WASHINGTON — For all those historians and political naysayers, Sen. Barack Obama's allies like to point out that Abraham Lincoln served just two years in the House before becoming president.
It's a comparison certain to be repeated as Obama, with slightly more than two years in the Senate, continues to align himself with the Civil War president. The senator's expected campaign kickoff is scheduled for Feb. 10 in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Ill. — where both men served in the state Legislature.
Obama filed paperwork for a presidential exploratory committee Tuesday, which allows him to raise money and organize a campaign structure before his formal announcement. He also talked about his plans in a video on his Web site.
If elected, he would be an obvious subject for the history books — the first Black president.

Hundreds of people braved the unusually cold weather on Jan. 15 to participate in the 25th annual Martin Luther King Day Rally and March at Franklin High School. The event is one of the largest and longest continually running King celebrations in the country.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Vowing to keep pressure on lawmakers to do more to help the poor, a few hundred anti-poverty activists marched to the Capitol and rallied on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Speakers invoked the memory of King, saying that by focusing on poverty they were continuing his work.
"If Martin could die for the struggle of the poor, I can live for it," Jeffrey Carrol of VOICES, a Spokane-based anti-poverty group, said Monday.
Carrol, who said he marched in civil rights rallies in Mississippi and Louisiana in the 1960s, led marchers in chants as they walked the six blocks from St. John's Episcopal Church to the Capitol in frigid temperatures.
"We came to let (lawmakers) know that they're not paying attention," Carrol said. "Poor people are dissatisfied."
Jesse Miller, vice chairwoman of the Statewide Poverty Action Network, said the groups were trying to pressure lawmakers to solve some of the root causes of poverty, such as lack of health care and education.

SEATTLE — The Puget Sound area, known for months of off-and-on drizzle rather than subfreezing winter weather, was hit by another round of snow Tuesday, snarling traffic and closing schools for more than 380,000 students.
With snow falling before daybreak across much of the state west of the Cascade Range and one to three inches expected in most areas before noon, traffic snarls developed quickly in the morning commute following the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

African Americans are under-represented as blood donors and in the National Marrow Donor Program. In blood and bone-marrow donation, ethnicity is critically important in matching blood types and marrow donors for patients with life-threatening diseases.

A self-taught artist, Anamelechi communicates through an art form he calls "communal interactive installations." The Igbos refer to it as "mgbe"-moment, where art, ritual, myth, nature, healing and community converge to connect the living, spiritually, to the ancestors and the earth. Anamelechi describes his expressions as "living art, or art for life's sake,"

Cherie Seymour and Soul Moving performed Jan. 15 in the Concert 4 Peace during Seattle's "Celebrating the Dream" observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Seattle Center.

Kimberly Howard, left, managing director at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, and Joyce Harris light the candles during the closing ceremony of the cultural center's Kwanzaa celebration on Monday.

Beginning this month, planners for the Portland Development Commission-backed Killingsworth Station project will be soliciting public opinion about a proposed four story condominium and retail building.
Winkler Development and the PDC will hold the first of several neighborhood outreach meetings at 6:30 p.m. on Jan.10 at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.
Jim Winkler, of Winkler Development, said the meeting will inform those affected and take public comment on the proposed transit-oriented project on the northeast corner of Interstate Avenue and Killingsworth Street. The building will house about 50 condominium units and 9,000 square feet of retail space, although Winkler said final designs won't be drawn until after public comment has been taken.

U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said he will reintroduce legislation to abolish the Selective Service System and put it in "deep standby" status. Deep standby would suspend draft registration, reduce a significant portion of the system's staff and disband the Selective Service System boards.