Betty Walker runs to meet the school bus when it pulls up outside her door. But the wide-eyed 7-year-old who comes into the house and asks for his Mickey Mouse doll is not Walker's son or grandson. Alimasi is one of Walker's two foster children.
"This is a seven day job, 24 hours a day," Walker said. "People sometimes think I stay home all day doing nothing, but it's rare to have one or two days a week when you don't have a meeting or something you need to do. You can keep yourself really busy."....

What's happening for us this week in Portland?

Click below to find out ....

The African Children's Choir performed Friday, Nov. 9 at the First Covenant Church in Seattle. The choir, whose members range in age from 7 to 11, are from Uganda and have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The concert was a fund-raiser to help pay for schools and emergency relief in Uganda and other African countries.

In front of a record crowd of 68,331, the Seattle Seahawks shutout the San Francisco 49ers in front of a nationally televised audience on "Monday Night Football" at Qwest Field.
The Seahawks are now 5-4 and led the NFC West by one game ahead of the Arizona Cardinals with the 24-0 win over the 49ers.
Coach Mike Holmgren said ....

Washington State moved up this year from the 15th to the 12th healthiest state in the country, according to a new report.  The state's strengths included a significant decrease in infant mortality and fewer children in poverty. However, a profile of the state's African Americans showed significant health disparities.
The report, "America's Health Rankings," an annual list compiled by the United Health Foundation, is based on an analysis of 14 health determinants and six outcome ....

More information about scholarships and training opportunities ...

More than 300 prospective buyers attended the 2007 African American Home Buying Fair on Sat. Oct. 27, and over 52 vendors, and 65 individuals participated in the on-going workshops. Cheryl Roberts, executive director of the African American Alliance for Homeownership said the event was successful in educating prospective buyers about the resources available in the community. Roberts expressed her gratitude for all the sponsors who made the fair possible. ....

The Skanner 22nd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast will be held on Monday January 21, 2008, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at the Hilton Portland Executive Tower Hotel, 921 SW 6th Avenue, Portland. Reserve your table at  [email protected] ....

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- A state judge has agreed to open the trial of a Black teenager accused of beating a White school mate in a case that has drawn nationwide attention and fueled civil rights protests in Louisiana.
District Judge J.P. Mauffray agreed Thursday to open the trial of Mychal Bell, 17, but noted in a court filing that he was not required to open pretrial hearings. Typically, juvenile trials are closed to the public.

"They said, 'We're looking for a fat boy from Chicago,'" Parker remembered.
The pair were looking for his cousin, Emmett Till, after the 14-year-old Black child had whistled at a White woman outside a Money, Miss., grocery store a few days before.
They found Till and dragged him out of the house. The boy's body was found a few days later in the Tallahatchie River, strapped to a cotton gin fan. The incident is credited with helping spark the civil rights movement.
"I was in the home when they took him. They came to my room first," said the 68-year-old Parker, who lives outside Chicago. "I'm thinking I'm going to get killed. I think I had the whole bed shaking ...