Since 1907, the Portland Rose Festival's Starlight Parade has lit up the downtown and celebrated the "Spirit of the West."
On May 30, from 8:30 to 11 p.m., about 250,000 spectators will gather to watch dozens of floats, bands and other attractions meander through the downtown blocks. . . .

In response to one of the steepest economic downturns in twenty years, Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle) will launch a series of interactive community meetings to help struggling families and individuals access specialists within health care and additional topics of concern in the 37 District.
"Where can I go when I'm no longer on the Basic Health Plan? How can I afford to care for my elderly mother? What do I do if my child needs to see a doctor, but it's not an emergency? . . .

• Healthcare Meetings
• BeatWalk on June 5
• Seattle is College Bound
• Free Drop-In Civil Rights Sessions
• Nominees for Spirit of Youth Award Sought

Harold Moss, the first African American mayor of Tacoma, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at University of Puget Sound Sunday, May 17, during the school's commencement ceremony for graduates. Moss served on the Tacoma City Council, the Pierce County Council, and helped found the local branch of the NAACP.

With Multnomah County facing a $36.5 million budget gap, every office is taking considerable losses – even public safety. The gap has been patched, at the expense of cost of living freezes, increasing both car rental taxes and the amount U.S. Marshalls pay to rent jail beds from the county, and reducing department programs across the board by $28.5 million.
The district attorney's office, the sheriff's office and the Department of Community Justice are all facing a reduction in funds. . . .

In celebration of the first eighth grade class as well as the wonderful neighborhood that  is Boise Eliot, the students in Boise Eliot K-8th's Leadership Program are interviewing and photographing members of their school and their community to create large-scale photograph and text banners that will become a permanent art installation on the exterior walls of their school. These photographs show the students creating the portraits that will eventually become the artwork. . . .

Concordia University business students will have the unique opportunity to help people in North and Northeast Portland improve existing small businesses and start new business ventures through a new partnership with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), an organization sponsored by the Small Business Administration. . . .

Every year, The Skanner Foundation awards thousands of dollars in college scholarships through the help of our sponsors. Full-time undergraduate students are eligible to receive $1,000 to $3,000 scholarships, awarded each year at The Skanner's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast in January. Applications are due by Oct. 15 for the following year. Here are some updates from several of the Oregon Lottery-funded scholarship recipients after a year in college. . . .

During the third day of a hearing to determine whether former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer Johannes Mehserle will stand trial for murder, Mehserle's partner Officer Jon Woffinden said the New Year's Day incident was one of the most frightening he had experienced in his 12 years as an officer.

Voting rights, safety and job opportunity are just a few of the benefits that citizenship brings. On May 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Citizenship Day will provide free services to legal permanent residents in Washington state who are seeking the American dream.