see the presidential hopeful speak.

Ailey School choreographer and teaching artist Astrid von Ussar teaches dance to 5th grade students Monday as part of the Revelations Residency at the African American Academy. She also taught at Zion Preparatory Academy earlier in the day. The week-long residency includes learning original choreography, writing, dance history and literature. Students were given tickets to Sunday's matinee performances of the Alvin Ailey dancers.

Civil rights groups in Seattle are launching a last-ditch campaign against a bill they say would encourage racial profiling. The anti-gang bill passed through both houses in the Washington state legislature without drawing serious public attention, and has now reached Gov. Gregoire's desk, awaiting her signature to become law.
But opposition to the bill, led by civil rights activists and community leaders, has rapidly grown. Opponents say the bill would justify racial profiling and they have asked Gov. Gregoire veto it.
"We want the governor to just veto the whole bill," said KKNW radio host Keith Tucker, who has publicized the campaign against the bill on his show, The Keith Tucker Show (1150 AM). "It definitely is mostly people of color who will be impacted by this bill. White kids could be unfairly targeted too, but we know for sure that people of color will be impacted the most, because they already are anyway."
In Portland, the drug-free exclusion zones ordinance was dropped because of concerns about racial disparities in enforcement. Yet the prevalence of racial profiling is still under debate.
Introduced to the Washington House of Representatives by a bipartisan group of legislators including, Rep. Christopher Hurst, a Democrat representing parts of King and Pierce counties; ...

America imprisons more of its citizens than any other country in the world. That statement holds true if you're talking about percentage of the population or looking at sheer numbers. We've known this for a while. We knew it when the Pew Center for the States released its latest report on the issue, Feb. 28.

When Paul Knauls booked his stay at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash., he asked for a nonsmoking room. Knauls, the owner of Geneva's Shear Perfection salon and barbershop in Portland, is allergic to cigarette smoke and finds it difficult to breathe freely in smoky places.
But when he arrived in his room, his eyes started to water. "I said honey, this is not a nonsmoking room. So I got on the phone and called down to reception. I asked for another room, but she said 'I'm sorry sir, but we're all sold out for this weekend.' ...

Bus riders in Seattle will enjoy more frequent service on major bus routes thanks to a partnership agreement between Metro Transit and the city of Seattle, approved today by the Metropolitan King County Council. The agreements are implemented as part of the voter-approved "Transit Now" initiative.
"Transit Now" set aside 90,000 hours of bus service for service partnerships with businesses and local cities throughout King County, with the goal of increasing transit service on major urban corridors. ...

The African American Healthy Marriage Initiative held a "Strengthening the Family Summit" Tuesday to talk about what makes a healthy marriage, how to be a good father, and how to raise happy, confident children. These are not exactly the simple little problems of life, so what lay behind the event?
"We wanted to start to have a national public conversation about healthy relationships and marriage within the Black community," said Diann Dawson, Director of Regional Operations for U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.
"We felt a need to have an initiative where we could begin to have conversations about the sensitive issues that we need to deal with and that we wanted to make sure that marriage education, as it was beginning to unveil on the federal level ... would be culturally competent,"...

A hip hop concert in Tacoma was canceled March 14 after police raised concerns about gang activity. Organizers say neither they nor their artists are gang members, but were profiled because of their race and involvement in hip hop culture. 
Tacoma's Pantages Theater, located on the edge of the city's most African American neighborhood, has a strong record of diversity – in its board and its activities.
"We are very committed to the African American community as our core community," said David Fischer, the theater's executive director. The theater's performers and events have included: T.S. Monk; slam poet Saul Williams; the Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars; and Brian Copeland's play "Not a Genuine Black Man, Fischer said.
"And that's just this season."

What's happening for me in Portland this week? For a full calendar of free events please click on "Read the complete article" below.

Department  AssistantSpringfield, Oregon. Under the general supervision of the Public Works…