The words "summer school" don't usually invoke images of barbecues, classic hip-hop tunes and videography classes.
But that's exactly what's happening at Oregon Outreach's "welcome to summer school" celebration.

Portlanders are known for their environmental passions, but a group of local women are taking recycling to a whole new level.
"It's beyond LEEDS," says Alisa Kane of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority's plans to convert their meeting hall into an environmentally friendly, "green" building.
Kane, who works in the city of Portland's Green Building program, reviewed the Delta's grant application, which garnered the sorority $117,000, and said the Delta's meeting hall plans are innovative and sustainable.

On the morning of Sunday, June 24, residents in one Northeast neighborhood awoke to find graffiti marking their streets, sidewalks and vehicles. Vandals hit several cars on Northeast Seventh Avenue and Holman Street with the words "Consume" in gold spray paint, and other areas of the street on that same block featured similar graffiti that appeared to be political in nature.

Shi'ann Davis intently watches her coach, Israel Annoh (not pictured), for cues as she marches with SEI Drum Corps during last Saturday's Good in the 'Hood parade. Durrell Singleton leads SEI's full Drum Corps, which was one of many participants in the Good in the 'Hood parade, held June 23.

Seahawk Mack Strong signs 5-year-old Jordan Rogers' cast at the Summer Bash event, held June 23 at Pratt Park. Sponsored by the Leonard Weaver Foundation, the Summer Bash featured free food, live entertainment, games and free haircuts, not to mention the appearance of several Seahawks, including Strong, Leonard Weaver, Bryce Fisher and Ray Willis.

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske's repeated involvement in the investigation of two officers damaged his department's credibility and makes increased oversight necessary, according to a civilian review board.
A report by the board, consisting of a lawyer, a former Sumner police sergeant and a former president of the local branch of the NAACP, was blasted last week by Kerlikowske as "despicable" and politically motivated.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels stood by him, but City Council President Nick Licata said the dispute pointed to changes that might be needed in the setup of the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board, which prepared the report centering on a contentious drug arrest.
George "Troy" Patterson, 26, a convicted drug dealer who relies on a wheelchair, accused Officers Gregory P. Neubert and Michael A. Tietjen of using excessive force and planting drugs on him in the arrest during the wee hours of Jan. 2 at a downtown intersection.

A new partnership between the Federal Way School District and the Technology Access Foundation will help bring higher education into focus for Federal Way's children of color.
The school district and foundation have formed a public/private partnership to launch a new TAF Academy in September 2008.

Starbucks Corp. and the Ethiopian government said last week they will work together to promote three of the African nation's prized specialty coffees under a deal that supports the country's bid to win trademarks it believes would benefit farmers.
The world's largest coffeehouse chain and Ethiopia's intellectual property office said their licensing, distribution and marketing agreement acknowledges the country's ownership of three coffee names — Yirgacheffe, Harar and Sidamo — regardless of whether they are trademarked.

Publishers and editors from across the United States representing more than 200 Black community newspapers visited downtown Seattle June 20-24 for the National Newspaper Publishers Association's 67th annual convention at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
The convention celebrated 180 years of the Black Press, which has a combined readership of 15 million people. The Seattle Skanner co-hosted the event, which carried the theme "Building Coalitions for the Future."

Kathleen Brose never understood why the Seattle School Board wanted to use race in assigning students to public high schools, especially when students from so many backgrounds already attended each.
The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling rejecting Seattle's assignment program and another in Louisville, Ky., vindicated her concerns, Brose said Thursday. ....