JACKSON, Miss. -- The federal trial of a reputed Klansman in Mississippi presents a tableau of contrasts between the old South and the new.
Opening arguments are set to start Monday in the case of James Ford Seale, 71, who has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 beating and drowning deaths of two Black teenagers, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore.
The crimes took place in the woods of rural southwest Mississippi at a time when local law officers often looked the other way as the Ku Klux Klan terrorized anyone who dared challenge the strictly segregated society....

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Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper calls the "war on drugs" a "war on people." And most of those people are people of color.

Greeted by a throng of Liberian refugees and immigrants at Concordia University last week, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said she is trying to bring prosperity to her country after 14 years of brutal civil war.
"My old Liberian compatriots," she said. "I'm energized by the crowds we see here and the expressions of welcome and support on all of your faces."

At age 20, Terry Sanborn thought his life's career had been laid out for him. Working for a fast food chain, the former youth offender, who had spent most of his high school days in the McLaren Youth Correction Facility, figured he'd move his way up to manager while starting a family. All that changed when he learned about the Portland Youth Builders.
Now a third-year construction trades apprentice, Sanborn says he wished he'd learned about the program earlier.
Sanborn and others hope a new multi-agency program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation might give Portland's most vulnerable youth an earlier shot at a promising future.

It's hard to show up two-dozen kids on stilts, especially when you're carting around a…

Artist Geno Hill displayed his recycled lumber benches and digitally-manipulated photographs at Saturday's Art Hop.

Chase Henderson, 9, gets some help with the fish he caught Saturday, May 19th at the "Fishing Kids" event, sponsored by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and C.A.S.T for Kids Foundation at Seward Park. The event, which brought out more than 450 children, provided an opportunity to catch rainbow trout. The $5 fee included a Zebco fishing rod and t-shirt for each participant.

Eager to help more students pass the state's standardized math test, some school districts are turning to instructional coaches to give teachers real-time advice as they try to sharpen students' skills.
It seems to be working for Brian Coffey, a first-year science teacher at Seattle's Aki Kurose Middle School who was assigned to fill in for a math teacher who recently went on maternity leave.
Two math coaches, one based at the school and another who travels the district, regularly sit in on his classes and offer tips on how to connect better with students.
"It's been a wonderful experience," said Coffey, who took calculus in college but no math-education courses. "It's always good to get feedback about teaching, but math-specific feedback is really helpful."
Seattle has five district-wide and 10 school-based math coaches and hopes to hire more this spring, Rosalind Wise, the district's K-12 math-program manager, told The Seattle Times.

The New School Foundation has awarded a $1.3 million grant to Seattle Public Schools to benefit the…