Summer sizzles–cool off with a great book!

I’ve selected a few good novels that should get you through this summer. With temperatures and gas prices rising, who wouldn’t want to stay indoors in an air-conditioned room tearing into great novel? The list includes a number of fiction and non-fiction titles that are sure to hold your attention. Enjoy!
                                                          
1. Come On People [...]

Seattle PI: Native American, black kids more likely to end up in foster care

By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER

Until he was 17, Charles Goodwin spent most of his teen years living with foster families and interacting with caseworkers who never fully understood him for a basic reason: None shared his Native American heritage.
The state removed him from his dysfunctional home and passed him through the child welfare system, where some [...]

Seattle PI: Another dead black kid — still no justice

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.
P-I COLUMNIST
There is no justice for Jessie Drungo. He’s dead, got a knife in the chest at 23.
The man authorities said killed him in Kent nearly two years ago now stands cleared of the crime. Last week, King County prosecutors quietly dismissed a second-degree homicide charge against Lonnie Lee Johnson. They [...]

Seattle Times: Seattle Schools budget of $556 million would use savings to fund raises, new hires

By Linda Shaw
Costs are going up, and the number of students is going down, but Seattle Public Schools plans to increase its staff by 102 jobs next school year and use $12.6 million of its savings to do so.
It’s a plan that Steve Sundquist, chairman of the School Board’s finance committee, calls unsustainable but responsible. [...]

NY Times: More Lesbians Discharged in 2007

By THOM SHANKER
The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military, according to Pentagon statistics gathered by an advocacy group. READ ON…

Campaign Launched to Promote Black Men and Boys’ Achievement

From DiversitySpectrum.com:
On the heels of a growing body of research revealing that the isolation and negative outcomes for African American men and boys is more extreme than previously acknowledged, the Open Society Institute has launched a campaign to promote Black men and boys’ achievement. For example, more than 50% of all African American boys do [...]

NY Times: Muslim Voters Detect a Snub From Obama

By: Andrea Elliot, June 24, 2008
As Senator Barack Obama courted voters in Iowa last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim congressman, stepped forward eagerly to help. Mr. Ellison believed that Mr. Obama’s message of unity resonated deeply with American Muslims. He volunteered to speak on Mr. Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar [...]

Two shootings. Six months pass. Zero suspects.

By Levi Pulkkinen, P-I Reporter

Six months have passed since two South Seattle teens were gunned down in separate incidents in disparate corners of the city. And police still have no suspects, as witnesses refuse to come forward.
Allen Joplin and De’Che Morrison had much in common. Both were sons of Seattle, students at city schools who [...]

Become a Mentor

Who wouldn’t want to make a child smile? There are thousands of children in our neighborhood waiting for someone to put a smile on their faces. You have the opportunity to be that person. Become a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. They are in dire need of responsible role models who can help [...]

NY Times: Plan Seeks More Access for Disabled

June 16, 2008
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is about to propose far-reaching new rules that would give people with disabilities greater access to tens of thousands of courtrooms, swimming pools, golf courses, stadiums, theaters, hotels and retail stores. MORE…