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State Rep. Jim Jacks said today he has resigned, effective immediately. The 49th District Democrat, who was first elected in 2008, said he was leaving office for personal reasons, which he did not want publicly stated. Jacks, 41, was re-elected in November. The county commissioners will appoint a replacement from a list of three nominations culled by the Clark County Democratic precinct leaders. The replacement will have to run in November to keep the seat.

<p>MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Marquette University in Milwaukee will begin offering domestic partner benefits to its employees beginning next year.</p> <p>The move by the Catholic, Jesuit university comes about a year after the school rescinded a job offer to a lesbian and scholar at Seattle University. Marquette officials said at the time, rescinding the job offer to Jodi O'Brien had nothing to do with her sexual orientation. But, it triggered heated debate on campus over the issue.</p>

Enhancing the grassroot movement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The theme of The People's Initiative will enhance the effectiveness of the emerging grassroot movement against unrestrained government growth by offering a message that is focused, positive, concrete, and dramatic. Focused. The initiative theme is focused because it solves just one problem, namely, the fundamental problem that underlies the unrestrained growth of government. Positive. The initiative theme establishes a positive message, namely, power for the people — government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Concrete. The initiative theme transforms the idea of the cost of government into a concrete image, namely,...

A man who was seen in a Vancouver supermarket with a handgun visible in a holster — prompting a call to 911 on Friday — was ticketed and released with a court date, police said. Shortly after 4 p.m., officers were sent to the Albertsons store at 5000 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., said Sgt. Greg Raquer with the Vancouver Police Department. When officers approached the man who wore the gun he was cooperative. The loaded gun’s holster had two ammo magazines attached to it, said Officer Ilia Botvinnik. Officers explained the law to the man, gave him a ticket for...

(KLTV) - Millard Parker received a Bronze Star for saving lives in Vietnam. But the lives he saved were through building, not fighting. Parker admits he was shot at during his two years in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. But it is what he and others did for the people of Vietnam that he remembers best. Parker was in an Army Engineering unit that built roads, bridges, infrastructure and water purification plants for the villages of Vietnam. He is especially proud of the water purification plants because without them the villagers would have had to continue drinking the polluted river...

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird announced Wednesday he will not seek a seventh term in Congress next year. "Serving our country and representing the people of Southwest Washington in Congress has been the highest honor and greatest responsibility of my life," the Vancouver Democrat said in a statement. "Since the time I first announced I would seek election in November of 1995, I have done my utmost to work hard, tell the truth, listen, and do what was right for our nation. I am proud of the record of achievements for our district and I am incredibly grateful to the voters...

Over 10 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird has stayed tethered to his district, flying back to Southwest Washington for more than 300 sometimes-bruising town hall meetings during Congressional recesses. But this year, he's literally decided to phone it in. Instead of appearing in person, where "extremists" would have "the chance to shout and make YouTube videos," Baird said Wednesday, he's holding what he calls "telephone town halls" instead. Baird said he's using the new system because he fears his political opponents may be planning "an ambush" to disrupt his meetings, using methods Baird compared to Nazism. "What we're...

In a presidential proclamation on the White House website, Barack Obama has lauded what he calls "the determination and dedication" of the LGBT movement by proclaiming June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month."

For weeks, the case involving racist e-mails sent to a Battle Ground city councilman was put on hold, pending word from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle. The e-mails were from Battle Ground teenager Christopher Reinhold, who used the name "battleground anonymous." They were sent to Councilman Paul Zandamela, an African-born man from Mozambique who had been sworn into his position the night before the first e-mail was sent, on Jan. 8, 2008. Lawyers at the U.S. Attorney's Office became interested in the case and on Friday wrote to Reinhold's defense attorney, Jon McMullen, that they would let the case...

State Rep. Jim Dunn will be stripped of his committee assignments and denied travel reimbursement after the 17th District lawmaker made what even Dunn acknowledged was an "inappropriate" remark to a woman at a legislative function in the Tri-Cities last month. "We want to have zero tolerance for our members for inappropriate comments," said House Republican leader Richard DeBolt. "We asked (Dunn) to go get sensitivity training. Until he does that, he won't be serving on any committees." Dunn said he regretted the incident, which occurred at a dinner during a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education. "I...

State Rep. Richard Curtis, R-La Center, admitted to having sex with a man he met at an adult video store in Spokane last week, according to a police report released Tuesday afternoon. The police report offers a damning and far different version of events from the brief account Curtis gave to The Columbian Monday, one that seems likely to threaten Curtis’ political future. The report is filled with graphic details of an encounter that began at a porn store on a Spokane Valley strip and concluded miles away in Curtis’ room at the city’s poshest hotel. The police report contains...

CHICAGO (Dec. 8) - When you're born on an airplane in mid-flight, where do you say you were born? A seven-pound, eight-ounce girl was born Wednesday night on a Mexicana Airlines flight from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. An airport spokeswoman says the baby was born nearly an hour before the plane landed. Luckily for mom and baby, there was an obstetrician on board. The 42-year-old mother was traveling with her husband and two other children to visit relatives in Milwaukee. A hospital spokeswoman says mother and daughter are doing fine.

A national event called the "Day of Silence" always gets a bit noisy as it receives both cheers and jeers. Several high schools in Clark County participated in the event Wednesday. The annual event is sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network in cooperation with the United States Student Association, a national lobbying group. GLSEN says that this year's protest of discrimination against lesbians and gays attracted students in nearly 4,000 schools nationwide. Students who participate take a vow of silence for the day to bring attention to the bullying and isolation that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students...

Fort Lauderdale, April 2, 2004 — Dr. D. James Kennedy talks to ABC newsman Peter Jennings Monday, April 5, about The Search for Jesus and the search for truth. Their discussion will air on Dr. Kennedy’s daily radio program, Truths That Transform, carried by more than 480 radio outlets nationwide. (For local listings or to listen online Monday, April 5, go to www.truthsthattransform.org). The interview with Jennings comes four years after the Jennings-hosted ABC News special, The Search for Jesus and just hours before the broadcast of ABC News latest exploration of Christian origins, Jesus and Paul: The Word and...

9-11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick wrote a 1995 memo that established a "wall" between the criminal and intelligence divisions, hindering the ability of the U.S. government to detect the Sept. 11, 2001 plot, according to testimony today by Attorney General John Ashcroft.