Radio talk show host and lawyer Warren Ballentine will headline a conference on law enforcement in Portland April 17-20. The northwest chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives will hold its annual training conference, "Leadership through Excellence: A Dialogue to Mentor Our Future" at the Crowne Plaza Holiday Inn,1441 N.E. 2nd Ave. Anyone working in the field of justice will especially benefit,...

MISSOULA, Montana (AP) -- With no end in sight to the hard-fought Democratic presidential battle, both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton were already launching their campaigns Saturday in western states that will be among the last to hold primary contests. Obama and Clinton were scrapping for every last nominating convention delegate....

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- President Robert Mugabe's ruling party demanded a vote recount and a further delay in the release of presidential election results, the state Sunday Mail newspaper reported, prompting outrage from the opposition party.
Meanwhile, militant supporters of the ruling party invaded eight of the few remaining white-owned commercial farms, the farmers reported, another sign Mugabe plans to use violence to stay in power.
At least four cattle ranchers were driven off their land, and equipment and livestock were seized, the farmers said.
"I've got one farmer and his wife with two young children, and people banging on windows, ululating and beating drums and telling them to vacate the farm," in northern Centenary, Hendrik Olivier, the head of the Commercial Farmers' Union told The Associated Press.

The questions Richmond activist Adia Blackmon posed to a group of 13 girls were basic.
How many wanted to be mothers?
Blackmon, charged with mentoring the girls, counted 13 arms in the air.
How many wanted to be wives?
Their response shed light on a community that leads the nation in levels of single-parent homes.
"Only one hand went up," said Blackmon, who was floored by the response from Black girls as young as 11.
"They said they wanted the fathers to be involved and wouldn't mind them coming around," she said. "But they did not want to be married to them."....

It takes just seconds to leave behind this muted Harlem side street and enter the parlor of Maya Angelou's brownstone, a step as bright and quick as a black and white film dissolving into Technicolor.
Plump sofas and armchairs in bursts of green and blue and red and yellow form a ring on spotless hardwood floors. Toward the rear, like a shy, well-dressed prodigy, a baby grand piano looks shined to stage perfection. By the piano, stained glass doors open to a red dining area centered by a mahogany table as big and round as the voice of Angelou herself.
Still close to her youthful height of 6 feet,

A spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign says former President Bill Clinton's weekend visit to Southern Oregon is a prelude to an appearance from the candidate herself.
"She will be campaigning aggressively all over Oregon, including campaigning aggressively in Southern Oregon," said Isaac Baker, the spokesman.
But first things first. Bill Clinton will rally Democrats Sunday afternoon at Hedrick Middle School in Medford and then head to Central Oregon for a visit Monday.
Baker said Bill Clinton likely will hold a town hall meeting in which he will take questions from the audience. The event in Bend is expected to have a similar format. Bill Clinton continued his Oregon visit Monday with appearances Monday, March 31 at 9:30 a.m. at OHSU, Old Library Auditorium, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road; at 11 a.m.. at the Cherry Blossom Center, 740 S.E. 106^th Ave.; and in Salem from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Chemeketa Community College, building 50, 4000 Lancaster Drive N.E.; and in Bend from 5 to 7 p.m. at Bend Senior High School, 230 N.E. Sixth St....

On May 21st, 2008, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at Olea Restaurant, 1338 NW Hoyt, Portland OR 97209
Job seeking has never been so much fun.

Sen. Barack Obama receives an endorsement from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson during his visit to Portland on March 21. Thousands packed into Memorial Coliseum to see the presidential hopeful speak.

Ailey School choreographer and teaching artist Astrid von Ussar teaches dance to 5th grade students Monday as part of the Revelations Residency at the African American Academy. She also taught at Zion Preparatory Academy earlier in the day. The week-long residency includes learning original choreography, writing, dance history and literature. Students were given tickets to Sunday's matinee performances of the Alvin Ailey dancers.

Civil rights groups in Seattle are launching a last-ditch campaign against a bill they say would encourage racial profiling. The anti-gang bill passed through both houses in the Washington state legislature without drawing serious public attention, and has now reached Gov. Gregoire's desk, awaiting her signature to become law.
But opposition to the bill, led by civil rights activists and community leaders, has rapidly grown. Opponents say the bill would justify racial profiling and they have asked Gov. Gregoire veto it.
"We want the governor to just veto the whole bill," said KKNW radio host Keith Tucker, who has publicized the campaign against the bill on his show, The Keith Tucker Show (1150 AM). "It definitely is mostly people of color who will be impacted by this bill. White kids could be unfairly targeted too, but we know for sure that people of color will be impacted the most, because they already are anyway."
In Portland, the drug-free exclusion zones ordinance was dropped because of concerns about racial disparities in enforcement. Yet the prevalence of racial profiling is still under debate.
Introduced to the Washington House of Representatives by a bipartisan group of legislators including, Rep. Christopher Hurst, a Democrat representing parts of King and Pierce counties; ...