Pioneer Picnic

set for July 20

The Sammamish Valley Pioneer Association will host its annual Pioneer Picnic from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 20 at Blyth Park (16950 W. Riverside Drive, Bothell). The event is open to the public, and features free hot dogs to the first 100 people to arrive, as well as a flag-tag race, a balloon brigade and a leaky-cup relay. There will also be a straw hunt at 1:30 p.m. and door prizes for the oldest and youngest attendees who live the furthest away.

Backpacks for Kids is back in town

Local churches, businesses, civic groups and families will contribute donations of new school supplies at drop-box sites located at businesses and gathering places throughout the Northshore community for the ninth consecutive year as part of the Backpacks for Kids program. These donations will be sorted and backpacks will be filled with school supplies for students who would otherwise start the 2008-2009 school year without the necessary supplies.

This year’s goal is to outfit 700 new backpacks, which will be distributed to families in late August at Northshore schools.

The donation campaign will run July 18 through Aug. 9, and backpacks will be assembled from Aug. 14-21. Contact Cecilia Shumate at (425) 408-7670 or cshumate@nsd.org for additional information and volunteer opportunities.

State ranked 28th nationally in taxes

Washington ranked 28th among the states in state and local taxes as a percentage of personal income in 2006, according to an annual report issued by the Washington State Department of Revenue. Residents of the state paid an average of 11.2 percent of their personal income in state and local taxes in 2006, based on statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Washington has been gaining ground nationally in per-capita income. It rose from 17th highest in 2005 to 15th in 2006 and 14th in 2007. The 2007 ranking is based on preliminary per-capita income of $40,414, compared to a national average of $38,611.