Jared Spencer, an employee in Mayor Tom Potter's office, pauses to listen to the bagpipes at the end of Monday's commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Photo by Julie Keefe

Seattle students have exceeded or come close to state levels in nearly all subjects and grade levels tested, according to results from the 2006 Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
"Once again, I am especially pleased to see that our students are progressing and closing the achievement gap in reading. While unacceptable gaps between students of color and White students still exist, I am confident that we will continue to narrow, and eventually close, those gaps," said Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas.
The strongest improvements came in reading and writing. In reading, 80.2 percent of fourth-grade students met or exceeded the standard. In addition, 59.2 percent of seventh-grade and 81.9 percent of 10th-grade students met the standard.

RENTON—The results of this year's Washington Assessment of Student Learning show on paper a problem the superintendent of public instruction says has been torturing her for a long time: Only about half of the state's students have mastered mathematics.
A bright spot: students in minority groups are closing the achievement gap in writing and reading, but they, too, are not making much progress in math.

C.J. Thompson, right foreground, and his Rhythm Band entertain the crowd at the Casey Family Programs Community Barbeque, held Sept. 9 at the organization's offices on 23rd Avenue. The event celebrated 40 years of providing foster care programs.

Filming is set to begin next month on a movie about the anti-globalization protests that erupted in Seattle in 1999.
"Battle in Seattle" was written and will be directed by Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who has cast girlfriend and Academy Award winner Charlize Theron as a pregnant bystander who loses her baby in the WTO riots.
"It's going to be the next 'Sleepless in Seattle,' " said James Keblas, head of Seattle City Hall's film office. "Once you capture a star like Charlize Theron, you are instantly a big picture."

A federal mediator helped to negotiate a tentative settlement to end a strike against a major garbage hauler after union leaders threatened a much larger walkout Monday, a company spokesman said.
Picket lines came down Monday morning, garbage trucks were rolling again, and Dan Scott, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 174, said 35 to 45 mechanics employed by Waste Management Inc. of Houston would vote on ratification at a meeting Tuesday night.

Macceo Pettis discusses concepts of nonviolent resistance with Ashley Sider Sept. 12 at a Northwest Interfaith Peace Gathering at Alberta Park. After inspirational speeches reflecting on the works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., attendees broke into groups of two to discuss solving problems in a nonviolent way.

A multimedia video production training center is being developed at The Skanner Newsgroup's North Portland offices.
The Skanner Newsgroup is partnering with The Skanner Foundation, the Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission and Portland Community Media to create the production center.
The center was conceived to address the lack of equipment access and training opportunities in North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods and will help to balance the disparities found in every African American community in the United States.

Although many people hope one day to own their own home, cultural barriers and shortages in affordable housing are two issues that can prevent this dream from becoming reality.

African American Academy Assistant Principal Henterson Carlisle, left background, and the Rev. Harvey Drake, right background, talk with members of the African American Veterans Group of Washington State on Sept. 6, the first day of school, about the possibility of the vets doing volunteer work at the academy.