Racial segregation and concentrated poverty are increasing in our nation's schools, suggesting that we are backtracking on the successes of the civil rights movement

EPHRATA, Wash. (AP) -- Nearly eight years have passed since police found the battered body of 13-year-old Craig Sorger in a central Washington park, the victim of a beating and stabbing so brutal the tip of a knife was left in his skull.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Tobacco company Philip Morris USA Inc. must pay Oregon 60 percent of a $79.5 million award in a long-running lawsuit filed by the family of a Portland smoker, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Black mothers in Oregon often give birth alone, are afraid during their hospital stay, and rarely take birthing classes or breastfeed their babies. That's according to the preliminary results of a groundbreaking survey of African American women on their birth outcomes.

The tragic death of Rob Ingram from a heart attack, Sunday, comes as a shock to many Portlanders.  Our hearts go out to his wife Dana and his five children. Here are a few tributes to Rob from some of  those who knew him best.

The Urban League of Portland is rolling out a new jobs initiative to target multigenerational unemployment in the Black community. "Unemployment has had a devastating effect on Portland," says director of Advocacy and Public Policy Midge Purcell Purcell.

Inspired, uplifted and committed to making a difference in our communities: That's how millions of Americans feel when they think about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, all of us have another opportunity to make Dr. King's message ring out loud across Portland, by volunteering Jan. 13-16 over the King holiday weekend.

The Flying Focus Video Collective recently marked its 20^th year of producing documentary-style cable television programming about progressive issues and organizations.

Do you know a teenager who has been processed for incarceration through the adult Coffee Creek Correctional Facility? The nonprofit Partnership for Safety and Justice wants to know how juveniles are being treated there, as part of a research project to bolster new legislation keeping youths out of adult jails.

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske says the administration's new drug policies will usher in a more enlightened public health approach, based on science and what we know works. About 20 million U.S. adults, more than one in 10 of us, regularly use illegal drugs. And for years, the 'War on Drugs' has sent millions of drug users, growers and sellers to prison, branded as felons.