What's happening for me in Portland this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your week. Please click on "Read the complete article" below.

May 21 2008, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.
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The 82nd Avenue Business Association is launching The 82nd Avenue  of Roses Parade this Saturday. With Rose Court princesses (pictured), Chinese Lions, the Keystone Kops, the Royal Rosarians, the Portland Corvette Club and marching groups, the parade is likely to be an annual event. After setting out from Eastport Plaza, 4000 SE 82nd Ave. at 9 a.m. it will travel north along 82nd Avenue then west onto SE Yamhill, disbanding at S.E. 78th Avenue.
Montavilla East Tabor Business Assn. and Montavilla Neighborhood Assn. have organized a sidewalk festival to take place after the parade. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three more lawmakers are seeking investigations of federally funded research in poor, Black neighborhoods that resulted in sewage sludge being spread on several families' lawns in attempt to determine whether it could combat lead poisoning in children.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Gov. Chet Culver on Thursday signed into law a bill that will require lawmakers to look at the impact proposed sentencing laws will have on racial and ethnic groups.
The new law comes as Iowa tries to shake the reputation of having the greatest prison racial disparity in the nation.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton talks to a crowd in Hillsboro last week. She was greeted by 6,000 people across the state. Just the week before, Sen. Barack Obama made his second appearance in Oregon. Both candidates are vying for the state's 52 electoral votes.

Radio talk show host Warren Ballentine is heading to Portland next week to help lead a conference on law enforcement. The Northwest Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives will hold its annual training meeting, "Leadership through Excellence: A Dialogue to Mentor Our Future" from April 17 – 20 at the Crowne Plaza Holiday Inn. A civil rights advocate, whose radio handle is 'the people's attorney,' Ballentine will host a town hall meeting for 200 students and give the keynote speech at the closing banquet.
Last November, Ballentine was a key instigator of National Blackout Day, urging African Americans to join him in refusing to spend any money on one chosen Friday. The idea was to highlight the spending power of Black America and at the same time draw attention to the persistence of racism and injustice. The University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth has estimated that African American spending power is about  $845 billion a year (after taxes) — more than $2.3 billion a day.
Ballentine helped draw national attention to the Jena 6 case, advocated for Genarlow Wilson, the teen jailed for consensual oral sex, who now has been released, and spoke out in support of Megan Williams, the Virginia woman who was kidnapped and tortured by six Whites.
The Skanner interviewed Ballentine on the phone last Monday. ...

Moloy Good, the council's executive director and Jill Fuglitzer, of the Coalition for a Livable Future, will discuss what's happening in Portland and Sherrill Frost-Brown from National Fair Housing Alliance will discuss fair housing issues arising across the country. The event will culminate in an award ceremony that will honor the winner of the 2008 children's poster competition and other fair housing heroes.

Despite talk of a recession, Cheryl Roberts is optimistic that things still will be good in the North and Northeast neighborhood come June. The chair and chief fund-raiser for the annual Good in the NeighborHood festival says it's time to start finding the ingredients for Portland's premier multicultural food and music celebration. Roberts is going to need volunteers, entertainers, vendors and a grand marshal....

This is a screen shot from the film "Yokes and Chains," a documentary about a Camano Island family who has traveled around the country, as well as historic slave ports around the world, apologizing for slavery. Local filmmaker Michael Lienau will be in attendance at the screening of the film at 4:30 p.m., Monday, April 14. ...