TriMet will be holding open houses and hearings on proposed changes to Fareless Square and service frequency for 24 bus lines. The first meeting is Monday, July 13, at the Liberty Northwest Center, Auditorium, Lower Level, 650 NE Holladay St., Portland, Open house: 11 a.m-2 p.m.; public hearing: noon-2 p.m. A public comment period will be through July 17. TriMet has proposed limiting Fareless Square to rail only and changing the frequency during non-rush hours on about two dozen bus lines. The agency will take public comment on these proposals at two open houses and public hearings on Monday, July 13. You can e-mail comments to . . . .

• WSDOT holds Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Goals Webinar and public meeting
• Poetry Slam
• Make a Difference ... Travel with a Purpose
  

• Learn to Preserve Your Family Heirlooms
• OMSI After Dark Announces Summer, Fall Nights
• Tour Portland's Community Gardens, July 18
• Neighbors Invited to Master Gardener Hotline Open House
• Learn to Write Grants
• Self Defense Organization Holds Fundraiser

The recently opened King Farmers Market is now giving Oregon Food Stamp recipients an extra boost. With the help of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, the Portland Farmers Market and the Alberta Food Co-Op, the Foodshare Fund Northeast will give users of Food Stamps an extra $5 at the King Farmers Market. The market is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays until Sept. 27 near the intersection of  NE 7th Avenueand . . . .

Although the 2009 Oregon State Legislative session is now over, the problem of the shrinking budget is not. Around the nation, the idea of legalizing or decriminalizing adult marijuana use has been gaining traction among mainstream circles in recent months. Pro-marijuana bills have been introduced by such prominent politicians as Reps. Barney Frank, Ron Paul, and Sen. Jim Webb. A California legislator introduced a bill that would legalize it in the golden state. Even recent polls from the Associated Press and Zogby suggest more than 50 percent of Americans support the plant's legalization. . . .

Won-ldy Paye, and Etienne Cakpo. West African performers from Gansango Music & Dance use masked dance, stories and drumming to share an African festival called "Kaleta," when children make homemade masks and go door-to-door in costume, collecting coins and food treats. For all ages.
Photos by Susan Fried

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The House of Representatives acknowledged Tuesday the use of Black slaves in the construction of the U.S. Capitol, ordering officials to place a marker inside the new Capitol Visitor Center using some of the original stone quarried by those slaves for the building ...

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. (AP) _ A suburban Philadelphia private swim club turned away children from a day camp after the camp's director says members questioned why Black people were swimming there ... 

Republican senators on Sunday said they will press Sonia Sotomayor at her Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week to explain public comments that they say raise doubts about her ability to judge cases fairly. Yet the Republicans are unlikely to be able to derail Sotomayor's confirmation by the Democratic-controlled Senate in hearings that begin Monday. Republicans acknowledged they must be careful in their approach to the veteran federal judge who rose from poverty in a New York City public housing project to the verge of being the first Hispanic justice on the high court. . . .

Ghana - An American president who has "the blood of Africa within me'' praised and scolded the continent of his ancestors Saturday, asserting forces of tyranny and corruption must yield if Africa is to achieve its promise. "Yes you can,'' Barack Obama declared, dusting off his campaign slogan and adapting it for his foreign audience. Speaking to Parliament, he called upon African societies to seize opportunities for peace, democracy and prosperity. "This is a new moment of great promise,'' he said. "To realize that promise, we must first recognize a fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long.'' . . .