Last week in Washington State, King County Elections conducted "routine maintenance" and removed more than 73,000 inactive voters from the county's registration database. Election officials cannot cancel and remove voters' registrations simply because they haven't voted. Voters are kept on "active" status until Elections is contacted by the voter, an official piece of mail is returned or Elections is notified by another jurisdiction. . . .
President Barack Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as "an inspiring woman'' with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely . . .
What's happening for you in your city this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below . . . .
Mbira dze Muninga from Zimbawe joined hundreds of musicians at the 38th Annual Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center. The beautiful weather and abundant food and musical entertainment drew thousands of fans to the Seattle Center over the Memorial day weekend. . . .
After meeting for nearly two hours with death row inmate Troy Davis on Friday, two Georgia congressmen and the president of the NAACP said they are convinced of his innocence and committed to saving his life. Congressmen John Lewis and Hank Johnson said they plan to return to Washington to pursue other legal means to resolving Davis' case, which is currently back in the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal. NAACP President Ben Jealous said the case is now a national priority for the organization. . . .
When Natasha Butler was a young woman right out of high school, she was aimless. She had a job, she attended a few classes at Portland Community College, but she admits she wasn't looking that far into the future. . . .
As part of a wider outreach effort to educate taxpayers about the benefits they will receive under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Internal Revenue Service this week released new withholding adjustment procedures for pension plans. . . . .