Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released an ambitious and far-reaching plan to revamp and consolidate regulation of the U.S. financial services system. The 218-page Blueprint for Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure, which Paulson described as a two- to eight-year reform plan, makes the Federal Reserve the "market stability regulator" to manage overall liquidity and systemic risk within the financial system, and advocates eliminating the thrift charter and merging the Office of the Thrift Supervision into the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, ideas that ICBA has vigorously and consistently opposed. ...

Tre Turner and James Watkins, both 11, were among the children enjoying hoola-hooping at the Roots and Wings Festival, at the Lloyd Center last Saturday. Andi Wilson, a member of HoopShine, a hoola hoping group helped lead the activities. An educational event for families, the festival included storytelling, a Native American drumming circle, a kids parade, juggling, a puppet show and a yoga demonstration. A wide variety of social service organizations and nonprofits sponsor the festival which aims to support families.

Sitting in his North Portland home, far from the mean streets of Chicago, Eugene Logan vividly remembers the moment he heard his brother Alton had been arrested. Eugene was stationed overseas – he had been for four years – when he learned that Alton Logan had been accused of killing a security guard during an attempted robbery.
"I was serving in the Army when I got a call saying that my brother had been arrested," Eugene told The Skanner. "I couldn't believe it."...

If you had a lot of money to spend – say $200 million  — to develop North and inner Northeast Portland, what would you do?  That's the question the Portland Development Commission soon will be asking people who live and work in and around the Interstate Urban Renewal District.
"Between the years 2013 and 2021 there's almost $200 million dollars in what I would call unobligated capacity for Interstate," ...

With appearances on BET's Rapcity, and numerous DJ gigs for celebrities such as 50 Cent, Michael Jordan and Jamie Foxx, it may be hard to believe David "DJ O.G. ONE" Jackson's day job is mentoring students at Jefferson High School. After all, what else is a world-famous DJ going to do to fill the day?
"The reasons for doing what I do is for the work I do with kids," Jackson/O.G. ONE says sitting in his classroom at Jefferson. ...

On Monday, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the criminal street gang measure, House Bill 2712. The measure creates a secret gang database and increases penalties for gang-related crimes. The Seattle NAACP is worried that the law will encourage racial profiling and are currently looking at ways to challenge its constitutionality.
In addition, the governor and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs announced that community involvement in gang prevention and intervention program planning will be a required component of all grant applications for enforcement funds. The bill contains no requirements for gang prevention.....

For parents or students having conflicts with their schools or teachers, there is now a place for them to turn.
The Office of the Education Ombudsman is a relatively new agency within the governor's office that connects parents, students and educators to information and answers and hopes to bring families and schools together to improve student achievement. The ombudsman has been offering services for about eight months so far. It is the first state-level ombudsman office in the nation for K-12 education.

The Bush administration announced Tuesday it will require states to report high school graduation rates in a uniform way instead of using a variety of methods that critics say are often based on unreliable information.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced the change at a news conference at which a report was released showing that 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent. Seattle's urban graduation rate was 57.6 percent, compared to its suburban graduation rate of 76 percent. Those numbers are nearly identical when comparing graduation rates nationally for African American and White students – 53 to 76 percent, respectively....

What's happening for me in Portland this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your week. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below.

Garfield Community Center guard Jalon Wright, brings the ball down the court in the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation 2008 Youth Basketball championship game for 11 year-olds in the bronze division. They were playing against Magnolia Community Center. Garfield had an 8-1 record during the regular season but lost to Magnolia 43 to 36. Thirty games were played by both boys and girls, ages 10 to 17 during the 2008 Youth Basketball Championship Games, held March 27 through March 30 at several locations including Meadowbrook Community Center and Nathan Hale High School.