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.'' . . .

In Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, the U. S. Supreme Court has confirmed that America's fair lending laws should be vigorously enforced by all levels of government. . . .

Details continue to develop in the case of former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair, who was murdered in a Nashville, Tenn., residence July 4. According to TMZ.com, assistant medical examiner Dr. Feng Li has confirmed that Sahel Kazemi, McNair's 20-year-old girlfriend, fired the gun. . . .

The original casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy whose 1955 murder helped put the civil rights movement on a national stage, was found discarded during an investigation into a scheme at an Illinois cemetery. Till remains buried at Oak Burr Cemetery in Chicago, a historically Black gravesite. But, the original casket in which he was buried was founding rusting in a dilapidated shack . . .

The Nielsen Corporation is rolling out new method to measure television viewing habits in the Portland market. New automated people meters will make it easier for participating families – and for the nation's largest sampler of viewing habits – to find out which people are watching what programs. Nielsen, the world's largest ratings company, has been using People Meters since 1987 as a more reliable method of tracking viewing habits than paper diaries. But as Nielsen could tell television networks and advertisers what was being watched, they couldn't tell them exactly who was watching. Until now. . . .