Borat, a shock comedy chronicling the misadventures of a crass journalist from Kazakhstan as he traveled across the U.S., was, in this critic's opinion, the funniest film of 2006. Its star, Sacha Baron Cohen, landed an Oscar nomination for writing that faux documentary which employed a controversial bait-and-switch casting style to dupe a series of unsuspecting straight men to unwittingly make absolute fools of themselves. . . .

Newton Knight still haunts the Piney Woods and swamps of southern Mississippi, 140 years after the Civil War. Knight, subject of the new book "The State of Jones'' by journalist Sally Jenkins and Harvard University historian John Stauffer, remains an obscure Civil War figure. To the authors and some in Jones County where Knight led a campaign against the Confederacy . . .

Senate Democrats praised Sonia Sotomayor as a Hispanic pioneer well qualified for the Supreme Court on Monday, but Republicans questioned her impartiality and President Barack Obama's views as well at the start of confirmation hearings. . . .

President Barack Obama turned to the Deep South for the next surgeon general, a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. . . .

Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's choice to become the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court, vigorously defended herself Tuesday against charges that her speeches and rulings show racial bias. Sotomayor, almost certain to be confirmed to sit on the highest U.S. court, was responding to sharp Republican criticism of a 2001 speech in which she suggested a "wise Latina'' would usually reach better conclusions than a white man without similar experiences.  "I want to state upfront, unequivocally and without doubt: I do not believe that any racial, ethnic or gender group has an advantage in sound judging. I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge, regardless of their background or life experiences,'' Sotomayor declared. . . .

A new government study shows black students in many Southern states are improving test scores in math and reading, but not enough to narrow an achievement gap with their white classmates. The study was released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. It shows improvement in nearly every Southern state in performance by black fourth- and eighth-grade students from the early 1990s until 2007. . . .

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) announced the release of its 2008 Annual Report. In the report, the fund highlights that they have raised more than $100 million for college scholarships in their 22 year history. TMCF is the only national organization that provides resources, leadership development opportunities, scholarships and advocacy for students and alumni of the 47 public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and six law schools in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Virgin Islands. . . .

This week the Oregon Attorney General John Kroger declared victory in the campaign. "I'm excited to report that our effort to restore the civil rights enforcement unit at the DOJ was a success . . .

Nancy Metcalf of Consumer Reports says insurance industry is broken. As the debate over health care reform heats up in Washington, D.C., a report released Wednesday could make a major blow to private insurance companies' credibility . . .

Last fall, Nickels proposed the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative with the goal of reducing incidents of youth violence by 50 percent. In his State of the City speech last February, Nickels promised to hold a summit to explore best practices and call our entire community to action. "This gathering will bring together parents, young people and community members to motivate and support each other in our efforts," Nickels says. "It will take everyone working together to engage our young people and offer them a better path." . . .