SALEM—In the last year, Gov. Ted Kulongoski boosted the number of women and minorities appointed to state boards and commissions.

Considering what is coming out of Washington these days, you can't help but look forward to the new year, since the last one couldn't end soon enough. Last year started with the president announcing that privatizing Social Security and cutting future benefits was his No. 1 priority. Luckily, once Americans cut through the cant, they overwhelmingly rejected his plan.

Southeast Portland resident Linda Banks has been selected as a recipient of Portland General Electric's Outstanding Volunteer Award for 2005.

Sisters of the Road will observe its annual remembrance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 16 with a downtown march and rally. The King Day celebration, the Sisters' 14th celebration, carries the theme "MLK Everyday: Traveling the Road of Change Through Nonviolence." The march is set to gather at 2 p.m. at Sisters of the Road Café, 133 N.W. Sixth Ave.

The National Marrow Donor Program and its local donor center, NMDP of Oregon/Southwest Washington, are working with the American Red Cross Pacific Northwest Blood Region to encourage people to come together. The groups are asking local African Americans to join the NMDP registry during the Martin Luther King Jr. Blood and Bone Marrow Drive from Jan. 16 through 21.

Everybody Reads, Multnomah County Library's fourth annual community reading project, begins this month and continues throughout the month of February. This year's book is The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini's best-selling and highly acclaimed tale of the friendship of two boys set against the tumultuous backdrop of modern Afghanistan.

TriMet will operate on a modified schedule for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Jan. 16, to match ridership demand. MAX and most bus lines will run on Saturday schedules with extra service for morning and afternoon commutes.

ATLANTA—At the end of a losing battle during the past legislative session, Georgia state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan burst into the civil rights anthem "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" to protest the passage of a law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has introduced legislation that would instruct the Postmaster General to create a commemorative postage stamp to honor the legacy of Rosa Parks. The legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., John Kerry, D-Mass., Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

Lou Rawls, the velvet-voiced singer who started as a church choir boy and went on to sell more than 40 million albums and win three Grammys, has died, his publicist announced. Rawls died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was hospitalized last month for treatment of lung and brain cancer, said his publicist, Paul Shefrin.