Local news:
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- New job for Machinists 751 President Mark Blondin -- The head of the 20,000-strong local Machinists union at Boeing for the past six years (and Vice President of the Washington State Labor Council), is resigning to become aerospace coordinator for the national union, setting the scene for a contentious election to replace him as president of District 751. Dissident union members are already complaining that key Blondin lieutenants plan to anoint union grievance coordinator Tom Wroblewski as president.
▪  At TomPaine.com -- Muzzling unions (op-ed by Seattle attorney Dmitri Iglitzin) -- The danger (of the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision in the pending WEA case) is that the court may not only uphold the law, but also further limit the ability of labor unions to raise money for political activity.
▪  In today's Olympian -- Construction to resume soon on Satsop plant -- Work will resume on the natural gas-fired power plant that has been in mothballs since August 2002. If history is any indication, many of the 350 workers needed to finish the project will come from South Sound.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Analyst's 787 doubts burn Boeing -- Stock tumbles 3.4% after a Wall Street analyst asserted the 787 Dreamliner program is running into delays and cost increases.

Cover the Kids news:
▪  In today's Yakima H-R -- Boost pushed in health care eligibility -- Gregoire proposed enlarging the Children's Insurance Plan, which is for families whose income is too high for Medicaid. But her plan is to cap it at $50,000 for a family of four. That translates into 250% of the federal poverty rate compared with the more generous 300% that children's lobbyists (and the WSLC) want.
▪  In today's Spokesman-Review-- Plan fuses children's health programs -- Sen. Chris Marr wants to combine several programs into one system covering kids in low- and moderate-income families.
▪  In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Kulongoski pushes children's health plan -- The governor pitches an 84-cent hike in the Oregon's cigarette tax to provide coverage for 117,000 uninsured children.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- A healthy initiative? (editorial) -- Tax the rich to help others buy health insurance? That's what President Bush proposes.

Other legislative news:
▪  In today's Yakima H-R -- Simple majority not so simple -- Sen. Jim Clements (R-Selah) defends his committee vote against advancing a bill to make it easier for school districts to pass tax measures. Senate Democrats need a Republican for the 33 votes needed to pass.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire says viaduct vote still matters -- Yet she wouldn't say what she would do if voters opt for a four-lane tunnel that Mayor Nickels and a majority of the Seattle City Council say would be much cheaper than the six-lane version the state has proposed.
▪  In today's Kitsap Sun -- Caution flag waved on South Kitsap NASCAR track plan -- County commissioners vote for a resolution calling on the Legislature to turn down any speedway funding bill that doesn’t require the developer to pay for needed infrastructure improvements. 
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Why give subsidies? Let me count the reasons (Bill Virgin column)
▪  At the Chris Mulick's Tri-City Herald blog -- Very sweet: Onion bill rides again -- "Big Potato" no likey.

National news:
▪  In the Investors Business Daily -- Democrats to push legislation making it easier to organize unions -- The House is getting ready to push for labor's equivalent of the holy grail: the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make organizing unions radically easier by essentially bypassing the NLRB election process. Instead unions could be formed with what amounts to a petition drive.
▪  At AFL-CIO Now -- Groundhog Day: Tired arguments reappear in Senate minimum wage debate -- Click here to tell Senators to support a clean bill without any more tax giveaways to business.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Conservative small business lobby reaches out to Democrats -- The NFIB is a bastion of Republicanism. Of all major lobbying organizations last year, NFIB gave the lowest share of its PAC money to Democrats, a mere 8%. But with Democrats now in charge, NFIB's new president wants to rebrand the small-business lobby as "nonpartisan," and to prove his resolve he is talking extensively to Democrats and preparing to donate more to them.
▪  Today from AP -- Pfizer will close 5 plants, fire 10,000 workers -- The drastic measures by the world's largest drugmaker highlight the challenges faced by many pharmaceutical companies these days. In addition to patent expirations, big drug companies are struggling with a business climate where insurers and other large purchasers of medicines are demanding lower prices.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Illinois is putting its lottery on the block for quick payoff -- It hopes to get as much as $10 billion from investors in one of the largest privatizations of a state-run program.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Why job churn is good (op-ed by Treasury official) -- More than 55 million Americans, or four out of every 10 workers, left their jobs in 2005. And this is good news.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Bush, at low point in polls, will push domestic agenda -- With some of the worst approval ratings in a generation, Bush will deliver his State of the Union address tonight.
▪  Today from AP-- Judge denies request to freeze Home Depot ex-CEO's $210M parachute