A group pushing a ballot initiative to rein in payday loan practices is urging the coming special legislative session to avoid the issue if proposals are weaker than what their initiative outlines.

 The ballot proposal sponsored by Oregon for Payday Loan Fairne$$ would limit payday loan interest to 36 percent a year, restrict loan initiation fees to 10 percent of the loan amount it, allow only two rollovers and give borrowers 31 days instead of 15 to use the money before the loan comes due.

NEW ORLEANS—Thousands of protesters led by civil rights leaders the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton rallied here April 1, saying the city's election plans will disenfranchise voters displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

VANCOUVER, Wash.—People who depend on Interstate 5 to get to work, see family or deliver goods between Portland and Vancouver are invited to participate in two community meetings planned for April 12 and 13 to evaluate and comment on ideas aimed at reducing travel times during peak hours.

The Portland meeting is scheduled for 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in the Jantzen Beach Red Lion Inn, 909 N. Hayden Island Drive. The Vancouver event takes place from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, in Hudson's Bay High School, 1206 E. Reserve St.

When construction begins on the Housing Authority of Portland's Humboldt Gardens project, history will be made.

'This model has never been tried in the United States before.'

— Lee Moore
Housing Authority of Portland

WASHINGTON—U.S. Capitol Police on Monday took steps toward obtaining an arrest warrant for Rep. Cynthia McKinney after she tangled with a uniformed officer last week.

Pictured: Cynthia McKinney

OLYMPIA—Tens of thousands of released felons barred from voting in Washington state are at the center of a legal battle over whether unpaid fines alone should keep them from the polls.

Portland General Electric severed its ties with bankrupt Enron Corp. on Monday and issued its common stock as an independent company.

PGE, Oregon's largest and oldest utility, issued 62.5 million shares. About 43 percent were given to Enron creditors that have settled their claims.

Former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber's campaign to radically reform health care drew about 200 people to its first meeting in Portland on Sunday.

The effort is a grass roots campaign that aims to gather citizens' ideas on how to create a better health care system and use their activism to pressure politicians to adopt their concept.

Portland Police Chief Derrick Foxworth has been accused by city officials of sexual misconduct against a female officer before he became chief. A nine-page legal notice released by the city alleges that Foxworth sent a series of graphic e-mails to Angela Oswalt.

Oswalt, 46, a longtime Police Bureau veteran, claims that she feared for her job unless she succumbed to Foxworth's advances.

A new study of a little-understood treatment for heart disease may have a positive outcome for African Americans, said a participating physician.