You can now view videos of interviews from local stories on The Skanner's new YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/TheSkannerNews

Leo Frank Thornton has died on March 25. He was 86 ... He moved on to Portland to join other family members. It was there that he met and later married the love of his life, Eva Mae Adams. They continued to reside in Portland and there began their family. Together they raised 7 children. He was a devoted family man and a skillful barber in his early career and later retired as a professional butcher. . . .

In 1963, Moore graduated from Franklin Parrish Training School in Winnsboro, La. He raised sheep and each year won the blue ribbon at the county fair while growing up. He enlisted in the Marines and served in the Vietnam War. In 1964 the family moved to Portland ... Moore was employed at Cascade General in the position of journeyman painter for the major part of his adult life. . . .

Dwight Terry has been working in the funeral business for nearly 17 years and has owned his own funeral home since July 2007. He was recently appointed to the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board, an 11 member panel that oversees the state's death care industry ... His service with the state board will be to represent the perspective of embalmers. . . .

Some nine years after she first started college at age 17, Liz Vice can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. For Vice, who will be earning a degree in film from the Art Institute of Portland, the accomplishment not only makes her the first in the family to graduate college, it's also the beginning of a dream sparked by a debilitating kidney disease. Vice was one of the lucky ones. She received a kidney transplant in 2006. And a month later, she started school at the Art Institute, intent on following through with her dream of becoming a feature film director. "After the kidney transplant, I figured I'd go after something I've always wanted to do," . . .

Participants in the Kidney Health Fest will learn how to improve their lives to avoid kidney disease. This includes:

• Treating high blood pressure and diabetes, two of the leading causes of kidney failure.
• Quitting smoking.
• Eating a low-salt, low-fat diet. Obesity can lead to kidney disease.
• Exercising at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

Portland YouthBuilders  (PYB) will host a multi-state gathering of YouthBuild programs for a three-day Green Affordable Home Construction workshop from April 8-10, at PYB's school, located at 4816 S.E. 92nd Ave. The group will host colleagues from throughout the YouthBuild network to visit its current green residential construction projects and to share best practices with the common goal of training young people for jobs that will make a difference. . . .

Step It Up, Inc., a Portland-based nonprofit focused on youth workforce development, believes it's good for business to support local high school students in obtaining summer work experience.
The program is actively seeking new Portland business partners who are willing to help with the $3,000 per intern cost.
"These students are Portland's workforce of the future," says Linda McNeill, Step It Up, Inc.'s executive director and one of its founders. "They urgently need the support of local businesses to help them develop the skills necessary to meet the needs of the business sector." . . .

President Barack Obama on Thursday promised a more efficient record system to ease delays in health care for wounded veterans, as the government copes with more than 33,000 military personnel injured in two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An electronic record would follow a service member in the military and then later in the Veterans Affairs Department's medical system.

The Seattle Office for Civil Rights created the new online Intake Questionnaire to make it easier for people to take action when they feel they have been victims of illegal discrimination. . . .