OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- The Washington state Senate rolled out a proposed two-year state budget Tuesday that includes a 3 percent statewide pay cut for K-12 teachers

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African Americans from around the state will gather at the Capitol in Salem for a Legislative Action Day April 19. 
Co-sponsored by The Urban League of Portland, Our Voices United, and the Oregon Commission on Black Affairs, who together are transporting more than one hundred participants -- including high school students, community members, organizations and seniors -- to discuss with legislators the Urban League's legislative priorities and concerns of the African American community.

Safeway will be holding their grand re-opening of the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard store from 4 to 8 p.m. on April 15. The store was remodeled into Safeway's Lifestyle model.
Safeway has operated the store on MLK Jr., Boulevard and Ainsworth Street since 1965, and opened their first Portland area store in 1926.

Fewer than half of Portland-area bank branches fully disclosed their fees to prospective customers, while one in four provided no fee information at all – despite the fact that such disclosures are required by law, according to a survey of more than 350 bank branches released this week by the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group.
The report, Big Banks, Bigger Fees: A National Survey of Bank Fees (http://www.ospirgstudents.org/report/big-banks-bigger-fees, includes consumer tips and a local comparison shopping guide.

Half a dozen local congregations will join together in recreating an historic march celebrating the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church 60^th anniversary.
The Palm Sunday Procession, Sunday, April 17, marks the 1951 community event in which the church congregation paraded down Vancouver Avenue to officially open their new church.

A child goes missing and suddenly the grieving family is approached by an array of do-gooders offering to help: psychics, lawyers, search dog teams and would-be spokespeople

In an exclusive, joint interview with The Skanner News and KOIN News 6, the grandmother of Yashawnee Vaughn said she's still holding out hope that the 14-year-old will be found alive

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Like many states, cash-strapped Washington is looking to save money by reducing the size of its prison population.
But the state has actually been releasing non-violent offenders for years, leaving relatively few inmates who would be good candidates for early release. Washington has only about 17,000 prison inmates, well below the average for a state of 6.6 million.

Seattle City Light reminds all its customers to guard against telephone con artists posing as utility bill collectors.