Local author and genealogist Stephen Hanks will highlight "Jump-Start Your African American History," a genealogy workshop scheduled for 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the North Portland Library, 512 N. Killingsworth St.

Participants from past festivals

Now in its 35th year, the Northwest Folklife Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. over Memorial Day weekend, May 26 through 29, at the Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St.

Admission is free, but a $5-per-day donation is suggested.

During the festival's four-day run, the diverse communities of the Northwest will share their cultural traditions. Visitors will sing and dance, taste cuisine from around the world and learn from each other.

The Northwest Folklife Festival is the largest folk, ethnic and traditional arts event in North America and features more than 6,000 musicians, dancers and visual artists.

Portland area residents will put their best feet forward during a walk that will help support education and advocacy about mental illness.

The 2.8-mile walk, sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will be on Sunday, May 21. Check-in time is noon at the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade Festival Plaza, and the walk begins at 1 p.m. The plaza area is at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge.

An armed man spoke briefly to Archbishop Desmond Tutu outside a Seattle cathedral last week and handed him three bullets, police confirmed. No one was injured.

The retired Anglican archbishop from South Africa had just left St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral May 11 after a night service when the man approached him, Officer Deanna Nollette said Friday.

Sue Price, left, Tricia Tillman, Marlene Holliday, Yolanda Armstrong, Tori Tipton and Kimmy Figueroa — all members of the African American Outdoors Association — enjoy a recent hike in Tryon Creek State Park. The AAOA encourages African Americans to increase their fitness, health and wellness through outdoor activities.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is seeking to partner with about 30 medium-to-small businesses in south-central Seattle to conduct an obesity-prevention study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study will mainly recruit at worksites where employees have traditional blue- and pink-collar jobs.

Editorial With a host of pressing issues demanding attention, many African Americans have not…

  2006 Breakfast InformationFor tickets e-mail [email protected] or come to The…

NEW ORLEANS—Mayor Ray Nagin, whose shoot-from-the-hip style was both praised and scorned after Hurricane Katrina, narrowly won re-election over Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu on Saturday in the race to oversee one of the biggest rebuilding projects in U.S. history.

"We are ready to take off. We have citizens around the country who want to come back to the city of New Orleans, and we're going to get them all back," Nagin said in a joyful victory speech that took on the tone of Sunday sermon.

"If we are unified there is nothing we cannot do," he said. "It's time for us to stop the bickering."

Vicente Fox

OLYMPIA—When Mexican President Vicente Fox visits Washington state, he will meet the state's business elite at Seattle's tony Rainier Club, but also get his shoes dirty by traipsing around a Yakima Valley farm.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's office released the itinerary for Fox's visit next Wednesday and Thursday, describing it a well-rounded, whirlwind tour of town and country, with plenty of opportunity to meet Mexican nationals who have become a key part of the state economy.

"We're getting our money's worth out this trip," enthused Antonio Ginatta, the governor's Equadorian-born policy adviser.