Portland Mayor: ‘I Screwed Up’
The mayor of Portland, Ore., asked for forgiveness Tuesday after being exposed for his relationship with a teen boy, with whom he had a sexual relationship three years ago. “I screwed up. I blew it. There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” Mayor Sam Adams said in a hurriedly called news conference at City Hall. He had planned to be D.C. instead to attend the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Portland was the biggest American city to elect an openly gay mayor when voters overwhelmingly chose him last year. Adams and the teen had denied the relationship in 2007 when he was getting ready to run for mayor. Adams said he only lied because some thought the teen was under age. However, he said Monday, the relationship did not begin until after the teen was 18 in June 2005, the legal age of consent in Oregon. Adams, who is 45, acknowledged that their age difference makes their relationship inappropriate. The teen, who has not been identified, was a legislative intern whom Adams mentored on being gay and in public service. Now 21, he has been mum about the relationship. “I will be subject to greater scrutiny because of this, and that is appropriate,” Adams said. “My reputation has been impacted. Friendships have been impacted, and that’s appropriate as well.” Commissioner Randy Leonard is calling for an investigation. Adams said he will cooperate with any investigation.

Black Woman, 107, Witnesses Inauguration
Ann Nixon Cooper, 107 years old, unlike many in her age bracket, actually thought she might live to see an African-American president. On Tuesday, she was there in person to witness Barack Obama being sworn in as the first Black commander in chief. Read more here.

Obama has an ambitious jobs plan. President-elect Barack Obama has an ambitious goal in mind when it comes to creating jobs over the next couple years. With the economy flying apart at the seams, 3 million to 4 million jobs could dry up over the next year, spiking the unemployment rate to an astronomical 9 percent, according to Vice-President-elect Joseph Biden. In what has become the worst economy since World War II, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler have announced that they will close five dozen manufacturing plants over the next month – mainly because Americans have stopped buying cars. Read the rest here.

Portland preachers stand strong against violence. About a dozen Black Portland, Ore., preachers, fed up with the street violence rocking their city, have taken to the streets to demand that the gangbangers drop their guns and usher in a new era of peace. “The issue is urgent. Our house is on fire. Our children are dying. We need to take immediate action,” said the Rev. LeRoy Haynes Jr., at Northeast Portland’s Allen Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. His call comes a week after the fatal shooting of a 30-year-old on Dec. 12, inside of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. In this “unthinkable travesty,” as the Rev. Robert C. Jointer of New Hope calls it, Darshawn Cross, a gang member, was attending a noon funeral service when he got into a fight with Latwan Brown, a member of a rival gang. Police and witnesses said Cross suspected Brown was the man who shot him in the stomach four months ago. Brown was handed a gun by somebody else at the service and unloaded four shots into Cross, who slumped to the floor of the church. The pastors want the violence to stop and for Brown to turn himself in to authorities. “We call upon Latwan Brown to surrender himself to the Portland Police Bureau and take responsibility for the actions he has done,” Haynes said. “We plead to the family members to encourage him to surrender. Then we call upon the witnesses to do their moral and civic responsibility by contacting police.”

Kevin Duckworth dies in Oregon.

A former Portland Trail Blazers center has died of unknown causes. Kevin Duckworth, who retired from the NBA in 1997, was discovered not breathing at Salishan Lodge on the central coast of Gleneden Beach Monday night. The Depoe Bay Fire Department responded to a call that Duckworth was down. A medical examiner will determine what caused the ex-player’s death, but foul play was not suspected. Duckworth averaged 11.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over 11 seasons in the NBA, helping Portland reach the NBA finals in 1990 and 1992. “Kevin will be remembered by fans as one of the most popular and recognizable players to ever wear the Blazers uniform, but to people who knew him, he’ll be remembered as one of the warmest and biggest-hearted,” Blazers president Larry Miller says.