Good morning, Readers,

Here’s where we’re at with local gas prices, and it isn’t pretty. Today, Monday, it’s at $4.27 on average for a gallon of unleaded, same as the state average, which, by the way, is the highest in all of the Lower 48 states.

Let me repeat. No one in the Continental United States is paying more for gas today that Washington motorists.

There’s more.

In Kitsap County, we are one slim dime within reaching the all-time high price for gasoline.

That occurred July 19, 2008, when the price escalated to $4.37 locally, according to AAA.

Alaska has the price at $$4.49 today; Hawaii’s at $4.51.

— Rachel Pritchett

P.S. Here’s a few paragraphs from an Associated Press story on Monday’s oil prices.

The Associated Press

The price of oil moved very little Monday, coming off a week where questions about a global economic slowdown sparked an 8 percent decline.

New signs of weakness in the U.S. economy emerged following Friday’s disappointing jobs report. Meanwhile, China’s economic growth is slowing and Europe is mired in a financial crisis that sent the region’s unemployment rate soaring. This is raising questions about the strength of demand for oil and other energy products.

Benchmark oil moved between small gains and losses. The price fell 21 cents to $83.02 per barrel in New York. Brent crude dropped 76 cents to $97.67 in London.

Well, kind of. Starting Saturday, the state Department of Revenue will begin an ad blitz to remind Washington residents there might be some forgotten money waiting for them.

Revenue has the responsibility to try to connect the waiting cash with its rightful owner. Examples of unclaimed property include unclaimed paychecks, utility deposits, bank accounts, uncashed refunds, life-insurance proceeds, stocks and bonds and contents from safe deposit boxes.

Go to www.claimyourcash.org to see if there’s something waiting for you. Last year, Revenue matched $47 million with a record 108,000 claimants.

Maybe it’s your turn.

Rachel Pritchett

Good morning readers,

Unemployment among young adults in the nation continues to be very high, at 12 percent in May, according to a Washington, D.C. nonprofit advocacy group called Generation Opportunity.

That 12 percent is for people ages 18 to 29. It doesn’t include another almost 2 million young adults who have given up for lack of jobs, says the group, citing statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Figure those people in, and the unemployment rate for young adults jumps to 17 percent.

The group’s president, Paul Conway, former chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Labor, said the numbers represent “yet another chapter in the indefensible saga of how a great generation is being denied economic opportunity, jobs, critical skills, and the ability to pursue their dreams.

“As summer begins, the ranks of all those frustrated by the lack of opportunities are joined by recent high school and college graduates whose enthusiasm to join the workforce has been slammed by the same harsh economic status quo their brothers and sisters have been experiencing for the past few years – one marked by record high unemployment, a patchwork of part-time jobs, or jobs outside their chosen profession.”

Conway’s observation is pretty dismal, but in my mind, it’s not nearly as bad as it was at the height of the recession, when I would get news releases from the government and groups like this pointing to unemployment twice as bad as this for young adults.

My three children, all in this age category, all are employed. Two are in retail close to minimum wage doing what they can to help as their dad and I as we send them through college, and one of those has an unpaid internship in her chosen field, psychology. The other is in a paid internship this summer in her chosen field, landscape architecture. None has had as hard a time finding work as a few years ago. So for my family, at least, there’s hope the next generation will find opportunity after college.

What has your experience been?

Rachel Pritchett