Child welfare cases are hardly ever clear-cut. And with state resources stretched to capacity, Oregon's foster care system is struggling to meet the needs of the children and the families it serves.

Low-income Oregonians will get more financial help paying their heating bills and weatherizing their homes this winter, due to increased state aid.

Aryn Smith, left, Delores Montgomery, Deborah Belgrave and Anna Bailey dish up an early Thanksgiving meal Nov. 12 at the eighth annual Brothers on the Move Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner, held at the Cornerstone Community Church . . .

The 19th annual Winterfest, a five-week Northwest holiday tradition, begins the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, and runs through Jan. 2, 2006 at the Seattle Center. Daily hours, including New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Christmas Eve hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival is closed Christmas Day.

Jovahn Davis, 8, warms up before the Youth and Teen Fitness Challenge to Nov. 12 at Garfield Community Center. The event featured kids age 6 to 19 doing fitness activities like push ups and sit ups. Proceeds benefited the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The percentage of Washington residents who go to bed hungry went up last year, placing the state's hunger rate significantly above the national rate.
The annual survey of Household Food Insecurity in America, conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Census Bureau, was released this month, at the same time the U.S. House of Representatives is debates a proposed $864 million cut to the food stamp program. The cuts are part of the Congress's current Budget Reconciliation Plan.
"We know that food stamps keep hunger at bay for thousands of families in our state," said Linda Stone, Eastern Washington Director of the Children's Alliance. "If the House votes to cut food stamps this week, our representatives in D.C. will be stealing food off the tables of thousands of Washington children."
The Children's Alliance, a nonprofit child advocacy group, this week released "Hungry in Washington," an overview . . .

PARIS—President Jacques Chirac said Monday that unrest in France's poor suburbs has revealed a "profound malaise" that the entire nation must heal with . . .

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—Former President Clinton told Arab students Wednesday the United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq. . .

First A.M.E. Church held its Holiday Gift bazaar on Saturday, November 12.

For the 6.4 million Americans who suffer from angina — chest pain caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart muscle — new hope may be on the horizon. Doctors at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle are currently enrolling patients with severe untreatable angina