A statewide effort to divert people suffering from mental illnesses and chemical dependency away from jails and emergency rooms and get them into proper treatment moved a step forward today as the Metropolitan King County Council accepted the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan ....

The Nielsen Company has selected Seattle, the nation's 14th largest television market, to introduce Local People Meter (LPM) technology which reports what television shows are being viewed by the general public.
The data collected helps television networks tailor programming to what the viewing public wants to see and will help them market themselves to advertisers who are trying to reach a particular demographic group ...

On the second day that the racist skinhead group, Hammerskins Nation was meeting in the Portland area, the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism and Fascism discovered exactly where this secret gathering was being held. The hate group was celebrating its 20^th anniversary with a three-day festival at the Sherwood Elks Club. Elk Club representatives say the Hammerskins lied about who they were.
The White supremacist Hammerskins, an international neo-Nazi organization that began as a violent Dallas, Texas gang, had succeeded in keeping the location of its festivities very quiet. So quiet, in fact, that organizers for Saturday's anti-racist rally in Lents Park didn't find out until after their protest rally had dispersed ....

On Oct. 11 The Skanner web site published a letter from the National Newspaper Publisher's Association sanctioning Seattle-based publisher Christopher H. Bennett. The NNPA board chair John B. Smith, states that Bennett acted without NNPA authority in requesting $50,000 in funds from the Eli Lily Company. The matter is still under investigation.
Last week, Bennett, speaking on a local radio station, demanded an apology from The Skanner. So readers can make up their own minds, The Skanner today is publishing both the letter of sanction, issued in July, and a letter from the Eli Lily Company to Bennett dated last June. 

In a letter dated July 10, 2007, Mr. John B. Smith, Sr., Board Chair of the National Newspaper Publisher's Association (NNPA) advised the members that Christopher H. Bennett and Christopher B. Bennett were sanctioned.
"Please accept this letter as final vote of the National Newspaper Publisher's Association's (NNPA) Executive Committee (hereunto "Committee) to sanction you for inappropriate behavior).

What if the government tried to give American taxpayers some of their money back, but the taxpayers didn't seem to want it?
That's what happened this year, as taxpayers collected only about half the $8 billion the IRS expected to pay them in its phone tax refund, the most far-reaching refund in the agency's history.
The telephone excise tax was created in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War. After losing several lawsuits disputing the legitimacy of the tax, the IRS created a program to refund the 3 percent tax paid on long distance or bundled service from March 2003 to July 2006.

House Democratic leaders said Sunday they were working to gather votes to override a veto on a popular children's health program, but pledged to find a way to cover millions without insurance should their effort fail.
In talk show interviews, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer did not dispute claims by Republican leaders that the GOP will have enough votes to sustain President Bush's veto when the House holds its override vote on ...

If you aren't registered to vote for this November's election, you have until Tuesday Oct. 16 to do so. All voter registration cards postmarked by the 16^th will be accepted as valid for the November election.
Voter registration forms are available online at the Oregon Secretary of State's Web site at www.sos.state.or.us/elections, as well as U.S. Post Offices, libraries and other ....

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Bakeries in Zimbabwe remained closed Sunday and shop shelves were empty of bread despite a 300 percent rise in the official price of a loaf.
The state Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, said the National Prices and Incomes Commission allowed the bread price to increase to Zimbabwe dollars 100,000 (US 20 cents at the dominant black market exchange rate) Friday as part of a review to help businesses remain viable.

A peaceful anti-war rally winds it's way up SW Broadway on Saturday, Sept. 29th.  Hundreds of marchers from more than 55 local organizations joined together in an anti-war rally that began with the crowd singing protest songs from the 60s and ended with a peace rally and speeches in front of the world trade center.

A coalition of African American groups in N.E. Portland has been working to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the African American community. Five bus-stop benches in Portland have been dedicated to the campaign – MY FRIEND WITH AIDS IS STILL MY FRIEND.  Pictured here is the installation of a bench at the intersection of Killingsworth Street and Michigan Ave. The coalition includes representatives from the Albina Ministerial Alliance, the African American Alliance, Brother to Brother, Cascade AIDS Project, The Portland Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, The Coalition of Black Men, The Links, Inc., Portland Urban League and Multnomah County Health Department.