The University of Oregon's plan to build a new basketball arena moved a giant step forward Monday when Nike co-founder Phil Knight, and his wife, Penny, pledged $100 million to the university, the largest philanthropic gift in school history.
The money is not targeted specifically for an arena, university officials said. Rather, it will create the Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund, which will help support all athletic programs.
But indirectly, officials said, the donation will boost the university's effort to replace aging McArthur Court with a new arena near the eastern edge of campus ...

The work of some of the Pacific Northwest's most talented independent producers will be showcased over four nights on "Oregon Lens," a yearly special on Oregon Public Broadcasting now in its ninth season. Tune in to the stations of OPB TV at 10 p.m. Aug 27 through 30 to see a diversity of work from these producers.
"I'm always excited about the opportunity to share the incredible work of these independent filmmakers," said Steve Amen, executive producer and host. "Their subject matter may be diverse, but they all share a passion for filmmaking."

Sejhe Jackson, 2, wears his honorary Junior Police Badge at the 11th annual Central Area Community Festival. Seattle Police Officers Eugene Foster and Tim Fields represented the Seattle Police Department at an informational booth at the festival. The annual event featured numerous com   munity organizations, crafts, games and entertainment for the entire family.

SEATTLE — A coalition of teachers, parents, community groups and school districts will argue in King County Superior Court this week that the state has not been spending enough on public education and should be required to totally revamp the way it pays for schools.
The state will argue at the hearing scheduled for Friday morning before Superior Court Judge Paris K. Kallas that it has met the requirements stemming from a similar lawsuit 30 years ago and the court should not allow this case to derail Washington's reform efforts ...

A Garfield High School student, Philmon Haile, has been selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve as a page in the House of Representatives. The 16-year-old was nominated by Rep. Jim McDermott of the 7th Congressional District, and will live near the nation's Capitol in page housing and will work in the House of Representatives during the upcoming fall term, according to the Seattle School District ...

Youth enrolled in Neighborhood House's Head Start preschool this fall are benefiting from a program that received a spotless report card from the federal government.
Neighborhood House's Head Start and Early Head Start programs received a perfect score in a federal review conducted earlier this year, putting it in an elite group. ...

King County Executive Ron Sims will salute Ms. Naomi Rahn, newly selected winner of the International Scholarship and Talented Teen Competition, as she departs for London, England.
Rahn, a 15-year-old dramatist, represented Hal Jackson's Talented Teens of Washington in the International Scholarship competition held in New York City.
Competing against over 30 talented scholars from around the world during the international competition, Rahn held the audience spellbound as she masterfully performed "My Real Father." Initially selected by the noted judge panel as "Most Talented" ...

The Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ) will hold its 6th annual conference from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25 at South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave. S.W.
The theme of this year's conference is "Race, Power, and the Environment: Liberating Our Communities from Toxins." ...

JENA, La. -- The teenager convicted of beating a student at Jena High School in December 2006 had been convicted as a juvenile for attacking someone a year earlier, then committed three more crimes while on probation for that one, prosecutors say.
That makes Mychal Bell's aggravated second-degree battery conviction his fifth conviction for a violent crime, state District Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. said Friday.
Because of that record, the judge said, he will not reduce the $90,000 bond he set for Mychal Bell, ...

JACKSON, Miss. -- Reputed Ku Klux Klansman James Ford Seale showed no emotion Friday as he was sentenced to three life terms in prison for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two Black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.
Seale, 72, was convicted June 14 on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, two 19-year-olds who disappeared from Franklin County on May 2, 1964.
The young men's decomposing bodies, mostly just skeletal remains, were found more than two months later in a backwater of the Mississippi River.
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate told Seale the crimes for which he was convicted were "horrific" and "unspeakable."
Wingate said that while the crimes occurred 43 years ago, "justice itself is ageless." ...