Muslim leaders called on authorities to step up protection for the region's Islamic community, days after a Somali-American man was accused of trying to blow up a van full of explosives during Portland's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The plea followed a fire Sunday at the Islamic center where suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud occasionally worshipped, prompting an FBI arson investigation and concern about the potential for more retaliation.

 The teenager accused of attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., was acting on his own initiative and not at the direction of any foreign terrorist organization, a law enforcement official said Saturday.

Sara Gourley isn't sure how many families they've had to turn away from free Thanksgiving Day boxes, and they're still getting calls from people who can't afford a turkey feast. The Portland Police Bureau's Sunshine Division is simply at capacity.

SEATTLE (AP) -- A vicious storm struck the Pacific Northwest and other western states at the start of the holiday travel season, dumping heavy snow on roads, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people and causing a cargo plane to overshoot its runway in Seattle.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon added 7,600 jobs in October, the biggest monthly jump in more than four years, but that was not enough to push a decline in the unemployment rate, the state Employment Department reported this week.

Criminales Todos: A Call for Artists to comment on the criminalization of communities of color ... shoes for the shoeless campaign ... Miss Black USA Seeks Oregon Entrants ... City of Portland Launches Reporting App for Android ... Public Art Unveiled at Denver Avenue Streetscaping Project ... African American Mural Exhibit Open at Oregon Historical Society

In about 30 days, after the city finishes planting vegetation in the sewer swales and cleaning up construction debris, a project that has been over 20 years in the making will be finished. Well, nearly finished, that is.

Portland Police Officer Ron Frashour, under intense scrutiny after fatally shooting the unarmed and suicidally-depressed Aaron Campbell in the back during a stand-off last January, was fired today by the Portland Police Bureau.

Many people don't realize that most churches and religious groups allow organ donation. That's why this weekend, Nov. 12-14, has been designated as National Donor Sabbath. A study for the nonprofit Donate Life showed that 25 percent of people who are not registered donors felt they needed more information before they could commit to registering, and four percent mistakenly thought their church would not allow it. In fact, all major religions support organ, eye and tissue donation and see it as a final act of love and generosity toward others.

Officials around the state are slowing changing the way they view the prostitution trade.
Increasingly, lawmakers, police and prosecutors are viewing women who are prostituted, or who prostitute themselves, as victims.