Sumayya Diop shows Jessica Duong, 8, and Yohanna Gebregiorgis, 8, how to cut an onion at an after-school cooking class taught by the Nature Consortium at the Yesler Community Center on Nov. 27. The Nature Consortium is a community organization with a mission to teach environmental lessons through the creative arts.

Anthony Sparrow and Lyda Overton enjoy a turkey dinner Nov. 17 with all the trimmings during the Loaves and Fishes pre-Thanksgiving celebration at the Multicultural Senior Center in Northeast Portland. More than 1,000 hot turkey dinners will be delivered to homebound seniors on Thanksgiving Day by the Meals on Wheels program, and community dinners will be served at several sites. Call Loaves & Fishes at 503-736-6325 or 360-693-7125 for a dinner location or volunteer opportunity.

At one time, Oregon had more residents than any other state who went hungry. But the latest report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture tells a different story.
According to the report, released this week, Oregon fell from being the state with the highest percentage of hungry people in 1999 to a ranking of 17th in the nation in 2004. The decrease was called "significant" in national food insecurity rates.

For the eighth straight year, officials and citizens involved in the education, discipline and incarceration of juveniles in Oregon continue to wrestle with an ongoing problem: Why are more minority youths involved in the juvenile justice system than Whites? Gov. Ted Kulongoski, along with the Oregon Youth Authority and a host of different departments and organizations, sponsored the 2006 Governor's Summit on the Over-representation of Minorities in the Juvenile Justice System on Monday. Speakers from across the state covered a variety of youth justice topics including gang recognition, American Indian Tribal Courts and why disproportionate minority contact exists, among others.

Sitting on some of the richest, most underdeveloped mineral deposits in the world, along with untold wealth in commodities such as chocolate, coffee and petroleum, the continent of Africa has the potential for prosperity.
But with all its potential, Africa Society President Bernadette Paulo is worried that all the negative news from the continent, and the general misconception that it is a dangerous place, could hurt not only Africa's own future prosperity, but the United States' economy as well.

Portland Community Media, which provides non-commercial, cable access programs to subscribers, is 25 years old this month.
About 750 donors and supporters celebrated the anniversary Nov. 18 at the Disjecta Art Center with music from Cubaneo, dance performances from Axé Didé and a video presentation.
The broadcast organization provides a variety of programming on six channels and in seven languages.

Melissa Noelle Green and a cast of Northwest artists perform the play, "Hip-Hop Back to its Roots" as part of the fourth annual tribute to Hip hop Nov. 17 through 19 at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.  The weekend featured live performances, interactive workshops and discussions about the past and future of hip hop.

In 1968 there were only 63 Black students at the University of Washington, at a campus of 33,000 students. A new documentary film on the efforts to diversify the University of Washington will air on UW TV this February.
"In Pursuit of Social Justice: An Oral History of the Early Years of Diversity Efforts at the University of Washington," talks about that time with interviews of Emile Pitre, Verlaine Keith-Miller and King County Councilor Larry Gossett.

SPOKANE — A rural library district is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union over its Internet filtering policy.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks an order directing the North Central Regional Library District to provide unblocked access to the Internet when adults request it.
The ACLU of Washington brought suit on behalf of three individuals and the pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation over the library district's Internet filter on computers.
The lawsuit contends the library's policy of refusing to disable its Internet filters when requested for lawful purposes is unconstitutional and goes beyond what federal law requires.
"Libraries should not deny adults using publicly available computers the opportunity to view research material and other lawful information," ACLU Legal Director Sarah Dunne said in a release.
Dean Marney, director of the library district based in Wenatchee, said he was surprised by the lawsuit. He said the library recently changed its filtering software that allows sites to be unblocked. However, federal law does not require that requests to remove filters be granted, he said.

YAKIMA — A proposal to subject farm labor contractors to background checks and other new requirements has drawn opposition from some business owners and farm groups, who say the new rules could worsen an already tight labor supply.
Under the draft proposal developed by the state Department of Labor and Industries, farm labor contractors would have to post a repatriation bond to cover room, board and travel expenses for foreign guest workers.
The proposed legislation would also cap fees that contractors could charge workers, require background checks of contractors and raise the annual licensing fee to $100 from $35.