Jonathan Martin

Parents drop off their kids at a northeast Spokane in-home day care, where a teenage child molester lives. A South Hill baby sitter takes breaks to sell crank out of her apartment. Fifteen kids are crammed into a Spokane Valley trailer, left with nothing to do but watch TV.

A free quarter of college classes could be the ticket out of poverty for hundreds of Spokane residents. That's the intent behind a state program being launched today in Spokane. The Community Colleges of Spokane will begin handing out $160,000 in tuition waivers to people earning poverty-level wages. In particular, the waivers are meant for welfare recipients who, at the state's insistence, took the first job they found.

Clay Jorgensen meets with colleagues during his final week with Spokane Mental Health, where he spent nearly 30 years working against child abuse. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Shannon Noel helps Madeline Greeley, 6, fit into her elephant costume for a YMCA circus-themed breakfast rally Tuesday at the Spokane Arena. The rally was the kickoff for the YMCA's fund-raising drive. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

William Goodfellow, 51, sits in court Friday morning before pleading guilty to child rape, child molestation adn possession of child pornography. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Wheels of fortune. Al Brislain, director of the Spokane Food Bank, squeezes into an old Volvo donated to the Cars for Charity campaign. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

A haven for downtown Spokane's elderly poor has a new lease on life thanks to some well-off friends. Mid-City Concerns Inc., which runs a senior center and catering service for house-bound elderly, last week signed a 25-year lease on a spacious West Second building. At the 7,100-square-foot former bakery, Mid-City will consolidate its senior center and Meals on Wheels program, currently run at separate locations.

Julia Rahmaan, right, helps pack groceries for Carole Collins, including spaghetti sauce Rahmann made from tomatoes donated to the food bank she started for residents at The Parsons. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Alarmed by stories of lucrative scams on the state tab, Washington legislators are rushing to give broad police powers to welfare fraud investigators. The bill, which cleared the House last week, was prompted by accounts of welfare families coming from Idaho and Oregon to take advantage of Washington's generous public assistance. The bill would create the Office of Chief Investigator, charged with cutting fraud in Department of Social and Health Services programs.

Defense attorney Maryann Moreno talks with Tom DiBartolo during his murder trial. Spokesman-Review file photo

(From For the Record, January 17, 1998): Day wrong: Friday's A-1 photograph of people lining up for shots at the Spokane Regional Health District offices was taken Wednesday not Thursday. (From For the Record, January 21, 1998): Vaccine prices: A vaccination against hepatitis A costs $84 - $42 each for two shots. A story in Friday's paper indicated otherwise. (From for the Record, January 26, 1999): Cost incorrect: The cost of hepatitis A vaccinations dropped to $26 for each of two doses during last year's epidemic. In most cases, the bill was paid by the person receiving the vaccinations. A story incorrectly reported the cost. The line for shots at the Spokane Regional Health District office spilled down the stairwell and into the parking garage Thursday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Children of migrant farm workers clean up around their tent camp near Wenatchee last summer. File/The Spokesman-Review

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Thursday, January 15, 1998): Correction Lisa Dressel is accused of robbing more than $5,000 from five Spokane banks between Dec. 15 and Jan. 8. A toy gun was used in only the first robbery. A story in Wednesday's paper stated otherwise. Lisa Dressel was arrested Thursday. File/The Spokesman-Review

Social workers here call it a case for "The X-Files." Hundreds of welfare families in rural, impoverished areas of northeast Washington have vanished.

Social workers here call it a case for "The X-Files." Hundreds of welfare families in rural, impoverished areas of northeast Washington have vanished. They stopped collecting welfare checks, pulled kids out of school, vacated low-cost apartments.

1. A home for their work, but not for them. Rebeckah Cockrell peeks from behind her "Untitled" door she painted while at a shelter for battered women. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 2. Diane Hanson stands beside her "Self Portrait." Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 3. Lora Burcham's "Loneliness," made from newspaper, foil and masking tape, stands at the center of the City Hall exhibit, "Putting a Face on Homelessness. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 4. Masks made by homeless children hang on one of the exhibits. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

Washington kids are optimistic, and for good reason, according to a new study. Fewer kids are dying as infants, getting murdered, or becoming parents. Ninety-nine out of 100 live until they're 20. Most dream of a college degree. Three-quarters see a rosy future.

Washington violates the constitutional rights of newcomers by restricting their welfare benefits, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The class action, filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on behalf of the newly transplanted poor, is the first major challenge to recent reforms of state welfare programs. It's on good legal footing, experts say. The suit duplicates a Pennsylvania action, in which a judge found that pulling up the welcome mat to the poor is unconstitutional. The law was passed in April by legislators fearful that Washington's relatively generous welfare benefits- 11th-highest in the country - will make it a magnet for the poor.

John Thaemert took over the care of his children, including 4-year-old Avery at far left, Ciera, 2, and Jerome, 7, after his wife, Julie got a full-time job. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

1. Gaining control. A nationally acclaimed halfway house run by two nurses has helped Jim Ransier regain independence and dignity after four decades in mental hospitals. Photos by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Left: With relief, Patricia Diaz thanks her friend Patty Coil after Coil made her cancel a date she didn't want to go on. Both are residents of Raymond Court. 3. Left: Everybody dances during Raymond Court's 1996 Halloween Party. Staff, their families, residents and guests dress up and boogie. 4. Mary Wright had her hair done regularly in the beauty salon at Raymond Court. Of the posters in the salon, Wright said, "These are all models. It doesn't mean much. It's much more important to be a real person than to be a model." Wright recently improved emough to move to an adult family home. 5. Above: When Vicki Draine complains that she's cold and tired, Jan Wheatley tries to warm her hands and tells her to eat more. Wheatley and partner Sue Napier founded Raymond Court. 6. Left: Jim Ransier stubs out his cigarette on the front stoop of Raymond Court. Ransier recently moved to Rowan Place.

Ray Cordero is about to lose his driver's license and stands to lose other assets because he has fallen behind in his child-support payments. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Mariah, 9 months, reaches out to Julie Scammon, 23, who is holding Nathan, 2. Scammon works for her mother, Jackie Milroy. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jackie Milroy is seeing the security of owning an in-home day care threatened by a neighbor's lawsuit that cites an obscure neighborhood covenant banning business in the Linwood area. Milroy has been operating the day care for two years without any trouble until now. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Margaret Searight's car broke down last month and she lost most of her welfare check. That was just the start of her trouble.

1. Dr. Kim Thoburn, director of the Spokane Regional Health District. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. County has gamma globulin on hand.