Seattle — It took more than 30 years and an accidental drug overdose to return high school dropout Alfred White to the classroom after decades of working on the street as a pimp and drug dealer.

ATLANTA—Coca-Cola Co. took its observance of Black History international with a celebration in Nassau, Bahamas.
Recently, more than 60 Coca-Cola consumer sweepstakes winners and guests from across the country participated in a one-of-a kind historical adventure during the company's Journey to Bahamas.

As the neighborhoods of inner North and Northeast Portland have changed over the years, the area's favorite annual festival has evolved right along with them. The Good in the Neighborhood Multicultural Music and Food Festival returns this weekend for the 14th time, complete with the lineup of music, food and activities that locals have come to expect.
"We're going to have a lot of the same entertainers and vendors that have been with us since Day 1," said festival Chair Cheryl Roberts. "But what I've noticed this year is the new energy from the new community members and new entertainers who want to come on board this year."

A new report issued by the Oregon Department of Human Services concludes that employees of a former Portland-area vermiculate processing plant were exposed to asbestos.
The report, called a public health consultation, said employees working at Vermiculite Northwest from 1967 to 1994 were exposed to asbestos in vermiculite mined at Libby, Mont. The Portland plant at 2302 N. Harding St. processed more than 193,000 tons of the mineral, used in attic-insulation manufacture and as a soil additive.

Judge Adrienne Nelson, left, chats with Pauline Bradford, president of the Harriet Tubman Club, at a recent meeting of the Oregon Association of Colored Women's Clubs.

Seattle school officials are finding ways to accommodate the needs of a growing Muslim student population without compromising the separation of church and state.
Federal and state law prohibit teacher-led prayer in public schools, as well as student-led prayer at school events or religious programs. But students have a legal right to pray on their own in private or in groups.
The challenge comes in allowing students to pray without disrupting class.

The sixth annual Block Walk and Community Wellness Festival will be on June 24 at the Rainier Beach Community Center, 8825 Rainier Ave. S.

VANCOUVER, Wash.—Shareefah Abdullah, founder and president of the Vancouver-based Hot Ovations Communications Coaching & Training Co., has won a coveted Bronze Beacon award from the Oregon Columbia International Association of Business Communicators. 

Metro will work with a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify and inventory petroleum-based brownfield sites throughout the region.

Harold Lloyd Warren Sr. died on June 11 at the age of 59.