WASHINGTON (NNPA) - It was the summer of 1967 and riots raged across America.
Watts, Milwaukee, Detroit, Plainfied and Newark were all sites of explosive racial violence, rooted in social ills emanating from race discrimination.
As elected and civil rights leaders scrambled for answers, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed an 11-member commission, headed by Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner Jr., that issued its observations 40 years ago this week, Feb. 29, 1968.
The commission pointed out that it was a climate of race discrimination  in police practices, unemployment and underemployment, inadequate housing, inadequate education and poor recreation...

Seattle Public Utilities is helping low-income homeowners save money and water by offering free efficient toilets.
Qualified Seattle homeowners can have their old water-guzzling toilets replaced with free efficient models, helping to cut their utility bills and reduce water waste.
Toilets are the main source of water use in the home, accounting for about 30 percent of indoor water use. These efficient toilets use just 1.6 gallons per flush compared to the 3.5 gallons per flush or more used by toilets installed prior to 1994.
"Most households can easily save thousands of gallons of water.... www.seattle.gov/util/services/water.

Director of Quality & Process Improvement Multnomah County Health Department is seeking a…

In the summer of 2007, 13 high school Native youth visited the Oregon College of Art and Craft to focus on an in-depth study of photography. During their tenure these students visited area museums, attended cultural events, and studied art from professional Native artists....

This year The Skanner's Black History edition takes a look at the history of African Americans in politics. Did you know that after the Civil War hundreds of Black men were elected to state legislatures across the South? Or that five African Americans have stood as presidential candidates? In this issue we profile a few of the personalities who became public figures nationally and in the Northwest. And to test your general knowledge, we created The Skanner's Black History Quiz We hope you enjoy the issue.

This year The Skanner's Black History edition takes a look at the history of African Americans in politics. Did you know that after the Civil War hundreds of Black men were elected to state legislatures across the South? Or that five African Americans have stood as presidential candidates? In this issue we profile a few of the personalities who became public figures nationally and in the Northwest. Click Here to read it.

1788
Marcus Lopez, cabin boy of Captain Robert Gray, becomes the first person of African descent known to have set foot on Oregon soil.
1805
York, William Clark's slave, comes west with Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery.
1844
Slavery is declared illegal in the Oregon Country. The infamous "Lash Law," requiring that Blacks in Oregon — be they free or slave — be whipped twice a year "until he or she shall quit the territory," is passed in June. It is soon deemed too harsh and its provisions for punishment are reduced to forced labor in December.....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic presidential race between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has not only coaxed far more people to vote than in the past, it's also changed the mix of those showing up.
Democratic voters are typically younger, likelier to be female and more racially diverse this year than they were in 2004, according to exit polls of voters from both campaigns. The historic matchup features Clinton vying to become the first female president, Obama the first black.
Part of the difference could be because some 2004 primaries were held after Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., had already clinched his party's nomination, reducing the incentive for many voters to participate. This year's race is still raging, though Obama has emerged as the front-runner. Some of the difference could also reflect changes in the country's population.
Here are some ways the composition of Democrats voting has changed. Data from combined exit polls from 15 states that have held competitive Democratic primaries this year are compared with data from those same states four years ago.
RACE: In 2004, 70 percent of Democratic voters in these states were white, 17 percent black and 8 percent Hispanic. This year 63 percent have been white, 19 percent black and 13 percent Hispanic. Clinton has led in contests so far among whites, chiefly white women, but has faded in recent primaries. She has won strong support from Hispanics, while Obama has had huge margins among blacks. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A White House official who served as President Bush's middleman with conservatives and Christian groups resigned Friday after admitting to plagiarism. Twenty columns he wrote for an Indiana newspaper were determined to have material copied from other sources without attribution.
Timothy Goeglein, who has worked for Bush since 2001, acknowledged that he lifted material from a Dartmouth College publication and presented it as his own work in a column about education for The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne. The newspaper took a closer look at his other columns and found many more instances of plagiarism. ....

Willamette Week's Murmurs column reported on a story in The Skanner about a group of business…