Washington state Attorney General Robert McKenna sent out a consumer alert today about a company selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door and pretending to be a charity.

Fresh Start Opportunities claims that money from the subscriptions will go to help young people get a "fresh start on life," but according to the attorney general, Fresh Start Opportunities is not a registered charity.

Nearly 300,000 of the 3.5 million workers in Washington are now officially unemployed. Now at 8.4 percent, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is the highest since 1985.

Since the recession began in Dec. 2007, Washington has lagged behind other parts of the country in terms of feeling economic pain, but not anymore. Last month, 28,200 workers lost their jobs and the number of unemployed in January has been adjusted up 8,700. Nationally the unemployment rate - 7.8 percent - is the same as the Seattle-area.

It seemed like the longest 60 days ever, but it's official, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will publish its last newspaper tomorrow.

"Tonight we'll be putting the paper to bed for the last time," P-I Publisher Roger Oglesby told employees this morning. "But the bloodline will live on."

Wall Street jumped to life on Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up nearly 380 points. The 5.8 percent bump in the Dow is a sparkle of hope in a seemingly endless sea of bad news that has dominated headlines since the recession began in December 2007, but economists aren't saying the markets have hit bottom yet.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its unemployment figures for February. It's not good news.

Last month, employers handed out 651,000 pink slips, taking the national unemployment rate from 7.6 to 8.1 percent. Washington state's unemployment rate was 7.8 in January - the data for February is not yet available.

Seattle City Light has issued a warning that telephone con artists appear to be targeting customers with Asian surnames.

Evidently several people reported that in the last few days someone contacted them by phone, said they worked for City Light and that they needed a credit card number to solve a billing issue.

The University of Washington announced today that it will cut 34 full-time fundraisers from its Advancement office and reduce 16 full-time employees to part-time.

It's against the law to call someone a dumbass - at least if you're a debt collector it is. According to court documents filed last week by the Attorney General's office, Everett-based Topco Financial Services violated the Consumer Protection Act when they allegedly harassed Washingtonians, calling them "no good," "scum," "loser," "lowlife," and threatening to "bitch slap" them if they didn't pay.

The Seattle area is the 10th least affordable place to live in the U.S., according to a report released last week by the National Association of Home Builders.

Publicly traded Seattle companies are taking a beating. Just look at Starbucks, Amazon and Boeing since Jan. 2, 2008, on average, their stocks have plummeted 47 percent.

Now that the dust has settled and baristas at Espresso Vivace are pulling shots of espresso at their new location on Broadway Ave. E. in the Brix Condominium complex, Vivace owner David Schomer said business is great.

Over on Broadway, the folks in charge of sales at Brix Condominiums had their grand opening VIP preview yesterday. And despite the constant flood of bad news about the Seattle real estate market, 54 percent of the 141 condos have been sold.

Broadway News used to be located on the east side of the 200 block of Broadway but its lease was not renewed and last Friday it re-opened at its new location next to Galleria's.