March 2008

Opportunity Knocks, the national on-line job site, announced that ArtsWest is a winner of the First Annual People's Choice Best Nonprofit to Work For Awards.

Winners were selected from nominations based on employee essay submissions. National nominations were held in November and December, Individuals were told to submit a brief essay on why they consider their organization a great place to work.

"We're very thankful for this incredible honor," said Alan Harrison, ArtsWest's executive director.

The Washington Legislature has approved legislation that will create a pilot project allowing a small number of grocery stores in Washington to offer beer or wine samples.

"Washington is known throughout the world for the great beers and wines we produce across the state," said Kohl-Welles.

If you pay someone to prepare your tax return, choose that preparer wisely, says the Internal Revenue Service.

Taxpayers are legally responsible for what's on their own tax returns even if prepared by someone else, so it is important to choose carefully when hiring an individual or firm to prepare personal returns.

If only every school could be so lucky as to have their weeknights filled with such color on stage. Seductive trumpet players decked out in black and silver. Women in bright dresses with skirts that twirl for miles, all against the black backdrop of a high school auditorium's curtain.

On top of that, all of it was free.

A city board will decide next month whether to designate an apartment building on California Avenue Southwest a city landmark, which could stop construction plans for a four story mixed-use building there.

Built in 1927, Charlestown Court at 3811 California Ave. S.W.

While many aspiring young artists dream of becoming as big as the Beatles or perhaps the next Madonna, Rose Laughlin was inspired to pursue a form of music that is less mainstream. While attending the Seattle Irish Festival she found her calling - singing.

Laughlin grew up in Seattle, graduating from West Seattle High School. In her 20s she wrote songs, in addition to working as an executive assistant and for a time a travel agent.

"I found myself always coming back to it (music) ...

The clich

Mayor Greg Nickels says city water is every bit as good at bottled water so he is banning city purchase of bottled water.

The mayor says Seattle enjoys some of the world's best public water, born in the pristine watersheds of the Cascade Mountains and that it meets or beats the quality of expensive bottled water and is available at every tap served by Seattle Public Utilities.

Stem cells.

These words still evoke fear in many people's hearts with the accompanying images of embryos being killed so that embryonic stem cells can be harvested. Current stem cell transplants and stem cell research as with organ donors and organ transplants during the late 1980's to 1990's are still often shrouded in fear and misunderstanding.

Remember the movie Coma, starring Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold, based on a novel by Michael Crichton? It played on the fears surrounding organ transplantation.

The White Center Early Learning Initiative, a first-of-its-kind public-private community based partnership, will significantly expand early learning opportunities to children from birth to age 5.

Funded by two grants-$4.7 million from Thrive by Five Washington and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for expanded early learning options for families with young children, and $7 million from the Gates Foundation for the construction of an early learning community center, the White Center Early Learning Initiative aims to provide parents and caregivers with education and support to ens