What's happening for me in Portland this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your week. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below....

Jobtini
Job Seeking with a Twist

May 21 2008

MISHAWAKA, Indiana (AP) _ A political tempest over Barack Obama's remark about bitter small-town voters who "cling to guns or religion" has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new chance to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.
Obama tried to quell the furor Saturday, explaining his remarks while also conceding he had chosen his words poorly.
"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said in an interview with the Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal.
But the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.
Political insiders differed on whether Obama's comments, which came to light Friday, would become a full-blown political disaster that could prompt party leaders to try to steer the nomination to Clinton even though Obama has more pledged delegates. Clinton supporters were eagerly hoping so.
They handed out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator. In Indiana, Clinton did the work herself, telling plant workers in Indianapolis that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch." ...

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Gen. Andrew Jackson's early 19th century hunt for Angola ended with the Florida settlement's destruction. Documentarian Vickie Oldham is now trying to find remains of the old Florida town, the Southeast's last major outpost for free Blacks and fugitive slaves.
Since 2002, Oldham has worked to bring the story of Angola to life. A former television reporter in Sarasota, she has recruited historians, archaeologists and educators to produce a documentary, Web site and educational materials about Angola.
But its exact location in the Tampa Bay area remains elusive -- although some promising clues have recently been uncovered.
Historians say finding Angola would give new insight into Florida's role as a safe haven for runaway slaves. It would also highlight the state's violent transition into a bastion of bondage.
"They were making it on their own,"

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released an ambitious and far-reaching plan to revamp and consolidate regulation of the U.S. financial services system. The 218-page Blueprint for Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure, which Paulson described as a two- to eight-year reform plan, makes the Federal Reserve the "market stability regulator" to manage overall liquidity and systemic risk within the financial system, and advocates eliminating the thrift charter and merging the Office of the Thrift Supervision into the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, ideas that ICBA has vigorously and consistently opposed. ...

Tre Turner and James Watkins, both 11, were among the children enjoying hoola-hooping at the Roots and Wings Festival, at the Lloyd Center last Saturday. Andi Wilson, a member of HoopShine, a hoola hoping group helped lead the activities. An educational event for families, the festival included storytelling, a Native American drumming circle, a kids parade, juggling, a puppet show and a yoga demonstration. A wide variety of social service organizations and nonprofits sponsor the festival which aims to support families.

Sitting in his North Portland home, far from the mean streets of Chicago, Eugene Logan vividly remembers the moment he heard his brother Alton had been arrested. Eugene was stationed overseas – he had been for four years – when he learned that Alton Logan had been accused of killing a security guard during an attempted robbery.
"I was serving in the Army when I got a call saying that my brother had been arrested," Eugene told The Skanner. "I couldn't believe it."...

If you had a lot of money to spend – say $200 million  — to develop North and inner Northeast Portland, what would you do?  That's the question the Portland Development Commission soon will be asking people who live and work in and around the Interstate Urban Renewal District.
"Between the years 2013 and 2021 there's almost $200 million dollars in what I would call unobligated capacity for Interstate," ...

With appearances on BET's Rapcity, and numerous DJ gigs for celebrities such as 50 Cent, Michael Jordan and Jamie Foxx, it may be hard to believe David "DJ O.G. ONE" Jackson's day job is mentoring students at Jefferson High School. After all, what else is a world-famous DJ going to do to fill the day?
"The reasons for doing what I do is for the work I do with kids," Jackson/O.G. ONE says sitting in his classroom at Jefferson. ...

On Monday, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the criminal street gang measure, House Bill 2712. The measure creates a secret gang database and increases penalties for gang-related crimes. The Seattle NAACP is worried that the law will encourage racial profiling and are currently looking at ways to challenge its constitutionality.
In addition, the governor and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs announced that community involvement in gang prevention and intervention program planning will be a required component of all grant applications for enforcement funds. The bill contains no requirements for gang prevention.....