Eric Martel Webb was born to Bobby Lee Webb Jr. and Sonia Cole, on October 14, 1983, in Gardena, Calif. He died Sept. 29, and services were held Oct. 6 at Mt. Olivet Church. At a very early age Webb was a member of Crusaders Temple Church of God in Christ ....

Services for Donald Ray "Big Daddy" Green, Sr., who died Oct. 4, will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church. Donald Ray Green, Sr., "the most charming man on earth ....

Services for Myrtle Nickerson will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 3, at Rose City Cemetery Chapel, 5625 NE Fremont. She died Sept. 25 at age 85 ....

Ollie Bolds died Sept. 20. He was born in Boynton, Okla. on October 27, 1927 to Van Ralph Bolds and Meddra Henderson Bolds. He grew up the second youngest of six children.
He spent most of his youth in Tulsa, where he became an apprentice bricklayer before entering the military toward the end of World War II. He served time on Guam as cook for his battalion ...

Five years ago, several Portland elementary schools embarked on a new teaching method. The Oregon Reading First grant program used scientifically-based reading research to improve literacy skills on students as early as pre-K. Teachers shared more students and were more involved in each students' success; training programs helped teachers with their own teaching skills; and schools would visit other schools to see where their own practices could be improved. ...

Infants who slept in a bedroom with a fan ventilating the air had a 72 percent lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome compared to infants who slept in a bedroom without a fan, according to a new study...

Poet Rochelle Hart has had a wonderful year. The articulate, self-described revolutionary poet is set to release a new spoken-word CD in December. She's shopping for a publisher for her recently-completed biography of a local music producer ....

Martin Owino, one of the 98 artists opening their workplaces to the public during Portland Open Studios, lets you travel to Africa by way of southeast Portland on Oct. 11, 12 and 18, 19.
"Pure Africa" is in the jumping hands and prancing feet of the women who revel in good times even as the times are changing. Owino's original batik paintings capture the colorful spirit of his native Kenya...

Direct from Ethiopia, the 3-million-year-old remains of the hominid known as "Lucy" are on display the Pacific Science Center in Seattle through March 8, 2009. The exhibit, "Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia," are built around the oldest and most complete fossils of an erect-walking human ancestor ever discovered. For more information about the exhibit, go to www.pacsci.org/.

Photo by Susan Fried

A new report highlighting the dangers of taking antibiotics has come out just in time for the cold and flu season. The study, published in the September issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, shows that in addition to the hazards of driving up antibiotic resistance, the drugs can cause a variety of unpleasant and potentially life-threatening side-effects. ....