"This will be ugly."

►  In today's In today's Seattle P-I -- State's projected budget deficit: $5.1 billion -- Washington's projected deficit has ballooned to $5.1 billion, nearly $2 billion more than predicted just two months ago. That means when lawmakers convene in January to assemble the next two-year spending plan they'll have to drastically cut state programs or raise taxes, something Gov. Gregoire has said she won't do.

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- State likely looking at layoffs -- As lawmakers look to shave billions in state spending, that likely means layoffs and deep cuts in state programs. “Our members are on edge, just because of the uncertainty,” says WFSE spokesman Tim Welch. “There really is a fear that the Legislature will try to take a meat-ax approach.”

►  Other budget news coverage in today's Everett Herald, The Olympian, News Tribune, Seattle Times, and from the AP. 

►  At TheOlympian.com -- Gregoire to state workers: "great sacrifice" needed -- The governor emails them seeking their ideas about "how we can significantly make government work better, smarter and yes, at lower cost. It is the only way we will be able to close the financial gap while continuing to deliver the most vital and basic services."

►  In today's Olympian -- Government lists priorities for spending -- The Priorities of Government "Do Not Buy" lists come out every two years and were released last week. Being on those lists is not necessarily a death sentence for programs (but it ain't good, given the circumstances).

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Higher ed cuts of 20% could cancel classes, shrink enrollment -- The schools will have to come up with their proposals fast. Gov. Chris Gregoire intends to roll out her 2009-2011 budget proposal the week of Dec. 15.

►  In today's News Tribune -- The new rainy day fund: Higher education (editorial) -- Unless officials are considering setting convicts free or reneging on their obligations to Medicaid patients, they’ll have to look elsewhere to balance the budget. Squarely in their sights is higher education, the biggest pot of unprotected money in the budget. Those cuts couldn’t come at a worse time.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- In making tough cuts, don't starve solutions (editorial) -- Care must be taken to minimize long-term damage. Cut too deeply into community college funding, for example, and you could further damage the economy by eliminating training opportunities that lead to good-paying jobs -- and greater government revenues.

►  In today's Columbian -- Hunker down (editorial) -- What does this mean for Washingtonians? Four things in relation to the economic catastrophe: Ride it out, pray for a recovery, don’t expect any new state services in the next two-plus years, and don’t take any of the old ones for granted.

Local news: 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Snohomish County considers furloughs to close budget gap -- The Snohomish County Council plans to ask county employees to take voluntary 10-day furloughs next year to help close a $21 million budget deficit, but union leaders and some elected officials say that won't happen without negotiated labor agreements.

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Budget trouble forcing layoffs at county -- Spokane County will lay off potentially dozens of employees due to an expected $3 million shortfall next year.

►  In today's News tribune -- Some City of Tacoma workers are underpaid, study says -- More than half the nonunion job titles at the City of Tacoma come with pay scales that top out below market levels. (Here's an idea underpaid Tacoma workers: ORGANIZE A UNION!) 

►  In today's Seattle P-I -- DHL Express plans King County layoffs -- DHL plans to lay off 68 at its Marginal Way facility and 187 as it closes facilities in Bellevue, Bothell, Fife and Kent.

►  In today's Wenatchee World -- First Alcoa workers notified of layoffs -- Alcoa has notified 10 of the 29 employees expected to be laid off from Wenatchee Works smelter by the end of the month.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- GAO investigating compensation for ill nuclear workers -- Sixteen senators and representatives, including Sens. Murray and Cantwell, called for the review to identify the source of problems they say they hear about from constituents.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- Guest worker program raises more red flags than solutions (editorial) -- Upon further review, we don't think fingerprinting and photographing all nontribal workers on the Yakama reservation and collecting 50 cents for each hour they work is a good idea after all.

A road map for state Republicans: 

►  In today's Seattle P-I -- GOP must be the change it wants to see (op-ed by Secretary of State Sam Reed) -- My hope for our Grand Old Party is that party elders, activists and donors resist the ultimately self-defeating instinct to move toward narrow ideological dogma, negativism and unhelpful government-is-bad rhetoric.  I hope the party increasingly will be the idea-rich home of pragmatism and reform, the welcoming party of inclusion and the creative party of can-do problem-solvers.  We must offer positive ideas for jobs and the economy, health care, energy independence, better schools and transportation, environmental protection and social justice.

Boeing news: 

►  From Bloomberg -- "Nothing structural" caused delays, says Boeing -- Production delays caused by a Machinists strike, plane design changes and problems with suppliers are not structural, says Scott Carson. "It sometimes feels you can wake up snake-bitten, and the last four or five months have felt that way to us ... There isn't anything fundamentally broken."

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing 787 fastener problems caused by Boeing engineers -- The big glitch that now has mechanics finding and replacing thousands of fasteners on every Dreamliner was caused by a Boeing engineering error made in Everett.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing plans to cut 800 defense jobs in Kansas -- That's about 27% of the Wichita work force. The layoffs will affect managers and both salaried and hourly workers.

National news: 

►  In today's Wall Street Journal -- This time, health care revamp has wings -- The effort to overhaul the nation's health system will begin next year with one clear advantage over previous attempts: A wide variety of interest groups are rooting for it to succeed rather than plotting to kill it. In addition, Barack Obama's choice of Tom Daschle, a former Senate Majority Leader, as Secretary of Health and Human Services, puts a skilled navigator of Capitol Hill in charge of the president-elect's bid to establish universal health care, which he has made a top priority.

►  In today's Wall Street Journal -- White House pushes through flurry of rules sought by business -- The changes include opening the way for commercial development of oil shale on federal land, allowing truckers to drive for longer periods, and adding restrictions on FMLA employee time off.

►  In today's NY Times -- After losses, pensions ask for change -- Stung by losses, some big companies are pushing Congress to roll back rules requiring them to put more money into pension funds, just two years after Bush signed a law meant to strengthen the pension system.

►  In today's Washington Post -- With Obama, federal employee unions see chance to push agenda -- Topping the lists of NTEU and AFGE is granting TSA employees collective bargaining rights.

►  In today's LA Times -- IATSE, Hollywood studios agree to tentative 3-year contract -- The craft union's deal puts further pressure on SAG, which meets today with producers and a mediator.

Botched Bailout news: 

►  In today's NY Times -- Auto chiefs fail to get bailout aid -- The CEOs of Detroit’s Big Three automakers depart Washington empty-handed after two days of pleading for a financial lifeline.

►  In today's NY Times -- Beggar's banquet (Tim Egan op-ed) -- Let’s be honest about this monumental exercise we’re going through. These are not Band-Aids or bridge loans or bridges to a new tomorrow we’re talking about. A trillion dollars, more or less, is moving from Us to Them because they’re supposed to keep Us from going under like Them. Get it? Nobody else does, especially the people running it. Thus far, the bailout has been a disaster, in keeping with the Bush practice of abject incompetence in everything they touch. A final kiss-off from The Decider.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Treasury's bailouts are getting us chumped (Michelle Singletary column) -- "In the neighborhood I grew up in," says Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), "one of the things that you tried to do was make sure that you were not considered a chump. And what 'chump' meant was that you didn't want people to see you as just somebody they could get over on." Without a doubt, corporate America is playing us like chumps. Treasury Secretary Paulson and the folks he's assembled to try to get us out of the tempest are being played like chumps.