For president-elect Barack Obama, there will be no time for resting on his laurels now that he has defeated John McCain. Immediately after he is sworn in Jan. 21, Obama will begin one of the toughest four-year tests a president has ever faced in the nation's history ...

Last Thursday at City Hall, 22 youth and grass-roots organizations celebrated their accomplishments and presented the highlights of their projects for the 2008 Rainier Beach and Central District Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. "We've empowered them to provide the programs they see as necessary to the community ...

King County health officials are reporting the highest spike in tuberculosis cases in 30 years – even as budget cuts are set to slash their ability to treat the disease ...

The Bush School, in partnership with the NAACP and Washington Education Association, brings author, radio show host, and political commentator Dr. Michael Eric Dyson to Seattle as the keynote speaker for the Seattle King County NAACP's Ninety-Fifth Year Celebration: Power, Justice, Freedom! ...

Powerful Schools reading tutor Kathryn Bryson helps Isaac Jewell, 6, make a book at the John Muir Elementary School Literacy Night. Children in the Powerful Schools reading program at John Muir had an opportunity to make books, play games, listen to stories, eat ice cream and pick a free book.
Photo by Susan Fried

Pat Wright and the Total Experience Gospel Choir, who in October celebrated their 35th anniversary, joined several other performers  at the Fourth Annual Gospel Extravaganza at St Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. The annual event helps raise money for the Seattle African American Comfort Program, an organization that helps provide end of life services to the African American community ...

Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting  "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.
Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America.
From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders.
There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes ...

Top Republican senators said Sunday they will oppose a Democratic plan to bail out Detroit automakers, calling the U.S. industry a "dinosaur" whose "day of reckoning" is coming. Their opposition serious raises doubts about whether the plan will pass in this week's postelection session.
Democratic leaders want to use $25 billion of the $700 billion financial industry bailout to help General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.
Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said it would be a mistake to use any of the Wall Street rescue money to prop up the automakers. They said an auto bailout would only postpone the industry's demise ...

Five civil rights groups asked California's highest court Friday to annul the state's new same-sex marriage ban on the grounds that Proposition 8 threatens the legal standing of all minority groups, not just gays ...

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation today announced two Portland area nonprofits, Portland YouthBuilders and Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc., as recipients of the prestigious Neighborhood Excellence Initiative (NEI) Neighborhood Builder awards. Five community leaders and five local high school students were also recognized for making a difference in the Portland community. Neighborhood Builder winners receive $200,000 in unrestricted grants ...