A business group floated a plan this week aimed at protecting school funding by suspending implementation of a get-tough-on-crime measure endorsed by Oregon voters last fall. It's a politically charged proposal, though. Opponents say it would thwart the will of voters who approved Measure 57 to lengthen prison sentences for repeat property and drug crimes and mandate drug and alcohol treatment for certain offenders. However, the idea is gaining some traction at the Capitol as lawmakers and Gov. Ted Kulongoski struggle to find ways to pay for key services at a time of shrinking state revenue and an increasing prison population. . . .

The mangled state of today's economy isn't giving this year's class of graduating college students much optimism about securing employment after they cross that stage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that as many 1.4 million college graduates are about to enter a severely contracted job market that seems to be getting worse. For many, the anxiety of figuring out life after school, in some ways, trumps the joys of finishing the four-year college grind. The worries are worse for Black graduates, who are historically among the first fired and the last hired, according to statistics. . . .

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu last night delivered the 40^th Annual Collins Lecture at the University of Portland Chiles Center. The sold-out talk was on the topic of "The Transformational Power of reconciliation in Society." Sponsored by Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. . . . Photo by Antonio Harris

... Herrin and his team of interns wanted to probe more deeply than into just the military aspects of the war, as is often done in standard textbooks. They also wanted to learn about issues affecting the home front -- including civil liberties, slavery and African-American and women's stories. "I think it's a very important story,'' Herrin said, adding that the area's history encapsulates, in many ways, a microcosm of the struggles that led to and followed the Civil War. . . .

DETROIT (AP) -- Pushing for blacks to have equal access to jobs has been part of the NAACP's mission for much of the civil rights organization's 100-year history. The Rev. Jesse Jackson believes fighting to save jobs -- and Detroit's struggling car makers -- should be part of the NAACP's newest mandate.  Much progress has been made in business, education, and politics with the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first black president, but the current battle is with the troubled U.S. economy, Jackson said Sunday evening during his 25-minute keynote address at the Detroit NAACP's 54th Fight for Freedom Fund dinner at Cobo Center. . . .

A leading U.S. health expert said Monday that while `"there are encouraging signs'' of a leveling off in the severity of the swine flu threat, it's still too early to declare the problem under control.  "I'm not ready to say that yet,'' Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said when asked about indications by Mexican health authorities that the disease has peaked there. Besser did tell network television interviewers that "what we're seeing is an illness that looks very much like seasonal flu. But we're not seeing the type of severe disease that we were worrying about.'' He noted that roughly 36,000 people die each year in this country from the winter flu, so it's still a serious matter. . . .

U.S. officials said that it's too early to say the swine-flu threat is receding, even though there are some signs the outbreak may not be as serious as originally feared. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday the outbreak could die down with warmer weather only to roar back during fall flu season. And she said the public shouldn't be alarmed if the World Health Organization declares that the new virus has officially begun a pandemic, meaning it has spread pretty much globally. That word describes "geography, not severity'' and thus wouldn't change U.S. steps to stem infections that have been confirmed in 380 people in more than half the states, she said. Another top U.S. health official said "there are encouraging signs'' of a leveling off in the severity of the threat, but added that it's still too early to declare the problem under control. . . .

Wanted: Supreme Court justice. Judicial experience not required. Not only is experience as a judge not a requirement under the Constitution, some of the senators who will conduct confirmation hearings for Justice David Souter's replacement think it's time for a nominee who hasn't served on the federal appeals court. For all nine of the current justices, the appeals court was a final stepping stone to the Supreme Court. "I would like to see more people from outside the judicial monastery, somebody who has had some real-life experience, not just as a judge,'' said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy and other senators appearing on Sunday's news shows said someone with a wide breadth of experience -- women and minorities in particular -- would be a plus. . . .

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is a man on a mission: to hear what teachers, students and parents in at least 15 states think about No Child Left Behind, the controversial education law championed by former President George W. Bush. Duncan is visiting schools in West Virginia Tuesday, the first stop in the first steps toward reviewing and reforming the program. President Barack Obama has pledged to overhaul the law, but he has been vague about how far he would go, or whether he would scrap it altogether. "I don't know if 'scrap' is the word,'' Duncan told reporters last week. "Where things make sense, we're going to keep them. Where things didn't make sense, we're going to change them.'' . . .