King County residents will be able to make more informed food choices and have a safer food supply as the result of last week's action by the King County Board of Health to require menu labeling in King County chain restaurants and to eliminate artificial trans fat in all King County restaurants.
The first phase of the trans fat ban, which applies to fry oils and shortenings, will go into effect May 1, 2008. Restaurants will have until Aug. 1, 2008 to conduct the nutritional analysis and put the information on menus and menu boards. King County will be the second jurisdiction in United States to require menu labeling in some food establishments.
Board of Health members expressed strong support for the decision that will improve the dining experience and the health of the community in the fight against obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
"The Board of Health is responsible for passing laws to protect the health of the public, and to promote healthy behaviors that improve health and prevent illness," said King County Councilmember and Board of Health Chair Julia Patterson. "There is no better example of our commitment to residents' health than the legislation passed today that protects us from dangerous trans fats and promotes consumer education and informed choices by labeling menus....

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.
The document stated:
"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). On or about a date unknown to this Committee, you unilaterally negotiated and signed a contract with Eli Lilly and Company for $50,000.00 (Exhibit A).  The Committee....

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An attorney who won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that rejected the use of race in assigning students to Louisville schools asked a judge on Thursday to allow about 2,800 students to change schools immediately.
Teddy B. Gordon's motion also asked U.S. District Judge John Heyburn II to put the school district's superintendent and members of his administration in jail if they do not go along with the request.
The court filing comes less than a month before the scheduled Aug. 22 start of classes in Jefferson County Public Schools. No hearing date has been set in the case.

ST. LOUIS -- National Urban League president Marc Morial got endorsements from the three leading Democratic presidential hopefuls for the group's agenda, which focuses on children's welfare, jobs, homeownership and entrepreneurship.
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards all endorsed the league's 27-page "Opportunity Compact" while speaking Friday to the group's convention.
Morial didn't ask Rep. Dennis Kucinich -- another Democratic presidential contender -- whether he would endorse the compact. But the objectives the former Cleveland mayor articulated seem to fall into line with the Urban League's policy priorities.
"What we've seen is an elevation of urban issues in the political discourse of this campaign," Morial said after the presidential forum had ended.
He thanked those candidates who "honored us with their presence," saying "those who were not here were invited" -- both Democrats and Republicans -- in a series of letters, e-mails and phone calls since November.
"We're going to continue to court them," he said, adding that the group wants all the candidates to embrace the Urban League's public policy priorities.
Speaking to a predominantly black audience, Kucinich pledged to turn President Bush's foreign policy upside down if he were elected to the White House.

Publisher's Note: Four months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, Dr. Jonathan Jui, Multnomah County's director of emergency medical services, delivered a keynote address at The Skanner Foundation's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast.
No one seemed to understand the extent of the catastrophe until it occurred, Jui told the crowd.
"What the community hears and what it knows are two different things," said Jui, who worked with the National Disaster Medical System team at the New Orleans airport after the disaster.
The Skanner Publisher Bernie Foster wants to ensure that this type of smokescreen doesn't happen in Portland or Seattle. Over the past two years, The Skanner has run a series of articles about disaster preparedness and the local government's preparation (or lack of preparation) should a catastrophe strike.

Antwon Jones, center, with the Seattle Super J's drives to the basket against members of the Seatown Ballers in the fourth annual Battle at the Lake tournament, held July 20-22 at Greenlake Community Center. The tournament consists of eight teams of current and former, semi-professional and professional basketball players. Last year's defending champs, the Seattle Super J's, were defeated in the final by the M.T.M.F's (Marvin Thomas Memorial Fund).

You have to see it in their eyes, in their attitudes, says Knott Street Boxing Club Coach John Peters. Some kids have it and some kids don't.
"There are a lot of kids who come in here and they work out, they fight, but they don't have the drive," Peters, known as "Johnnie" to his boxing fans, says. "Corey has it. You could see it right away. He's got good hand speed, quickness and he listens. I wasn't surprised when he won nationals."

Clare Washington didn't consider herself a historian until an interview with the descendant of a female rebel leader from an 1894 uprising on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas helped change her mind.
"I realized that there was not just this woman," Washington says. "I needed to find out about more obscure women ...

Publisher's Note: Four months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, Dr. Jonathan Jui, Multnomah County's director of emergency medical services, delivered a keynote address at The Skanner Foundation's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast.
No one seemed to understand the extent of the catastrophe until it occurred, Jui told the crowd.
"What the community hears and what it knows are two different things," said Jui, who worked with the National Disaster Medical System team at the New Orleans airport after the disaster.
The Skanner Publisher Bernie Foster wants to ensure that this type of smokescreen doesn't happen in Portland or Seattle....

Mardica Hicks approaches a client in the Children's Community Clinic's waiting room with a gentle voice and a warm smile.
"Hi. I'm Mardica, the new director of the clinic. How are you?" Hicks asks the Latino mother, whose three young girls are patiently waiting to see a nurse practitioner.
"Have you been waiting long?" Hicks asks.
The mother smiles and shakes her head....