The Acker family pulls together in supporting their sons' school and extracurricular activities. From left, Tina  Marie, Karl Sr., and Karl Acker Jr. Not pictured is the family's youngest son, Kenneth, also an accomplished student and athlete at Grant High School ... Karl Jr. 18, and a senior at Grant High School, is a college-bound scholar-athlete who hopes to attend Florida A&M University majoring in sports medicine, with the goal of becoming a sports therapist or trainer. His GPA is 3.49, earned through two years of advanced placement classes ...

Lawson Peters was born Jan. 28, 1938 to the late Mattie Reader Peters and Robert Peters Sr. in Florence, Ala. He moved to Portland in 1942, where he resided until his death.
Lawson attended Holladay Elementary School and Washington High School. He enjoyed playing sports, especially basketball.
Lawson enlisted into the U. S. Air Force in 1956 and served in the military until Jan. 6, 1960.

A simple, painless swab of the cheek gathers enough DNA to reveal insight into a person's origin and can provide critical information that can save lives. African Ancestry, Inc. and the National Marrow Donor Program are sharing their expertise to help increase ethnic and minority marrow donors ...

Sen. Margaret Carter (D-Portland) and Rep. Peter Buckley (D-Ashland) will serve as co-chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee in the 75th Oregon Legislative Assembly and will be responsible for leading the work to craft the 2009-2011 biennial budget ....

Only a handful of Oregonians are subject to the federal estate tax, and their ranks will shrink further next year, according to a study released today. Just four out of every 1,000 deaths in Oregon triggered the federal estate tax. The ratio was 13 per 1,000 in 2000, before cuts to the tax were enacted under the Bush Administration ...

Would you like to make a difference?  The World Arts Foundation needs people like you to volunteer energy, skill, and experience to the 24th tribute to Dr. King.   Volunteer jobs will include people management, giving directions and assist in preparation and breakdown of program materials ...

As ceremonies marked World AIDS Day around the world, the top U.N. official dealing with the disease joined South African political leaders and hundreds of activists to show his support for a government that has broken with the discredited policies of former President Thabo Mbeki ...

NEW YORK — Two years since marking the death of Sean Bell, family members and those still aggravated by the outcome continue to stay focused in the quest for justice. In the second year since the death of the 23-year-old killed by police in November 2006, the Sean Bell case has seen it share of extreme disappointment. But with a new presidential administration and news of an investigation by the U.S. attorney's office, a new hope has been established ...

In order to help consumers make better-informed decisions on where to spend their hard-earned dollars, Better Business Bureau this week announced it will now assign letter grades to local businesses ranging from A+ to F.
The letter grade system -- which replaces a less-detailed scale of "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" -- represents the bureau's degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve customer concerns  ...

The monthly Stage Fright is MC'ed by youth writer-in-residence Ari Bergman, a senior at Lakeside School, and regularly highlights a different reader each month before opening the mic to the crowd.
Richard Hugo House presents a special edition of "Stage Fright," a monthly open mic for teens featuring work created in Hugo Classes for Teens, a new series of workshops launched this fall ...
Photo courtesy of Richard Hugo House