Just 5,000 online votes are needed to make Instant Birth Control – hormonal contraception – eligible for millions of dollars in program development and expansion funding.
Instant Birth Control, available now to women in Oregon and Washington, is one of 10 finalists in an international competition that seeks to identify Disruptive Innovations ...

University of Portland's record-setting incoming freshmen class has not yet started classes, but some have already been assigned their first reading. Their assignment: Barbara Ehrenreich's best-selling investigative book about poverty in America, "Nickel and Dimed."
A total of 810 freshmen students, the largest in the school's 100-plus-year history — is set to start classes on Monday. But prior to that, about 190 freshmen will participate Thursday and Friday in a two-day service project called the Service Plunge. ...

With a cacophony of multicultural dance, music, art, poetry, puppetry, food, kid's activities, community services and just plain fun, the Alberta Street Fair is celebrating its 10th anniversary. This year's 10th Annual Alberta Street Fair will occur from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15.  Northeast Portland's premier family friendly street fair will stretch from Northeast 12th Avenue to Northeast 31st Avenue. A parade led by the Lions of Batucada will be held at 1 p.m. ...

Vancouver, WA – A major effort to plan for Highway 99 and points east will be the focus of neighborhood meetings and tours beginning Sept. 12, in preparation for an all-day community design forum on Sept. 27.
Clark County planners will meet with neighborhoods to present an overview of the current effort to build on previous work by creating an official "sub area plan" for areas between Northeast 63rd and 134th streets, Highway 99 and the BPA right of way, as follows: ...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A collection of watercolor and opaque oil paintings by Karen Leback are on display in the Engineering and Life Sciences building at Washington State University Vancouver through Sept. 7.
Leback is known locally through many art shows, and her accomplishments include "Best of Show" awards at local events since 1999. ...

Colorful kites will fill the sky at Blue Lake Regional Park's new family kite festival Sept. 15. Home to the legendary east winds, Blue Lake Park is guaranteed to have great conditions for learning to fly, seeing demonstrations from expert local flyers and viewing the unique kites on display from event partners, Elmer's Flag & Banner, Kites too! ...

On September 21, The Zimbabwe Artist Project, a nonprofit group that supports rural, predominantly women artists, in Weya, Zimbabwe, will celebrate the grand opening of its new office and exhibition space in the newly renovated Olympic Mills Commerce Center, 107 S.E. Washington St., suite 162, marking the organizations eighth year. ...

The battle between motorists and bicyclists for Portland's roads reached another low point last…

ATLANTA -- Federal agents spied on the widow of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for several years after his assassination in 1968, according to newly released documents that reveal the FBI worried about her following in the footsteps of the slain civil rights icon.
In memos that reveal Coretta Scott King being closely followed by the government, the FBI noted concern that she might attempt "to tie the anti-Vietnam movement to the civil rights movement."  ...

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A new state law requiring voters show picture IDs with an address and signature will "harm black voters throughout the state," the chairman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus says.
Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, wants want the U.S. Department of Justice to object to the law. If it does, the mandate wouldn't stand. ...