Layoff news:
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- About 400 Paccar workers in Renton will be laid off 
▪  In today's Olympian -- Displaced Centralia mine workers mull ways to replace wages -- As some 600 laid-off TransAlta workers mull looking for a related job, retraining or retiring early, many of them are crowding into the IUOE Local 612 office to file for unemployment and ask questions.
▪  In today's Olympian -- Rep. DeBolt lays out ideas for legislative aid -- The legislator, who works for TransAlta, suggests extending laid-off workers' unemployment benefits, among other things. (DeBolt voted in 2003 to cut weeks of unemployment benefit eligibility from 30 to 26 weeks, but since he's trying to help these laid-off workers, we won't mention that.) Though sympathetic, Rep. Kessler is reluctant to call for changes in state programs specifically to help Lewis County.
▪  In the Columbian -- G-P severance talks continue -- Talks begin on a package for 280 millworkers (AWPPW Local 5) who will lose their jobs at the Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Camas.

Local news:
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing union's windfall arrives -- Some 19,000 Machinists union workers receive $3,000 bonuses as part of a deal reached after a 28-day strike in fall 2005. Meanwhile, Boeing rehiring of Machinists continues, along with some new young hires.
▪  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Fiesta Foods, union organizers (UFCW) OK deal -- A settlement is reached in a dispute on the termination of an employee at the grocer's Sunnyside store.
▪  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Pullman Wal-Mart to get more scrutiny -- A second appeal is filed in opposition to the city's approval of plans for the 223,000-square-foot store.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Chopp fights viaduct tunnel plan -- Gregoire will consider the House Speaker's letter co-signed by 29 Democrats in her decision, due by the year's end.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Hosts of public hearing don't want FCC to relax media-ownership rules -- AFTRA's John Sandifer and the staff of WSLC Reports Today will be among those testifying at tonight's hearing from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Seattle Public Library downtown.

National news:
▪  In today's NY Times -- Groups press Vanderbilt to raise workers' wages -- What sets Vanderbilt apart from other campus-based living-wage campaigns? Its chancellor is one of the highest-paid university executives in the nation. And while $7.92-an-hour housekeepers struggle to avoid homelessness, the university is spending $6 million to renovate his 20,000-square-foot house.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Health care at a premium -- Rising health insurance costs are causing problems for start-ups and keeping some would-be entrepreneurs from starting businesses.
▪  In today's Philadelphia Inquirer -- Philadelphia newspaper talks continue as strike looms 
▪  From AP -- Wal-Mart nears unionization in China -- China's state-sanctioned union warns Wal-Mart not to retaliate against workers who form unions.

Last Throes update:
▪  In today's NY Times -- Iraq panel to recommend pullback of U.S. troops -- The bipartisan Iraq Study Group will reportedly call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq, but will stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Bush dismisses call for gradual withdrawal -- Asked about the bipartisan panel's impending report, Bush says: "We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done."
▪  From AP --  Iraqis estimate civilian deaths at 150,000 -- A stunning new death count emerges from Iraq's health minister; it is about three times previously accepted estimates.
▪  The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.  
Of the 2,882 U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far, 2,745 have died (see the list) since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003, and 2,416 have died since Saddam's capture. More than five years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is at large.