Boeing news:
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- 747's future secured: Lufthansa key order should keep it flying for years
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Dreamliner will roll out on schedule, Boeing says -- The company remains confident despite weight issues and some suppliers' struggle to get up to speed.
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing gives sneak peek at 787 -- Hundreds of employees and several customers watch a virtual rollout of the sophisticated new jet and its assembly process.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Zeal is real over 787's virtual rollout 

Legislative news: 
▪  In today's Olympian -- PDC targets campaigns (editorial) -- Its proposal to limit spending by unions, corporations and trade groups puts the issue squarely before lawmakers. There are free-speech ramifications and opposition is guaranteed, but it's a good place to start the discussion.
▪  In the Columbian -- Payday loans may be limited -- Rep. Appleton expects a different outcome this session when she introduces two bills that could drastically curtail payday lenders' profits.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Battle looms for state GOP chief as Sen. Luke Esser enters fray
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Mark Olson to challenge Rep. Brian Sullivan for county council seat

Local news:
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Union (IATSE 488) may strike at WTO movie filming -- The B.C.-based producers refuse to pay union benefits and wages while filming in Seattle. Unless an agreement is reached before Saturday, crew members who've committed to the film could go out on strike.
▪  In today's Kitsap Sun -- Kingston foot ferry firm asks for delay of Jan. 1 deadline to restart service -- Private firm hopes Kitsap voters approve a tax increase in February to subsidize the operation.
▪  Today from AP -- Growers hope immigration reforms legalize some workers -- The prospects for reform improves with Democratic control, a labor law specialist tells Washington's fruit growers.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Advocate for immigrants (Magdaleno Rose-Avila) will be honored by city
▪  In today's Salem S-J -- 600,000 Oregonians lacking prescription drug plan eligible for new program

National news:
▪  In today's Houston Chronicle -- Congress may well legislate sick-leave issue soon -- With 47% of full-time, private-sector workers receiving no paid sick leave, Democrats may address the issue.
▪  Today from Reuters -- Chinese trade gap outstrips forecasts -- The $23.4 billion surplus was more than double the November 2005 figure and exceeded the $20 billion forecast of economists.
▪  Today from AP -- 12 million suburbanites live in poverty -- The suburban poor outnumber those in  inner cities for the first time. Feds say the 2005 poverty level for a family of three was $15,577.
▪  In today's Philadelphia Inquirer -- Philadelphia newspaper talks stall; Guild threatens strike

Last Throes update:
▪  In today's LA Times -- Iraq policy "no longer viable;" panel advises "diplomatic offensive" -- Bush's policies have set off a "slide toward chaos" in Iraq, a bipartisan commission declares in a major reappraisal that challenges Bush's view of the war and builds new pressure for disengagement.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Study group supports ordering agency workers to Iraq -- Federal agencies supporting the Iraq war and reconstruction should order their civilian employees to fill key jobs in the combat zone if not enough volunteers step forward, the commission says. "This would be somewhat unprecedented," says a federal personnel expert. AFGE declines comment.
▪  Today from AP -- 11 U.S. troops killed in one of the American military's deadliest days in Iraq -- At least 75 Iraqi people were killed or found dead across Iraq on Wednesday.
▪  Of the 2,918 U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far, 2,781 have died (see a list) since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" and an end to major combat operations on May 2003, and 2,452 have died since Saddam's capture. More than 5 years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is at large.
▪  The WSLC's affiliated unions have called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Tomorrow, the AFL-CIO will convene a major Organizing Summit in Washington, D.C., bringing together union organizers, leaders and members from the U.S. and around the world. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will give the keynote address on Friday and will spotlight unions' key role in reversing working Americans' economic crisis. His speech will be followed by a Capitol Hill rally with Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. George Miller to support legislation -- the Employee Free Choice Act -- which will limit employers' ability to stop workers from forming unions to improve their lives.

Participants in the two-day summit will discuss ways to organize strategically outside of the broken National Labor Relations Board process, and will build on the tremendous successes of the past year's organizing efforts among AFL-CIO affiliates by sharing best practices, visions and strategies. 

Thousands of union activists, leaders and allies will join Sweeney, Kennedy, and Miller at Friday's rally at Senate Park, including National Education Association President Reg Weaver, American Federation of Teachers President Ed McElroy, ACORN President Maude Hurd, United States Student Association President Jennifer Pae, and others.

The legislation has 214 co-sponsors -- four shy of an outright majority -- in the House of Representatives, but languished without a vote because of opposition by Republican leaders. Now, Democratic leaders who are poised to take control of the House in January vow to bring the EFCA to a vote. It has been co-sponsored by Washington Democratic Reps. Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Brian Baird, Norm Dicks, Jim McDermott and Adam Smith, but Republican Reps. Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris and Doc Hastings have steadfastly refused to support the EFCA. In the U.S. Senate, the EFCA has 44 co-sponsors, including both Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

"The right to organize is a fundamental right of workers in this country," said Rep. Adam Smith (D-9th). "It was the stepping stone to other such basic rights as overtime pay, benefits, livable wages, safe working conditions, and the 40-hour work week. Since the 1930s however, the system has been grossly diluted and manipulated in favor of the employer. The Employee Free Choice Act provides much needed reforms to the flawed labor law that currently regulates organized labor and binds the National Labor Relations Board to an unprecedented and long overdue commitment to the rights of employees and union organizers. I look forward to working with my colleagues to push this valuable legislation through Congress."