This week, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced the top 10 list of complaints Oregonians filed with his office in 2009.

Two heavy weights in Portland’s music scene are formally backing a proposal by the Portland Trail Blazers to re-develop the Rose Quarter.

The U.S. Department of Education plans on stepping up its enforcement of civil rights law and will be sending out letters to school districts and college administrators informing them of their responsibilities, reports The New York Times.

It seems like all you hear about Portland Public Schools is about teenagers dropping out, a woeful lack of funding, a sobering achievement gap, and scores of students just not making the grade.

But yesterday, State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo announced fifteen Oregon public schools that have made progress in closing the achievement gap. Two of them are in Portland.

Synthetic marijuana is often sold as a substitute for the real thing that doesn’t carry the same legal risks. But the substance also has its downsides.

The Rev. Renee Ward talks about the legislative angle of the shooting of Aaron Campbell, a 25-year-old unarmed man who was shot by Portland police after a tense standoff. A grand jury cleared the officer who shot Campbell, Aaron Frashour, which has prompted some critics to call for reform of the state’s use of force laws. Ward talks about what lawmakers can do to make sure that police are held accountable in future incidents.

Three legislators from north and northeast Portland will be holding a town hall event to discuss a special legislative session that wrapped up late last month.

With Tea Party activists getting wall to wall coverage by the mainstream media it is clear that the right continues to outmaneuver the left in terms of capturing the limelight to promote the conservative cause.

The cold fact is there has been no equivalent concept or response from a liberal, left, progressive “movement” that is disgruntled, disjointed, disoriented and ineffective. If a return to power of the conservatives is to be blocked, there must be far more innovative thinking, meaningful messaging and creative organizing on the left.

Thirty years ago, Asian food was an exotic and rare cuisine for the American palette. Fast forward to today, an Asian food aisle is present in almost any grocery store, and eateries featuring fares from the Far East are perhaps as prevalent as fast food.

Martin Yan has helped introduce Asian food to American audiences serving as host of PBS’ “Yan Can Cook.”

With a thick Cantonese accent and infectious enthusiasm for Asian food, Yan has steadily un-shrouded exotic fares for American audiences, always ending the show with, “If Yan can cook, so can you.”

Portland holds a special place for Yan, whose father spent years working in Chinatown making money before returning to China. Yan was in town for a cooking show at Wong King’s Restaurant on Division Street, a place the chef has high regards for.

In the depths of a sour economy, with its chill on land development, a long-stalled project on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rosa Parks Way has finally moved forward.

The Portland Development Commission recently approved a contract with Tom Walsh Jr. and Serena Cruz Walsh for what is now called the King/Park project. It is a two-stage, multi-use project for a long-vacant parcel of land.

Tomorrow Art on Alberta, a volunteer non-profit that seeks to promote the Alberta Arts District’s cultural identity through art and educational activity, will be holding a benefit dinner at Bennie’s Southern Bistro to raise money for anti-graffiti materials for the Art Hop later this

In Oregon, unemployment has stayed at a stubbornly high level, causing an increase in foreclosures. According to a recent report by the Mortgage Banker’s Association, nearly 1 in 10 of Oregon’s 628,000 mortgages was either behind or in foreclosure. As the ranks of desperate people swell, so have those of people hoping to make a quick buck.

The nation is seeing an new rise in dangerous right-wing extremism across the country fueled by paranoia of the federal government and the election of the nation’s first black president, according to a tracker of hate groups.

A new government study has shown that asthma rates are on the rise, reports HealthDay News:

Do you have an opinion about Portland Public School’s high school redesign? How about closing one the city’s house schools? How about two? Just want to learn more? All these topics will be discussed at a forum tomorrow night.

The state’s juvenile corrections agency has announced that it plans to increase its number of certified alcohol and drug counseling to youth offenders during its training period, which begins later this month.

In California, the medical marijuana industry has blossomed from a relatively free-wheeling set of laws that govern, as well as the Obama administration’s announcement that it will mellow on prosecuting ganja lovers using federal law.

Now the Sacramento Bee has announced a new blog on it’s website dedicated to tracking the issue.

Today, President Barack Obama announced a new initiative designed to stem the nation’s sobering drop out rate and better prepare students for college. It offers federal money to schools that make drastic changes, that would likely cause dust-ups in Portland. Interestingly, Mayor Sam Adams is encouraged.

In a recent conversation with one of my girls we began to talk about a conversation she and her mother recently had about what she should do with her life.

Needless to say, my 34-year-old friend was aggravated. You understand…. You get that feeling like mom is trying to run your life- even at 30, 40, or 50 years old. We all know how it can make the relationship quite contentious at times. The funny thing is: our relationships with our daughter will very likely be the same.

Giving advice that sometimes falls on deaf ears. How much of what she’s telling you is true? It may take years and years that go by before you realize “Mom may have been right about that.” And the ‘Aha’ moment hits us.

This Sunday, Feb. 28, the Freedom Socialist Party will be screening “10,000 Black Men Named George”, a film that tells the true story of black porters for the Pullman Rail Company attempt to unionize during the Great Depression