SEATTLE — A coalition of teachers, parents, community groups and school districts will argue in King County Superior Court this week that the state has not been spending enough on public education and should be required to totally revamp the way it pays for schools.
The state will argue at the hearing scheduled for Friday morning before Superior Court Judge Paris K. Kallas that it has met the requirements stemming from a similar lawsuit 30 years ago and the court should not allow this case to derail Washington's reform efforts ...

A Garfield High School student, Philmon Haile, has been selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve as a page in the House of Representatives. The 16-year-old was nominated by Rep. Jim McDermott of the 7th Congressional District, and will live near the nation's Capitol in page housing and will work in the House of Representatives during the upcoming fall term, according to the Seattle School District ...

Youth enrolled in Neighborhood House's Head Start preschool this fall are benefiting from a program that received a spotless report card from the federal government.
Neighborhood House's Head Start and Early Head Start programs received a perfect score in a federal review conducted earlier this year, putting it in an elite group. ...

King County Executive Ron Sims will salute Ms. Naomi Rahn, newly selected winner of the International Scholarship and Talented Teen Competition, as she departs for London, England.
Rahn, a 15-year-old dramatist, represented Hal Jackson's Talented Teens of Washington in the International Scholarship competition held in New York City.
Competing against over 30 talented scholars from around the world during the international competition, Rahn held the audience spellbound as she masterfully performed "My Real Father." Initially selected by the noted judge panel as "Most Talented" ...

The Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ) will hold its 6th annual conference from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25 at South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave. S.W.
The theme of this year's conference is "Race, Power, and the Environment: Liberating Our Communities from Toxins." ...

JENA, La. -- The teenager convicted of beating a student at Jena High School in December 2006 had been convicted as a juvenile for attacking someone a year earlier, then committed three more crimes while on probation for that one, prosecutors say.
That makes Mychal Bell's aggravated second-degree battery conviction his fifth conviction for a violent crime, state District Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. said Friday.
Because of that record, the judge said, he will not reduce the $90,000 bond he set for Mychal Bell, ...

JACKSON, Miss. -- Reputed Ku Klux Klansman James Ford Seale showed no emotion Friday as he was sentenced to three life terms in prison for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two Black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.
Seale, 72, was convicted June 14 on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, two 19-year-olds who disappeared from Franklin County on May 2, 1964.
The young men's decomposing bodies, mostly just skeletal remains, were found more than two months later in a backwater of the Mississippi River.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate told Seale the crimes for which he was convicted were "horrific" and "unspeakable."
Wingate said that while the crimes occurred 43 years ago, "justice itself is ageless." ...

WASHINGTON -- The selection of a Chinese sculptor to carve a three-story monument to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall is raising questions about what part of his legacy should be celebrated.
King promoted peace and understanding among all people. His primary fight, however, was to win particular opportunities for Blacks in the United States by juxtaposing the plight of an oppressed people against a message of freedom and democracy.
A loose-knit but growing group of critics says a Black artist -- or at least an American -- should have been chosen to create the King memorial between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials in the nation's capital. They have been joined by human rights advocates who say King would have abhorred the Chinese government's record on religious and civil liberty.

Twins Eyob and David Lemo, 10, enjoy Free Swim Fridays at Peninsula Park Pool with their friend, Jordan "Philmon" James, 11.  Peninsula Park Pool offers free open swimming every Friday between 1 and 3:15 p.m..

The city of Portland has unveiled a plan to help communities of color connect with their city government. The Office of Neighborhood Involvement will award three grants, totaling $200,000, to community organizations working in ethnic minority and immigrant and refugee communities, to help improve access to city government.
The grant program, called the Diversity and Civic Leadership Organizing Project, aims to build community partnerships, improve ....