OLYMPIA—Attorney General Rob McKenna Thursday applauded the U.S. Supreme Court for reinstating the murder convictions of an accomplice in a gang-related drive-by shooting at Seattle's Ballard High School.
"Today's decision helps brings closure to the family of a girl murdered on the steps of her high school," McKenna said. "Our office argued, and the Supreme Court agreed, that the convictions for the accomplice in this despicable drive-by were constitutional." ...

Richard Hugo House's InPrint Series presents "Online Publishing, Blogging, and Marketing for Writers," a panel discussion with writers, bloggers and editors who have made the Internet work for them, on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. at Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave in Seattle.
Panelists include bloggers-turned-novelists Rebecca Agiewich and Cherie Priest and writer/editors Eileen Gunn and Cat Rambo.
"As old-media publishing houses face increasing challenges in these uncertain economic times, writers must think outside of the box," said InPrint coordinator Leslie Howle. "Blogging, Twitter, podcasting and social networking sites are tools writers can use to build their reputations and readership at very little cost." ...

The Seattle Public Library, United Way of King County and the American Association of Retired Persons are collaborating to offer free tax preparation service through April 15 at 11 locations of The Seattle Public Library.
Trained volunteers will answer questions and help prepare personal tax returns. The service is not available for business tax returns.
Tax assistance will be available at the times and locations listed below. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most congressional Democrats say the quickest way to save homeowners like Troy Butler of Saginaw, Mich., is to let them declare bankruptcy and allow judges to dictate new mortgage terms. Easy, except the lenders that would absorb the pain -- and lose control of any deals to ease the terms -- do not want to get dragged into bankruptcy court by millions of overextended borrowers. ...

Job vacancies in Washington last fall were 32 percent fewer than just six months earlier, according to the latest job-vacancy report from the Employment Security Department. The survey showed that Washington companies were attempting to fill an estimated 50,593 open positions in the fall of 2008, compared to 74,744 open positions in the spring of the same year.  ...

Larry Evans, the father of a T.T. Minor student, joined several hundred parents, students and teachers Sunday Jan. 25 at a march and rally at the school to stop the school closures set to be finalized Jan. 29 by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. Larry Evans' daughter has already had to change schools once -- she moved to T.T. Minor following the closure of Martin Luther King Elementary School in 2006. 
Currently on the table are plans to close five schools, relocate eight programs and eliminate five programs, including the African American Academy ...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ It's already been a lousy year for workers less than a month into 2009 and there's no relief in sight. Tens of thousands of fresh layoffs were announced Monday and more companies are expected to cut payrolls in the months ahead.
A new survey by the National Association for Business Economics depicts the worst business conditions in the U.S. since the report's inception in 1982.
Thirty-nine percent of NABE's forecasters predicted job reductions through attrition or "significant" layoffs over the next six months, up from 32 percent in the previous survey in October ...

Often called the "Margaret Cho" of Diversity Trainers, Jessica Pettitt uses politics, humor, and her own life experiences to take audiences through a safe but confrontational process of examination and open dialog in her interactive workshop "Social Justice Core Competencies." The Bush School offers this workshop free to the public as part of its third annual Diversity Speaker Series. You can take part on Tuesday, February 3 ...

Children snatched from Congo streets were trained to kill and forced to fight in a brutal ethnic war, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said Monday as the tribunal opened its historic first trial.
Children as young as 9, ripped from their families, were told "their gun was father and mother and would feed and clothe them," Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the three-judge panel in the trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga ...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers have leeway to frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so. The court on Monday unanimously overruled an Arizona appeals court that threw out evidence found during such an encounter. The case involved a 2002 pat-down search of an Eloy, Ariz., man by an Oro Valley police officer, who found a gun and marijuana ...