Metro and volunteers will honor veterans over Memorial Day weekend at some of its pioneer cemeteries. Staff and volunteers, including students from Central Catholic High School, as well as members of the Sons of the Union Veterans, will be on hand at the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, SW Boones Ferry Road & SW Palatine Hill Road; Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery at SE 26th and SE Stark St.; Multnomah Park Cemetery located at SE 82nd and SE Holgate, Portland.

The Southwest Corridor Plan Steering Committee adopts goals and objectives, discusses small solutions versus big goals

On May 17, the Southwest Corridor Plan Steering Committee adopted the plan’s vision, goals and objectives, a milestone for moving the plan forward.

Every project must be accessible to the public, and a Metro grant can foot the bill for a maximum of one-third of the total cost. Recipients typically buy land, restore it, improve neighborhood livability or fuel an urban transformation – and this year’s six projects represent all those categories. Recipients will expand Lily K. Johnson Park in Beaverton and the Baltimore Woods corridor in North Portland, develop Cully Park in Northeast Portland and Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham, replace a stone bridge at Tryon Creek State Park and restore a creek in central Beaverton.

Riley, a giraffe from Utah’s Hogle Zoo, comes to Portland for lengthy stay

The Oregon Zoo welcomed a new, and very tall, addition to its Africa Savanna habitat last week: Riley, a 17-foot-tall giraffe from Utah’s Hogle Zoo. Visitors can see Riley in the zoo’s Africa Savanna habitat starting today.

Are your kids and pets rolling around in the grass? Best to tend the lawn without toxic chemicals. Metro gardening expert Carl Grimm appeared on KATU’s AM Northwest today to show you how. Check out the video!

Autos are the single largest source of air pollution in the United States, and short car trips are up to three times more polluting per mile than long trips. If you trade short car trips for biking, you can reduce your carbon footprint by 3.6 pounds of pollutants per mile. More bicycles and fewer cars means cleaner air in your community.

Make like a snake and slither out into that warm spring s-s-s-sun. There are several cheap or free things-s-s to do amid the metro area's great outdoors. Most of these events are low-cost or free, and registration can be completed online. Follow the links below for more information.

Communities in the Portland metropolitan region are seeing streetscapes and skylines change with multifamily, mixed-use developments located near transit that not only provide needed rental housing, but create jobs and generate economic activity. Two transit-oriented projects tell a story repeated throughout the Portland region and the nation: the smart money is on development projects that push economic recovery.

Ever squat down and squint for a bug's-eye view of the forest floor? It's crawling with lots of skittering critters. Come discover them amid the metro area's great outdoors.

In the U.S., more than 85 billion pieces of unsolicited mail get dropped in mail boxes each year. Stop the cycle of waste. Metro and Catalog Choice help you opt out of unwanted phone books, catalogs, coupons and credit card solicitations online for free!