The United Way, Oregon Food Bank, and Community Action Programs in all four metro-area counties this week announced the formation of the Community Relief Fund to shore up the strained community safety net.
This appeal for emergency funds will help support families who have been hardest hit in the economic crisis with basic needs like food, rent, and utilities. . . .

The film "Milking the Rhino" plays at the Portland International Film Festival Friday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Regal MetroPlex Theater, 1000 SW Broadway. The film's originator and co-producer, Jeannie Magill, will be part of a post-screening discussion. 
The film won the Pan-African Film Festival's Best Documentary Feature award this past weekend and received a Silver Lei award from the Honolulu Film Festival. . . .

"As a black woman in Washington County, it's the exception and not the rule when my kids and I aren't the only African Americans in the room at any given moment," says LaRonda Famodu, president of the Portland Metro Chapter of Mocha Moms, Inc. "I barely notice it any more, but it was a big shock when we moved here from the Washington, D.C., area a few years ago. And while I have great neighbors and have made awesome friends, sometimes I need a little more of a cultural connection, and that's where Mocha Moms comes in. . . .

As chief executive of a 25-year-old community media organization, I can empathize with the president, congressional leaders and local lawmakers when it comes to figuring out how to get people back to work—or in my case, how to save jobs. Since 1981, Portland Community Media has had a successful contractual relationship with the City of Portland, which provides a significant amount of PCM's budget. The funding comes out of the City General Fund, which generates franchise revenue from an agreement with Comcast Cable to indirectly fund local public, education and government access channels, and in this case, PCM. . . .

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger is warning Oregon citizens about a jury duty scam that seeks to trick consumers into providing personal, confidential information.
The scam involves emails and telephone calls that claim recipients have missed jury duty and will be arrested or face other legal sanctions if they do not turn over Social Security numbers, bank accounts information or dates of birth. . . .

Some 300 volunteers have signed up on a website to help launch a recall campaign against Mayor Sam Adams.
The group behind www.recallsamadams.com says it believes that "the city needs a new leader after Adams admission that he lied to the public about sexual relations with a teenager and orchestrated an elaborate cover-up to win the 2008 mayoral election. . . .

Seattle Arts & Lectures Pulitzer Prize-winning hosts novelist Junot Diaz Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium. Diaz' book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is the story of a Black teenaged nerd from the Dominican Republic who longs to be a science fiction writer, but is forced to struggle with issues of racism, political violence and adolescent love as an immigrant in New Jersey. The book won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. . . .

South Seattle Community College is offering a variety of full-year resident tuition scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year to graduating high school seniors. The application deadline is 4 p.m., Monday, March 2, 2009.
Applicants must: . . .

King County Councilmember Larry Phillips' is calling on Olympia for legislation to help stabilize King County services and prevent transit cuts.
"In tough economic times, people rely even more heavily on public transit as a means to save money getting to and from work and other activities, but the latest forecasts show that service cuts will soon be unavoidable unless we find effective solutions," he said in a statement. "We need legislation from Olympia that will provide Metro with stability during economic downturns and the means to keep service growing with demand." . . .

Puget Sound Energy announced today that beginning immediately the utility is offering a $1,200 instant rebate to the first 400 PSE residential customers (and an $800 instant cash discount to all other residential customers) who install energy-efficient ductless heat pumps through the end of the year.
According to PSE, ductless systems can be installed without costly and difficult remodeling and provide major energy-efficiency savings in homes with electric-baseboard and forced-air heating systems. . . .