Veteran producer and keyboardist George Duke will be performing for four nights at The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley. Duke is touring in support of his latest album "Dukey Treats." The album includes a number of diverse tracks, from the up tempo "Everyday Hero" – praising everyday people that make differences in everyone's lives – to the heartbreaking "Sudan (It's a Cryin' Shame)." . . .

BOSTON (AP) _ The street artist who created the famous "Hope'' poster of President Barack Obama expects to face new vandalism charges relating to the red, white and blue image, but his lawyer said Tuesday that the accusations would cover a period of time when the artist wasn't even in Boston.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Accusing officials in a suburban New Orleans parish of trying to keep blacks from moving there after Hurricane Katrina, a housing advocacy group is asking a federal judge to strike down a parish limit on the construction of new multifamily homes.
The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center claims the St. Bernard Parish's September 2008 moratorium on building structures with more than five units is an end run around an earlier court settlement over a different housing regulation.
Last year, the predominantly white parish agreed to repeal an ordinance that barred residents from renting single-family homes to anyone other than a blood relative. ...

The head of the federal agency responsible for warning people about health effects of toxic pollution in their neighborhoods responded to complaints Thursday at a hearing in Washington by saying he's improving the agency's approach to investigating hazards and how the risks are explained.
Frumkin says the agency has found better ways to explain health risks to people wanting information about their neighborhoods' hazards. ...

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (AP) _ A prominent member of the prime minister's party, arrested last month on weapons charges, was released on bail Thursday.
"I am happy to be out. I will do anything to move this country forward,'' Roy Bennett told reporters after being released from prison in the eastern city of Mutare.
Bennett was unshaven and thinner. But he sounded determined as he spoke about harsh jail conditions in which prisoners survive on one meal a day and are given salty water. ...

The Department of Social and Health Services is holding a summit to teach minority businesses how to earn the agencies contracts.
Minority and women business owners can meet with Department's purchasing staff to learn about contracting with the agency at "Bridging the Gap," the 2009 Supplier Diversity Summit on March 30 in Pasco. ...

To honor the 30th anniversary of its founding, Sisters Of The Road has kicked off a campaign to collect one thousand $30 contributions by Sisters' birthday in November 2009.
Sisters was founded on Nov. 7, 1979. Their three original goals remain unchanged: to be a safe and welcoming environment to everyone, especially women and children; to offer nourishing meals at little cost or in exchange for work; and to provide job training and employment experience to local residents. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Alexander Collins has two homes: a new one in the U.S. where he wants to stay and one in Africa he wants to leave for good.
Collins, 34, has lived in St. Paul, Minn. on a series of temporary extensions since coming to the U.S. from Liberia about eight years ago. Collins is among 3,600 Liberians granted temporary protected status to settle in the U.S. while civil war ravaged their homeland. The war has ended and a fledgling democracy is taking hold. So President George W. Bush granted a final 18-month extension, which ends March 31. ...

(NNPA) - The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of forcing Blacks into subprime mortgages while Whites with identical qualifications got lower rates.
Class-action lawsuits were filed against the banks on Friday Mar. 13 in federal court in Los Angeles, said Austin Tighe, co-lead counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
A statement released by the civil rights organization says, "These lawsuits allege systematic, institutionalized racism in sub-prime home mortgage lending." ...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- President Robert Mugabe and longtime political rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai sat side by side Saturday at a state funeral that was seen as a symbolic step for their parties' month-old coalition.
The funeral was for former defense forces commander and Mugabe loyalist Gen. Vitalis Zvinavashe and was Tsvangirai's first formal attendance at a shrine for fallen guerrillas and political leaders.