MILESTONES

Crisis, The, Jan/Feb 2005

Jill Duson was inaugurated as the first African American mayor of Portland, Maine. Duson, 50, is also the first Black woman in the state to hold the position of mayor.

Sibal S. Holt was elected the first Black and the first woman to lead the Louisiana chapter of the AFL-CIO, the state's largest labor organization. Holt was the group's secretary-treasurer before becoming its president.

Cari Anthony Redus Jr., 55, was sworn in Jan. 3 as the first Black mayor of Pine Bluff, Ark.

James Spencer, 55, was appointed the first Black chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Spencer will work out of Richmond's federal court.

Lupe Valdez, 57, is the first woman and the first Latino elected sheriff of Dallas County in Texas. Valdez, a former federal agent with U.S. Customs & Border Protection, will oversee a staff of 1,900.