Washington's unemployment rate is hovering near a 30-year-low, and the state's average wage rose 5.3 percent last year. But a closer look at the numbers shows that most jobs created amid the economic expansion in recent years don't pay very well.
Almost 70 percent of the 240,000 jobs created in Washington between 2002 and 2006 paid less than $832 a week, or just over $43,000 a year — what Penn State's Poverty in America project calculates as a "living wage" for a family of two adults and two children here, The Seattle Times reported Sunday.
Several of the fastest-growing job categories — retail, hospitality, agriculture and social services — have been at the lower end of the wage scale.
More than 26,000 new administrative and support jobs, for example, pay an average weekly wage of $605 or $31,500 a year. General retailers added nearly 9,900 jobs that paid $460.53 a week on average, or less than ....

Seattle native Cecil Cross II knows a thing or two about the life-altering first semester of college. After all, the 24-year-old first-time author just graduated in 2004 from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Ga.
The young writer and journalist was in town on Aug. 4 at Barnes & Noble University Village promoting his debut novel, "First Semester," a fictional coming-of-age story about ....

City of Seattle preschool programs are now enrolling 4-year olds from low-to-moderate income families.
Seattle Step Ahead and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program still has free or reduced-cost spaces available for 638 children at 22 sites in southeast and southwest Seattle this school year.
"These preschools help get children ready for kindergarten academically, socially and physically," said Patricia McInturff, director of the Seattle Human Services Department. "The earliest years of a child's life are critical to ....

Portland Development CommissionThe Urban Renewal Agency for the City of Portland, OregonPortland is…

Somalian immigrant  Zhara Mohammed demonstrates the art of Henna on the arm of a volunteer at the Sellwood-Moreland Library-sponsored event in Sellwood Park. Henna is a natural dye made from plant leaves that is made into a paste for which Somalian women, as well as other women around the globe, decorate their hands and feet. Designs stay on the skin for about one week. The demonstration was part of Sellwood's Sundae in the Park event.

The Portland Development Commission awarded community livability grants totaling $300,000 to eight nonprofit organizations in the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area.  The grants will be used to enhance and expand capacity of existing community facilities and historic structures in the corridor area, including an affordable child care center, community centers, alternative educational opportunities, and an arts and cultural center. The eight proposals awarded are ....

Four months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, Dr. Jonathan Jui, Multnomah County's director of emergency medical services, delivered a keynote address at The Skanner Foundation's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. No one seemed to understand the extent of the catastrophe until it occurred, Jui told the crowd. "What the community hears and what it knows are two different things," said Jui, who worked with the National Disaster Medical System team at the New Orleans airport after the disaster. The Skanner Publisher Bernie Foster wants to ensure that this type of smokescreen doesn't happen in Portland or Seattle.....

A volunteer for REACH Community Development paints the side of a house during the nonprofit's Paint & Repair-a-thon last Saturday. Eighteen homes of disabled people and seniors were repaired.

The Third Annual Northwest African American Fine Arts Exhibit opened Aug. 5 and will run through Sept. 5 at the Art/Not Terminal Gallery, 205 Westlake Ave.
This year's theme is "Hidden Masters," The Life and Times of Northwest African American Artists.
Each year NAAFA convenes a broad spectrum of artists of African American heritage who live in the Pacific Northwest to showcase their unique visions and perspectives in a wide range of artistic media. This year several artists will be contributing their images and designs, representing more than 200 years of creative expression.
"It is an absolute joy and inspiration to be able to bring together such a talented group of artists for this exhibit," said Robert L. Horton, curator. "The Northwest African American Fine Arts Exhibit is becoming a permanent part of Seattle's summer arts celebrations."
The artists will gather at an opening reception from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11 at the Art/Not Terminal Gallery. Refreshments will be served. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, and from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Special showings and group tours available by request.

GLOUCESTER, Va. -- Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a Black woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat to White passengers triggered a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision more than a decade before Rosa Parks gained recognition for doing the same, has died. She was 90.