Shafia Monroe is ecstatic and it shows.
Long noted for her role as a traditional midwife, Monroe is used to making the news. But a recent article in the esteemed national parenting magazine Mothering has dubbed Monroe, director of the North Portland nonprofit International Center for Traditional Childbearing, a "living treasure."
Typically, this back-of-the-book honor is reserved for women and men much older than Monroe, but one of Monroe's projects caught the interest of Mothering's editors, so there she is, smiling out from a full-color magazine page, radiant in a scarlet head wrap and matching jewelry.
"Shafia Monroe is a visionary birth activist," the magazine states.

The Portland Development Commission has OK'd a plan to build a Planned Parenthood headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The 4-1 vote came last week on April 11, after commissioners heard emotional testimony from both sides of the aisle.
Many members of the local Black community spoke out for and against the proposed site, which would offer a slew of health care services, including abortions – a fact that sparked controversy at last week's hearing.
The relocated Planned Parenthood headquarters – the local offices are currently based in Southeast Portland — will be located at the corner of Beech Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, next door to the Muslim Community Center and within walking distance of several churches – a fact that has caused opposition based on moral grounds.
While some in the faith community, including Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church Pastor Matt Hennessee, support the clinic because it helps reduce sexually transmitted diseases and lower unintended pregnancy rates, others say they feel marginalized by the PDC's decision.

Lakema Bell performs as singer Bessie Smith, known as "Empress" and "Queen of the Blues" during her day, at a performance of the Nu Black Arts West's "Dark Divas" musical review on April 15 at the Columbia City Theatre. The event raised funds for local educational projects.

SEATTLE – Seattle's new schools superintendent attracted a lot of fans and plenty of detractors in her previous post in Charleston, S.C.
"Y'all are lucky," Mary Graham, senior vice president of public policy for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, said of the woman who is leaving the top post at Charleston's school district to head Seattle Public Schools. "She's great."
But Larry Kobrovsky, a lawyer and former Charleston County School Board member, said of Maria Goodloe-Johnson's departure, "I think it's a good thing for Charleston. I think that there was too much emphasis in the minority community on protecting her."

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hurt the Department of Justice and the Bush administration with his poor handling of the firing of eight federal prosecutors, a leading Republican senator said Sunday. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, stopped short of calling for Gonzales' resignation. But he said there was "no doubt" Gonzales was undermining the agency and the morale of its employees. "The attorney general's testimony was very, very damaging to his own credibility.

 LAGOS, Nigeria -- The top opposition candidate called Sunday for Nigeria's presidential vote to be annulled, branding the election as the worst ever conducted in Africa's most-populous nation and top oil producer.
While the government acknowledged there were widespread problems with Saturday's vote, it defended the election as free and fair. "The election has been largely successful: We've broken the jinx,"....

ASHBURN, Georgia – As parents and teachers watched, dozens of Turner County High School senior students circled a graying city auditorium that was transformed for a night into a tropical scene for the spring formal prom dance. And, for the first time, the faces of the students were White and Black. Prom had officially returned to Turner County High School..

WASHINGTON -- Democrats are considering their next step after President Bush's inevitable veto of their war spending proposal, including a possible short-term funding bill that would force Congress to revisit the issue this summer. Another alternative is providing the Pentagon the money it needs for the war but insisting that the Iraqi government live up to certain political promises. Or, sending Bush what he wants for now and setting their sights on 2008 spending legislation.

No murder takes place in a bubble. Those killed by the hand of another leave behind other victims – sons and daughters without a parent, parents without children, sisters without brothers.
For four years now, Perlia Bell has been trying to change the way the Black community treats these left-behind victims.
After her 23-year-old daughter Asia's murder in 2002, Bell was wracked with a sense of being overwhelmed. Her son-in-law, Asia's husband Tyrone James, was blinded in the attack, and the couple's four young children left without a mother. At first, right after the murder, Bell and her family received plenty of community support. But eventually people forget, they go on with their lives and the support dries up.

It has been exactly one year since the most recent the Oregon Progress Board released the Oregon Benchmarks report, which highlights the progress of Oregon's minority populations.
But what does this report really tell us about Oregon and how important is the data?
According to Sean Cruz, chief of staff for Oregon Sen. Avel Gordly, D-N/NE Portland, the local senator frequently uses the state benchmarks to guide her decision-making.