OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington's new law giving parents five weeks paid time off to be with a new child is second only to California.
Now a task force is working to figure out how to run the system, and more importantly, how to pay for it.
The 13-member committee is meeting once a month through December to decide who will run the new program, how much it will cost, and where the money will come from.
Under the law that the Legislature passed earlier this year, starting in October 2009, workers would get $250 a week for up to five weeks to care for a newborn or a newly adopted ...

The Seattle Association of Black Journalists will hold the inaugural Student Career Workshop where students will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most talented journalists in the Pacific Northwest.
Students will have a chance to meet with, interact with and ask questions of photographers, anchors, reporters, producers, editors and sports writers about their jobs. These professionals will share how they reached their goals and the ...

Dr. Betty Howell Gray was recently honored with a Retirement Celebration hosted by friends and family for her many years of service as a teacher, director, and principal in Seattle Public Schools.  This was a stellar event where Dr. Gray was praised for taking a stand for the education of all children and especially African American children. 
The theme was "Leading and Uplifting".  Everyone could attest to her leadership in leading and uplifting students and colleagues with whom she worked. SABSE's members and others were praised for ...

LAS VEGAS -- In an exclusive phone interview with The Associated Press, O.J. Simpson said he doesn't understand why he is under investigation in an alleged armed robbery at a casino hotel room involving his sports memorabilia.
The former football star said Friday that he went to recover items stolen from him and that despite reports, there were no guns involved.
"There was no armed robbery here," Simpson said. "It wasn't a robbery. They said take your stuff and go ...

JENA, La. -- A Black teen's conviction in a racial beating case has been overturned by an appeals court in Louisiana, which said the boy should not have been tried as an adult.
Mychal Bell is one of six Black Jena High School students charged in the beating of a White student amid racial tensions, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.
The charges brought widespread criticism that Blacks were being treated more harshly than Whites in this Southern town. The case drew international attention, and one by one the charges against the teens have been reduced.
Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, had been convicted of ....

CORA, W.Va. -- Black ministers and national civil rights leaders on Saturday urged patience for the legal process and prayer for the physical and mental health of a Black woman who was allegedly tortured, beaten and sexually assaulted over several days.
With every pew filled and people standing in the back of a small church in Logan County, leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and local leaders shared information about hate crimes, led prayers and answered questions.
Most of the public's questions centered around the racial aspect of the case: Megan Williams was called a racial slur while she was being abused ...

TRENTON, N.J. -- The fashion first took hold in American prisons, where inmates aren't given belts with their baggy uniform pants to prevent hangings and beatings. By the late 80s, the trend had made it to gangster rap videos, then skateboarders in the suburbs and on to high school hallways.
Now, wearing your pants low enough to show your boxers or bare buttocks in a small town in Louisiana could get you six months in jail and a ...

On Wednesday, hundreds of fathers, grandfathers and uncles dished out breakfast, packed lunches and took children to school to begin the first day of classes. The Million Father March, an African American led initiative that continues all of this week, aims to encourage more men to get involved in their children's education...

Last Friday's $25 a ticket fundraiser raked in $200,000 for Barack Obama's campaign. That might be a drop in the ocean compared to the $3 million Oprah raised at her Obama fundraiser the next day, but it also is a sign of the Illinois senator's ability to attract donations from less-wealthy supporters, as well as the Hollywood crowd.
So far, in fact, Obama has been keeping pace with his main fundraising rival Hillary Clinton. Campaign figures for the second quarter of 2007 showed Obama raised $32.8 million compared to Clinton's $27 million. In the first quarter, Clinton raised more than Obama, $26 million compared to $25 million....

For 10 years Micaela Bosche has been hoping to land an extreme makeover -- not for herself but for Humboldt School, where she teaches 6th and 7th-grade students. That dream will come true on Sept. 22, when volunteers will meet at the school to create a garden and beautify the school. "It's for the kids and we're going to make it beautiful for them," Boesche said. "This is something we've been working on for 10 years. It's the garden that I'm most excited about....