State Rep. Chip Shields, D-Portland, is seeking ideas for improving minority business in Oregon.
Shields is developing a minority business agenda in conjunction with several local minority chambers of commerce and the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs.

Two state advisory boards have received awards for their efforts to curb methamphetamine abuse in Oregon.
The awards commemorated National Methamphetamine Awareness Day on Nov. 30. The Governor's Meth Task Force and the Oregon Board of Pharmacy received awards from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is diving into a debate over schools' racial diversity this week, hearing arguments on lawsuits by parents who are challenging policies that use race to help determine where children go to school.
At a time of rising de facto segregation in public schools, the top U.S. court is to hear arguments Monday on lawsuits by parents in Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle who are challenging policies designed to keep schools from segregating along the same lines as neighborhoods.

LOS ANGELES — Fifteen years after disclosing he was HIV-positive, wide-smiling former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson marked World AIDS day Friday by unveiling a campaign to end the disease within the Black community. "I Stand with Magic: Campaign to End Black AIDS" is a joint effort between the Magic Johnson Foundation and Illinois-based HIV research leader Abbott Laboratories, Inc. that aims to help reduce new HIV infections in the Black community by 50 percent over five years.

Lai'lani Blanchard, 2, makes a snowman out of a sock at Winterfest Dec. 2 at the NewHolly Gathering Hall. Winterfest features multicultural make- and take-gifts.

When Seattle's police and fire department employees wanted to find homes closer to their work, they turned to HomeStreet Bank. In response, the bank, which recently won a national award, launched the Hometown Home Loan Program.
Since that launching in 1994, the program, which provides discounted home loans, has expanded to partner with more than 40 employers in three states and has helped more than 6,000 people save over $7 million in closing costs and fees.
Seattle's Office of Housing adopted the program, and it later expanded to include all employees working for the city of Seattle, Seattle School District and Seattle Community College.
"The program helps to accomplish several of the city's goals, including increasing the rate of homeownership in the city limits, said Diane Wasson, vice president and manager of the bank's Affinity Lending Center.

TACOMA, Wash. — Wal-Mart again has been listed as having more workers on Medicaid and Washington's Basic Health Plan than any other private employer in the state.
According to a state compilation of enrollments in June, Wal-Mart had 3,194 employees in the two taxpayer-subsidized health care programs out of 16,000 employees in the state...

Award-winning journalist and author Maria Hinojosa will speak at an evening event to celebrate Human Rights Day on Dec. 7. The event runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 1111 Eighth Ave. The theme of the event is "Human Rights: Crossing All Borders." Hinojosa is host of "Latino USA" on National Public Radio and senior correspondent for the PBS newsmagazine program NOW.

The forum focused on how criminal justice policies have a disproportionate impact on communities of color, particularly the African American community.

 These are tough economic times, especially for African-Americans, for whom the unemployment rate is more than 10%. Alarmingly, rather than belt-tightening, the response has been to spend more. In many poor neighborhoods, one is likely to notice satellite dishes and expensive new cars. According to Target Market, a company that tracks black consumer spending, blacks spends a significant amount of their income on depreciable products. In 2002, the year the economy nose-dived; we spent $22.9 billion ($22,900,000,000.00) on clothes, $3.2 billion ($3,000,000,000.00) on electronics and $11.6 billion ($11,000,000,000.00) on furniture to put into homes that, in many cases, were rented.