WASHINGTON (NNPA) - National health reports conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the average American woman is 5'4" in height, weighs approximately 164 pounds, and wears a size 14. In fact, 68 percent of American women are now considered "plus-sized," making the announcement by Crain's New York Business, that the nation's recession had caused national retailers, including some major chains, to discontinue women's plus sizes to save money, shocking to many...

Portland's Juneteenth Parade Saturday attracted happy children and adults in lawn chairs who took up posts along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for the procession. Leadsing the parade was the Color Guard, above. Grand Marshall was Mayor Sam Adams...

• State Emergency Management Using Social Media for Warnings, Preparedness
• Vancouver Police Seek Volunteer Citizen Informants
• Killingsworth Post Office May Be Named After MLK
• Leaders Discuss Health Impacts of Recession
• Students Launch Boys & Girls Club Website
• Rep. Tina Kotek to Host Town Hall Forum
• Free Grant Writing Workshop

Due to high demand and significance of the film, "Crips and Bloods: Made in America," The Silent War and Seattle Parks and Recreation will host another film screening next Friday, June 26 at Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Ave S, Seattle 98118.
A cluster of neighborhoods lies in the heart of Southern California, streets and boulevards forming a grid between concrete ribbons of freeway. Surrounded by the California Dream, this region has a legacy...

On National HIV Testing Day, the National Minority AIDS Council Urge Citizens to "KNOWIT"
Do you know your HIV status? On June 27, the National Minority AIDS Council is sponsoring the 2008 National HIV Testing Day (NHTD). Held annually, the event was launched in 1995 by the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of knowing one's HIV status and to encourage at-risk individuals to receive voluntary HIV counseling and testing...

The Oregon League of Minority Voters (OLMV) convenes the 2009 Poverty Summit, a statewide forum of elected officials, agency administrators, service providers, nonprofit agencies, and minority community leaders.
The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30 at the Salem Conference Center, 200 Commercial Street SE in Salem...

The House today passed Senate Bill 519, the Worker Freedom Act, by a vote of 34 to 24. 
The bill protects workers in "captive audience meetings" who do not wish to listen to their employer's non-work-related opinions on religion, politics or unions...

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

Thelma Altha Unthank Brown died on May 29 after an extended illness. She was 69.
Thelma was born in Portland on March 16, 1940 to Dr. DeNorval Unthank and Thelma Unthank.
She graduated from Grant High School in 1958 and attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Oregon State University and Portland State University, finishing with a Masters of Administrative Education degree...

The King of Pop is dead. The greatest entertainer of his era, and perhaps of all time, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday at UCLA Medical Center after going into cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles. He was 50 years old. . . .