The University of Washington has begun revoking admission for students whose academic performance takes a dive during their senior year of high school.
University officials reviewed applicants' final high-school transcripts over the summer and rescinded 23 offers of admission.
A form letter sent to such students states: "(We) regret that we had to take this action and hope you will find an educational alternative that meets your needs."
When classes began last week, another 180 freshmen had received disapproving letters for the "significant downturn" in their academic performance.
It's the first time the school has revoked students' admissions based on their senior year performance. "In the past, frankly, we didn't have the resources to go over (final transcripts) with a fine-tooth comb. Unless it was absolutely in your face, we weren't going to withdraw admission," said Philip Ballinger, the UW's director of admissions.
The change stems from the university's new system of not relying solely on grades to make its admission decisions.

Nadine Shanti, right, with GLY Construction, helps with the makeover of Bailey Gatzert Elementary School, held Sept. 30 by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington. Hundreds of volunteers from area businesses and organizations helped with the project.

WASHINGTON—Highlighting candidates' race-tinged comments seems to be the campaign gotcha of this political season, even if the words were uttered decades ago.
Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia has been fending off charges of racism for almost two months and now he's on the spot for allegedly making offensive comments about Blacks and other groups in the 1970s. His Democrat opponent, Jim Webb, has had to answer for writing dialogue in a novel that includes a common racial slur.

Last month, a caravan of Hurricane Katrina survivors and relief volunteers returned safely to Seattle after a two-week road trip to the Gulf Coast for the one-year anniversary of the hurricane.
Organized by the Social Change Caravan to New Orleans, the caravan provided displaced Katrina survivors, at no cost, an opportunity to reunite with family and friends or to move home. For most of the survivors on the caravan, it was an emotionally difficult journey, and the start of a healing process.

Seantaila Spears, left, and her son, Dante Haynes, 3, make candle holders Oct. 2 during Family Night at the Columbia City Library. Children from birth to age 11 and their families can come to the library on the first Monday of the month and listen to stories, make music and create art.

SHANNON, Ireland—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she cannot recall then-CIA chief George Tenet warning her of an impending al-Qaida attack in the United States, as a new book claims he did two months before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
"What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible," Rice said Sunday.

Renee Hart, left, squares off against her friend, Sequoia Causey-Waters, right, for game of chess at the Chess for Success booth while Aushonii Glover, center, looks on. The three girls were attending GirlFest, held Sept. 30, at the Portland Expo Center.

Leaders from all faiths are joining forces to mobilize a religious response to global warming.
Oregon Interfaith Power and Light, a project of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, will participate in Interfaith Power & Light's "Spotlight on Global Warming." This inter-religious, nationwide screening of educational films about global warming — featuring Paramount's "An Inconvenient Truth" and HBO's "Too Hot Not to Handle" — includes more than 175 Oregon congregations in at least 35 cities and towns.

Robert Moseley, who works at the Home Depot store located at 4738 N. Vancouver Ave, volunteered his time helping to clean up the courtyard at Madison High School. Volunteers from Home Depot and Hands On Portland removed debris, weeded the campus, built benches and painted as part of Corporate Month of Service, a national initiative to increase volunteerism. 

Martin Luther King Jr. "Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for…