Legislative news:
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Bill to slash payday loan rates sinks -- Committee chairman Rep. Kirby says Rep. Appleton's push to cap annual interest rates at 36% won't get to the hearing stage.
▪  Today from AP -- Lt. Governor backs NASCAR track plan -- Brad Owen, who represented the Bremerton-Shelton area in the Legislature before taking his current office, says that he and Rep. Geoff Simpson (D-Covington) will lead the charge for legislation to authorize the speedway.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- NASCAR track will have its day -- A bill to spend $188 million in tax dollars on a $368 million NASCAR racetrack near Bremerton is about to go before legislators.
▪  In today's Kitsap Sun -- Kitsap commissioner not satisfied with changes in speedway bill -- so far 
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Bad Hanford bills follow bad initiative (editorial) -- Legislators should steer clear of trying to fix the flawed Initiative 297 until federal courts can make a definitive ruling on it.
▪  In the (Aberdeen) Daily World -- Timber operators push to preserve their B&O tax break -- Rep. Lynn Kessler says she's concerned that if the state starts aggressively taxing trees as property, timber companies may just start selling their land to developers. “That would jeopardize jobs,” she said. “I’m told about 50 percent of the forest industry’s manufacturing jobs would go away.”
▪  In today's Oregonian -- Committee votes to create health-benefit pool for Oregon school workers

Local news:
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Five reasons to vote "no" on Kitsap passenger ferry plan (op-ed) -- No ridership; creating sprawl in rural Kitsap; environmental fiasco; sales tax is regressive; and all transit is not equal. (Bonus reason: Kitsap Transit's Dick Hayes turned down state money from the sale of its existing passenger ferries because he wants the private operator to be nonunion.) 
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Many at Boeing will share in windfall -- About 45,000 Boeing workers in the Puget Sound area will share an estimated $170 million in incentive pay. Most SPEEA engineers and technical workers will get the pay, but members of the Machinists union will not.
▪  Today from AP -- Mount Vernon area chosen for VA clinic -- An outpatient clinic will open within a year serving veterans in San Juan, Island, Whatcom, Skagit and northern Snohomish counties.
▪  In today's News Tribune -- With rosier economic forecast, Tacoma school closures go on hold

Wal-Mart news:
▪  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Council wrong to target Wal-Mart with ordinance (editorial) -- We urge city council members to take a step back and spend some time clearly defining concerns they have with big stores and to come up with a logical, defensible, comprehensive plan for addressing them. In the meantime they should rescind their temporary anti-Wal-Mart ban. 
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Wal-Mart coming to Smokey Point -- The way is cleared for a 204,000-square-foot superstore after opponents drop their lawsuit.
▪  In the Wall Street Journal -- Wal-Mart cuts taxes by paying rent to itself -- In about 25 states it has been paying most of that rent to itself -- and then deducting that amount from its state taxes.

Minimum Wage, Maximum Politics; or Why Voters Indexed Our Minimum Wage:
▪  From AP -- Minimum wage bill heads to negotiations -- Republicans are warning Democrats not to tamper with Senate's minimum wage legislation, or its $8.3 billion in business tax breaks.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Senate passes wage bill, but obstacles await -- The House could block consideration of the bill or strip out the tax provisions and send it back for another Senate vote.
▪  In today's LA Times -- Proposed tax breaks split businesses -- The Senate's minimum wage bill pits the interests of small companies against those of large corporations.

National news:
▪  In today's Rocky Mountain News -- Colorado AFL-CIO facing a crossroads -- WSLC President Rick Bender assumed his role last week as trustee of the Colorado state federation. "If the divisions continue to grow and grow, that's when you start to lose affiliates," says Bender.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- DOL aide found budget's weaknesses, so Democrats don't have to 
▪  In today's NY Times -- A bipartisan trade policy (editorial) -- Now that the Democrats control Congress, they can champion both free trade and the rights of American workers. They should push to improve the social safety net, especially access to health insurance. And they should promote increased retraining and wage assistance for displaced workers. To win Democrats’ support, the White House will have to accept some of their demands for stronger labor provisions in trade accords. Bans on forced labor and child labor, and similar mandates, are laudable goals.
▪  Today from AP -- Strike shuts down Harley-Davidson's largest plant -- A strike begins two days after IAM workers rejected the company's contract offer that included a two-tier wage system.