Last chance to catch the amazing paintings of E.S. Tingatinga and the artists who followed in his footsteps. Facets of Africa, showing at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N. Interstate, through Feb. 23 explores the rich texture and diversity within African-based cultures.
Before his tragic murder in 1972, Tingatinga established a new art form using basic supplies available to him as a house painter --  enamel paints and masonite scraps, to expand on traditional Congo painting styles. Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday noon – 4 p.m. Free.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Hillary Rodham Clinton grasped for new traction in her faltering Democratic presidential bid on Sunday, reaching out to blacks who have been pivotal in rival Barack Obama's success so far and, in a new offensive, accusing the front-runner of misrepresenting her views in campaign pamphlets to voters and of adopting Republican tactics ahead of key primary contests next month.
Meanwhile, consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced Sunday on NBC television's ``Meet the Press'' that he is launching a third-party campaign for president. He said most Americans are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties, and that none of the presidential contenders are addressing ways to stem corporate crime and Pentagon waste and promote labor rights.
Nader also ran as a third-party candidate in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

NEW YORK (AP) _ On the night before his wedding, Sean Bell went to a strip club called Kalua Cabaret for a bachelor party. As he and two friends left early in the morning, they were confronted by undercover officers investigating reports of drugs and prostitution.
The rest of the story varies depending on who's telling it, but every version ends the same way: Bell dying and his friends wounded in a barrage of 50 police bullets outside the club.
Bell, 23, was killed Nov. 25, 2006, hours before he was to marry Nicole Paultre, the mother of his two children....

More than 100 African American youth got together at the second annual youth summit at Mallory Avenue Church last Saturday. The summit entitled "It's Bigger than Hip Hop" included a youth panel which discussed everything from how Black youth are depicted in the media to the future of hip hop. Here Ashleigh Paschal, 17; Myesha Abdulrahman, 18; and Kenny James, 16, take part in the discussion. After the panel, Public Enemy's Professor Griff joined local artists Libretto, Octavia Harris, Madgesdiq, Blacque Butterfly and others to perform that evening. 

Arizona Sen. John McCain and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama both made a clean sweep in the "Potomac Primary" Tuesday. Each won primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. U. S. Sen. Barack Obama now leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination....
The Clinton campaign appears to be moving forward after its string of defeats, anticipating comebacks in big primaries such as Texas with 193 delegates and Ohio with 141, both on March 4. After that primaries in Pennsylvania, on April 22, and North Carolina, on May 6, also offer the big prizes. However, Sen. Clinton has made changes in her campaign staff over the weekend, replacing chief of staff Patti Solis Doyle with former chief of staff Maggie Williams. Currently Clinton is campaigning in Wisconsin, where she is scheduled to attend a Democratic Dinner in Milwaukee on Saturday.

"Let's talk about sex." Salt-N-Pepa told us this in the late 80s, urging African Americans to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Yet 20 years on, African American youth in Multnomah County don't seem to be talking about sex — or its consequences. At least not enough to keep themselves safe.
That's why Multnomah County last week launched a new Web site called www.knowsexpdx.com ...

Black children are doing better than ever, but still have a long way to go before closing the racial-ethnic gap in quality of life, according to a report released last month, by the Foundation for Child Development.
According to the report, all children experienced overall improvements in quality of life between 1985 and 2004. ...

Poor children and people of color would be just as healthy, and grow up, graduate, and get jobs at the same rate as other children as part of the vision of a major King County initiative announced today. 
"It is unacceptable that the color of your skin or your home address are now good predictors of whether you will have a low birth weight baby, die from diabetes or your children will graduate from high school or end up in jail," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "Even in a progressive, generally affluent area like ours,

Umema Upesi recites a Langston Hughes poem accompanied on drums by Steve Sneed at the 2008 Illuminating Langston event, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center's annual gala fundraiser, on Feb. 9. This year's event featured performances from past Langston Hughes productions, readings of Langston Hughes poetry and a history of the summer musical.

Hoping to encourage minority youth to pursue careers in technology, this year's 17th annual Minority Student Day was held Friday, Feb.8 at the Microsoft campus in Redmond and was Webcast to eight different cities throughout the country from California to New York.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, addressed the high school students and talked about Microsoft's future, their new products and the company's commitment to diversity. The theme this year's event was "The Wow Starts Now… The Future Starts with You!"
The goal of the event is to promote broader access to technology and encourage underrepresented minority youth to pursue careers in high technology by providing ...