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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2000)
October 25, 2000 Page Bö (Ftp ÿlortlanb (ßbseruer United Way to Fund Scouts Despite Ban The board o f O reg o n ’s largest United W ay chapter decided Friday to continue funding the Boy Scouts, arguing that m aintaining a neutral position on the ban o f hom osexual m em bers and leaders was m ost ben eficial to all sides. H ow ever, the board said contribu tors to the U nited W ay can designate w hich program s they w ant their do nation to support, giving co ntribu tors ihe option o fn o t financially sup porting the Scouts. M em bers o f the YW CA held a candlelight vigil outside the United W ay building on Southw est l l t h A venue, urging board m em bers to stop funding the scouts. T w o-thirds o f the board m em bers voted to continue funding; how ever, they also continue to "strongly urge” m em ber agencies such as the Boy Scouts to adopt anti-discrim ination policies that include sexual o rien ta tion. “ The board o f the U nited W ay decided to reaffirm its current poli cies with regards to discrim ination, which m eans that the United W ay organization itsel fhas a nondiscrimi- natory policy. And it strongly urges all o f its agencies to follow that policy,” stated John King, United Way B oard o f D irectors Chair. In June, the Suprem e C ourt up held the S couts’ ban on gay Scout AT&T Considering Four Way Split Communications giant would split into business service, wireless, consumer long distance, and Internet Broadband (AP) - Board m em bers o f AT& T Corp., the nation’s largest long-dis tance telephone service and cable television provider, intend to con sider dividing the com pany into four distinct businesses, according to re ports. The split w ould create separate com panies specializing in business services, wireless, consum er long distance, and “broadband” delivery o f TV, Internet and phone services over cable lines. The New Y ork Times and The W all Street Journal reported in M onday’s editions. T he board m eets M onday. T he com pany’s biggest and m ost profitable unit, the Business Services departm ent, w hich caters to corpo rate custom ers, w ould becom e the new AT& T and w ould create b rand licensing and com m ercial agreem ents w ith the three other businesses. A T & T officials declined to co m m ent on the proposed plan. I f the plan, called Project G rand Slam , is A T & T ’s m arket v aluation has dropped by about $70 billion since January, partly because o f falling prices in the long-distance industry. Its stock is trading at around h alf o f w hat it was a year ago. The proposed plan w ould repre sent the second tim e the com pany has been broken up since the federal governm ent supervised the breakup o f the Bell system in 1984. A T&T spun o ff Lucent Technologies and its NCR com puter unit in 1996. In morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, AT&T was down 19 cents a share at $26.81, less than half its peak value earlier this year. approved, an announcem ent could be made as early as W ednesday. Other options the board w ere to consider include leaving A T & T intact or spin ning o ff one or m ore new businesses. U nder the split-into-fourproposal, A T & T ’s w ireless and cable TV op erations would becom e separate com panies over the next one to tw o years. The com pany’s m ore than 60 m illion telephone users w ould not feel m uch im m ediate im pact from the plan. T he four split units w ould be able to concentrate on their ow n strate gies and grow more quickly than they w ould w hile confined to the larger A T & T scheme. Social Security Benefits Going Up for 2001 Social Security and Supplem ent Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 3.5 percent in 2001, K en neth S. Apfel, Com m issioner o f So cial Security announced last week. “T oday’s news tells us that infla tion continues to be low w hich is certainly good new s for everyone living on a fixed incom e,” said C om m issioner Apfel. “ Inflation is one o f the w orst enem ies o f the elderly. T he past eight years, w hich have seen low inflation rates and a strong econom y, have been p articu larly good for the elderly.” The 3.5 percent increase will begin w ith benefits that Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2001. Increased paym ents to SSI recipients will begin on D ecem ber 29. For Social Security beneficiaries. the average monthly benefits amount for all retired w orkers w ill rise from $816 to $845. The m axim um federal SSI m onthly paym ents to an indi vidual will rise from $512 to $530. For a couple, the m axim um , federal SSI paym ent will rise from $769 to $796. leaders. D enouncing that policy as dis c r im in a to r y , n u m e ro u s sc h o o l boards, city councils, corporations and charities have halted or reduced support for the Scouts. Since the ruling, six o f 1.400 U nited W ay chap ters — including groups in Provi dence, R .L.and Evanston, 111. — have adopted discrim ination policies that effectively bar funding o f the Scouts, according to the National United W ay office. At $252,000a year, the United Way is the biggest contributor to the Scout couneil’sSô. Imillionannualbudget. Ihe council serves roughly 53,000 boys in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Self Enhancement Hosts Home Buying Fair T h e firs t a n n u a l H o m e B u y ing F a ir g e a re d to w ard A fric a n A m e ric a n s w ill be h e ld S a tu r day from 11 a.m . to 4 p.m . at the C e n te r fo r S e lf E n h a n c e m e n t, 3 9 2 0 N. K erby. T h e e v e n t is a sp e c ia l e f fo rt to a s s is t lo c a l re s id e n ts in th e h o m e b u y in g p ro c e ss a n d p r o m o te A fric a n A m e ric a n h o m e o w n e rs h ip . It is fre e an d o p e n to th e p u b lic . T h e re w ill b e fo o d , d o o r p riz e s e n te r ta in m e n t fo r th e c h ild re n , a n d e a s y - to - u n d e r - sta n d e d u c a tio n a l w o rk s h o p su c h a s “ W o rk in g w ith a R e a l t o r ” , “ U n d e r s ta n d in g Y o u r C r e d it” an d “ T h e A B C ’s o f H o m e B u y in g .” R e p re s e n ta tiv e s fro m lo c a l le n d in g in s titu tio n s , re a l e s ta te a g e n c ie s , title a n d h o m e in s u ra n c e c o m p a n ie s , fo r- p r o fit an d n o n - p ro f it d e v e lo p e rs , g o v e rn m e n t a g e n c ie s and o th e r w ill b e o n h a n d W h ile h o m e o w n e rs rate has r is e n s te a d ily o v e r th e p a s t eig h t y ea rs, A fric a n A m erican s s till lag b e h in d , th e U .S . D e p a r t m e n t o f H o u s in g a n d H o u s in g a n d U rb a n D e v e lo p m e n t re p o rts. F a c to rs th a t c o n tr ib u te to th e d is p a rity in c lu d e a lack o f ex p e rien c e in the hom e b u y in g p ro c e s s , in a b ility to se c u re lo a n s, b a d c re d it an d d if fic u lty m a n e u v e rin g th ro u g h th e b u y in g p ro c e d u re . “ B u y in g a h o m e is o n e o f th e s m a r te s t in v e s tm e n ts a fa m ily c a n m a k e ,” sa id C ity C o m m is s io n e r E rik S te n , a s p o k e s m a n fo r th e fair. “ T h is is an e v e n t th a t ’s lo n g o v e r d u e .” F a ir o rg a n iz e rs p la n to o ffe r th e e v e n t tw ic e a y e a r, a ttr a c t in g h u n d re d s o f p e o p le . Asian Pacific Islander Law Conference A first conference dealing with issues and concerns facing the Asian Pacific Islanders com m unity in the areas o f violence and child abuse. 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