U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer has added to the growing chorus of voices opposing the war in Iraq. A longtime critic of the war, the Oregon Democrat this week joined fellow Democratic Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Peter DeFazio of Oregon by releasing a detailed plan for withdrawal from Iraq.
Blumenauer's plan, however, goes further than laying out a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces.

CHICAGO—It was the site of a seminal event in the civil rights movement, where a photograph was taken that gave the country a glimpse of the horrors of racism.
Today, a half century after scores of mourners filed into Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ and past the open casket of a brutally beaten 14-year-old boy named Emmett Till

ST. HELENA ISLAND, South Carolina—More than a quarter-century after the laborious work began, the New Testament has finally been translated into Gullah, the Creole language spoken by slaves and their descendants for generations along the sea islands of the Southeast U.S. coast.
Gullah is an oral language, so the translation was painstaking, beginning in 1979 with a team of Gullah speakers who worked with Pat and Claude Sharpe, translation consultants with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Erin Carey, a returned Peace Corps volunteer, will detail how nearly 8,000 Peace Corps volunteers currently serving in 71 countries around the world will return to the United States with greatly enhanced long-term employment prospects in business, education, technology, health, the environment and more.

Sonya Slaughter, front left, gets some suggestions from Seattle Public Librarian Jane Lopez-Santillana on a good book to give to a teenager for Christmas at the Books for Giving fair, held Nov. 22 at the Central library in downtown Seattle.

To live a decent life in Washington, it costs a single adult $10.77 an hour. Yet one-third of all job openings pay less than that, according to a study conducted by a Seattle organization.
"Searching for Work That Pays: The 2005 Northwest Job Gap Study" determined that the "Northwest is not creating living-wage jobs for all those who need them." When families cannot earn what they need to survive, the study notes, "many are forced to make difficult choices between adequate health care, balanced nutrition and paying the bills."
The study was prepared by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, a regional federation of four statewide, community-based social and economic organizations. It encompassed Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Of the four states, Oregon and Washington had the highest living-wage requirement to pay for day-to-day needs.

WASHINGTON—A school closes that once housed a polling place. For the next election, city officials send voters to a new site across the street. In Boston, no problem.

NEW ORLEANS—They lost homes, neighbors and cherished communities to Hurricane Katrina.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, left, talks with University of New Orleans student Altravese Gardner

October was a month marked by many college reunions. As I reflect on the 35 years since graduating from Stanford University, the usual thoughts people associate with this milestone run through my mind.