Carollynn Smith, the grandmother who has been fighting the Department of Human Services for custody of two of her grandchildren for the last four years, is getting some long-deserved help....

JusFamilyRecords.com and vrtech presents the 10th annual Poh-Hop music festival, four nights of performance that includes dozens of top artists from around the Pacific Northwest....

Learn how to start a business and take control of a business' finances through upcoming seminars hosted by Mt. Hood Community College's Small Business Development Center....

http://www.addictinggames.com/battlegroundstates2008.html Battleground States

http://www.addictinggames.com/palinaspresident.html Palin as President

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democrat Barack Obama won the endorsement Sunday of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican and fellow African-American who served as the country's top diplomat in the first George W. Bush administration. He called the Illinois senator a "transformational figure."....

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- For Thelma Barnes, visiting Freedom Village is just too hard. As a secretary for Delta Ministry in the 1960s, Barnes helped establish Freedom Village, a community for Black farm workers who needed a place to live and a way to make money after being forced off plantations.....

NEW ORLEANS (NNPA) - The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's office in New Orleans has announced a federal probe into the fatal shootings which occurred on a city bridge just six days after Hurricane Katrina.
"In the best spirit of law enforcement coordination, and at the request of the victim's families, the New Orleans District Attorney has referred the matter to the United States Department of Justice for review," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said in a statement early this month.
Letten said his office, the Justice Department and the FBI would take "as much time and resources as necessary to determine whether there are any prosecutable violations of federal criminal laws in this matter."
"In order to insure the integrity of the process, no additional comments regarding this matter will be made until the review is complete," he added ....

This election season voters will have the power to shape Oregon for years to come .... Ballots will be mailed out Sat, Oct. 18, and must be returned by Tues, Nov. 4. The following are The Skanner's official endorsements....

Photo by Susan Fried: Rose Sanders joined hundreds of enthusiastic parents and grandparents Sunday Oct. 11.

City Council Candidates Amanda Fritz and Charles Lewis both spoke with The Skanner on camera about the issues they hope to address if they're elected to public office – education, being smart on crime, affordable housing and others. You can view these interviews, as well as videos of county commission candidates....

In this city, it's almost hard not to get registered to vote. Around almost every corner are volunteers with registration cards. But registering isn't enough, says Craig Robinson. You have to vote.
"I'd like to think Oregon is on lockdown," he said during a speech at PCC Cascade on Tuesday. "But the game's not over until the last buzzer goes off."
Robinson, who is head basketball coach at Oregon State University, and is Michelle Obama's brother, was speaking to encourage people to make sure everyone they know is registered ....