Rep. Chip Shields and Sen. Margaret Carter will host a town-hall forum on education from 10:30 a.m. to noon, Saturday March 8 at PCC's Cascade Campus Student services cafeteria, 705 N. Killingsworth Street. Special guests will include James Sager, Senior Policy Advisor on Education for Governor Kulongoski; Dana Hepper, Statewide Advocacy Coordinator for Stand For Children, and Algie Gatewood, President of Portland Community College Cascade Campus. The meeting will help set the agenda for Pre-K, K-12 and higher education for the 2009 legislative session. For more information, call Rep. Shields office at 503- 231-2564

Should state Sen. Margaret Carter move from state government to city government? According to the buzz, that's a question being asked around town in everywhere from boardrooms to basketball courts. The Skanner can't reveal our sources on this, but it seems a group of business leaders have asked Sen. Carter to ditch her job in Salem and make a bid for the seat Commissioner Sam Adams is vacating in City Hall.

This summer, the first group of students to attend St. Andrew Nativity Middle School will graduate from high school — and all but one plan to continue their education, with most headed to a university.
Perhaps it isn't news that graduates from a private Catholic school make it into higher education, but St Andrew graduates are not typical private school students....

Dan Shea, a muralist and veteran with Vets for Peace chapter 72, shakes hands with a volunteer named Bucket at the 2007 People of Color Against the War workshop. Mic Crenshaw, an MC and founder of Global Fam stands in the background.

Mireaya Medina has noticed a shift in the way the Iraq War is treated in the media. Suddenly, now that election season is in full swing, coverage has tilted to the weak state of the U.S. economy. ...

After Tuesday's election results in Wisconsin and Hawaii, Sen. Barack Obama increased his lead in pledged delegates over Sen. Hillary Clinton, with his 10th win in a row.
The polling group  Zogby reported Wednesday, that nationally Obama has a 14 point lead over Clinton. Also according to the Zogby poll, voters currently favor Obama over McCain. Yet matched against Clinton, the poll showed voters chose McCain.
But if Sen. Obama seems to have harnessed the momentum, — for now — Sen. Clinton still has big wins in California, New York and Massachussetts in her corner. And with races in Texas ...

Book It All Over Repertory actors Shermona Mitchell and Antonia Darlene bring to life the story "Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman" Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Central Library. In this scene Old Ben tells Antonia to follow the North Star to freedom.

In an agreement approved last month, state regulators are requiring telecommunications giant AT&T to pay thousands of dollars in refunds to families of prison inmates who were overcharged for collect phone calls from two Eastern Washington state prisons.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission also fined AT&T $302,705 for charging higher telephone rates than allowed for thousands of collect calls from the two prisons.
The commission identified 29,971 violations in phone-rate charges during a four-month period in 2005 at Airway Heights Corrections Center in Spokane and the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The prisoners' families and others were overcharged $67,295 for the collect calls.
Prisoners in Washington cannot make direct calls outside the institution, but instead make outgoing-collect calls from pay phones. During the time of the commission's investigation, from March to June 2005, AT&T had a contract with the state to provide telephone service from state prisons. AT&T was required to file a price list with the commission, including charges made for collect calls from pay phones at the two Washington prisons.
Richard Laxton, a Seattle resident, filed a complaint with the commission in August 2005, after he noticed a discrepancy in two collect-phone calls made from ....

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Prompted by growing concern about gang activity and the case of a drunken driver who fled the country after a fatal crash, the House passed several public safety bills Monday.
House Bill 2712 tackled gang activity, approving a sweeping measure that aims to combat gang violence and steer young people away from joining gangs. That measure passed 94-1 and heads to the Senate....

Earlier this month, the U.S. Army announced a new program designed to help new, qualified recruits with a down payment for home ownership or seed money to start their own business after completing their initial term of service.
Anti-war groups expressed skepticism about the motives behind programs they say typically target young, low-income people with few options for higher education or employment.
The Army Advantage Fund offers up to $40,000 for a five-year plus enlistment ...

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