While the city gets ready to bore a 5.5-mile tunnel 120 feet under Portland's east side, minority contractors should be sharpening their pencils to compete for at least $26 million in construction contracts.

The Portland City Council last week approved a $426 million construction project for the eastside Big Pipe, which will divert untreated sewage and stormwater from the Willamette River.

The company hired to do the project, Kiewit/Bilfinger Berger, has identified $53 million in "opportunities" for local subcontractors, and of that, at least $26 million could go to minority- or women-owned businesses, said Bill Mariucci, the company's project director.

The campaign to repeal Portland's public campaign finance program failed to collect the required number of valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Stars of the human and celestial variety competed for the attention of students visiting the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry's Kendall Planetarium on Feb. 24.

A group of shoppers moves impatiently through the checkout line at the supermarket. Two women of African descent wearing colorful headscarves reach the front of the line, where the cashier, a White woman, tells them they can't purchase non-food items with the card they're using.

Northeast Portland-area state legislators Sen. Avel Gordly, Rep. Jackie Dingfelder and Rep. Steve March will conduct a joint Town Hall meeting on Saturday, March 4.

John L. Smith, Friend To Others, Dies at 59John L. Smith was born on March 16, 1946 in Shreveport,…

As the nation enters the fourth year of the Iraqi conflict, People of Faith for Peace, a new interfaith organization dedicated to proactive peacemaking, is launching a month-long series of activities on March 1.

Two new members have been appointed to the PortlandPolice Bureau's Citizen Review Committee and three continuing members were reappointed by the City Council.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Mondayasked President George W. Bush to restore health care services for Oregonians after cuts in federal support.

SEATTLE—Octavia E. Butler, considered the first Black woman to gain national prominence as a science fiction writer, died after falling and striking her head on the cobbled walkway outside her home, a close friend said. She was 58.