Atlanta Parks Commissioner Dianne Harnell Cohen, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Portland Parks and Recreation Bureau Director Zari Santner celebrate Franklin's appearance in Portland as part of the Great Parks, Great Cities speaker series. Franklin sees parks investment as an economic driver for city development and jobs creation. For more on this issue, click on http://www.theskanner.com/index.php?action=artd&artid=6918

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Confronted by record foreclosures, the Federal Reserve is ready to give U.S. home buyers more protection from the types of shady lending practices that have contributed to the country's housing crisis.
Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues approved a plan Monday that would crack down on dubious lending practices that have hurt many of the riskiest "subprime" borrowers -- people with tarnished credit histories or low incomes.
Rules made public in December would:
• restrict lenders from penalizing risky borrowers who pay loans off early.
• require lenders to ensure those borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance.
• bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower's income.
• prohibit lenders from engaging in a pattern or practice of lending without considering a borrower's ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the homes value.
• curtail misleading ads for many types of mortgages.
• bolster financial disclosures to borrowers. ...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Robert Mugabe's brazen power grab in Zimbabwe's election saga has left cracks in one of African leaders' unspoken rules: Never turn on one of your own.
The fact that even several nations are refusing to recognize Zimbabwe's ruler of 28 years marks an unprecedented change in Africa that offers a glimmer of hope for a brighter, more democratic future.
A younger generation of African leaders appears willing to break from the clubbiness that has characterized the governing elites on this continent where authoritarian rule has long been the norm.
Among the most outspoken has been Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian president who is the continent's only female leader.
On a visit to South Africa this week, she was the first African leader to support proposed U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe's leaders, saying they send a "strong message" that the world will not tolerate violence to retain power....

The Forum results are in. Because of overwhelming response, NAACP couldn't limit themselves to just ten questions. So here are the fifteen questions that they sent to the campaign staffs of Senators McCain and Obama...

Register by July 19th for Washington Primary Elections on August 19th
July 19th is the registration deadline to vote in the Washington primary elections on August 19, 2008.
August 18th is the deadline to submit an application to have an Absentee Ballot mailed to you.
The official applications can be found at www.StateDemocracy.org. This completely FREE one-stop public service portal also offers a host of other voter tools, including ...

Six-year-old Niyah Brown's mouth drops open in surprise as face painter Roger Witter holds a mirror up to her for inspection of his work Saturday afternoon at the Good in the Neighborhood celebrations held at King Elementary School in Northeast Portland.

Since he was 10 years old, Garfield de Bardelaben knew he wanted to help people.
"I wanted to know what made people tick," he told The Skanner from his office at the new Avel Gordly Center for Healing. "I wanted to know why White people hated Black people … why Black people responded the way they did."
But right now, de Bardelaben isn't helping as many African Americans as he would like. Oregon's first Black psychologist and first Black elected as president of the Oregon Psychological Association, de Bardelaben says the center, which caters to the cultural needs of African Americans, isn't serving as many of the community as it could – and it's not because there isn't a need....

A little-known group that helps law enforcement agencies gather racial information on police stops around the state is holding public hearings in Salem next week. The Law Enforcement Contacts Policy and Data Review Committee ...

For nearly 14 years now, Pastor Mary Overstreet has looked after her great-grandson Sir J. Millage. For the last few years, she and members of Powerhouse Temple church have been looking after a lot more people just like Millage – people who live with one of the disorders on the autism spectrum ...

Cousins Amaree Williams, 6, and Carmela Todd, 5, cool off in Lake Washington last Saturday, when the mercury in Seattle hit a record 91 degrees, tying a record set in 1994.