The Bailout for Big Business:
▪  From AP -- Executive pay limits gain support as bailouts questioned -- Companies that get a piece of the $700 billion bailout will have their executive pay packages strictly limited under broadly supported proposals in Congress. (Of course, the Bush administration is resisting the move.)
▪  In today's NY Times -- In bailout furor, Wall Street pay becomes a target -- A popular outcry has arisen over the prospect of Wall Street’s tarnished titans walking away with tens of millions of dollars a year while taxpayers pick up the bill.
▪  Today from AP -- FBI is investigating companies at heart of meltdown -- The FBI is looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, insurer American International Group Inc., and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the collapse of which helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan.
▪  In today's NY Times -- Congress objects to lack of help for homeowners -- Lawmakers object to the broad authority Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is requesting, the lack of help for homeowners to avoid foreclosure and the absence of any ownership stakes in the banks that would be helped.
▪  In today's LA Times -- The bailout runs into a populist backlash -- As the scope of the bailout takes shape, a populist backlash is emerging, with some people concluding that the only fair outcome would be for failed firms to fail.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Bailout proposal meets bipartisan outrage -- Lawmakers are deeply skeptical of the proposal and angered by the Bush administration's push for its speedy approval.

Republicans Who Are Embarrassed to be Republicans:
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Democrats sue to make Rossi call himself a "Republican" -- They say the Iraq War and low approval ratings for Bush have left the Republican Party with a damaged brand and that Rossi is trying to distance himself by using "GOP" as his affiliation. Polls suggest many people don't know that GOP and Republican mean the same thing, and that more voters support Rossi if he uses the "GOP" label instead of "Republican." 
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- Business PACs' funding offers clues (Connelly column) -- In its second sharply critical investigative report in three weeks, the PDC found that a big-spending business political action committee (this time, the Realtors' PAC) flagrantly violated state law to help Republican Dino Rossi's campaign for governor.... The big bucks of Big Business are a clue to officeholders' alliances, and -- if not of politicians being bought -- at least who's being rented.
▪  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Republican Party mailers under fire -- PDC staff believe the state Republican Party used money from its exempt account to pay for three pre-primary election mailers that promoted Dino Rossi over Gov. Chris Gregoire -- a possible violation of state law.
▪  In today's Olympian -- Don't be misled on registration (editorial) -- Take the case of a Vancouver man who got a telephone call from the Family Policy Institute of Washington (a conservative Christian group with links -- literally -- to the Republican Party) who told him, "Our records indicate that you're not yet registered to vote in Washington," then advised him to go to the institute's Web site, where he could register online. In reality, the man has been registered to vote in Clark County since 1988. People who fall for the ploy have their voter registration flagged as a duplicate.

Why Republicans are Embarrassed to be Republicans:
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- How the state's fiscal house can be put back in order (op-ed by Republican State Sen. Joseph Zarelli) -- WSLC Reports Today will spare you the Gregoire-bashing political rhetoric in this election-timed op-ed (read it if you like) and simply summarize Sen. Zarelli's budget prescription: lay off thousands of state employees; make the ones who remain pay more for their health care coverage; cut other public health care programs, some of which assist... immigrants... [shudder]; get rid of a bioscience research fund (which he voted to approve back in 2005), and stop funding bilingual education [for... immigrants].

Election 2008 news:
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Economic fears give Obama clear lead over McCain in polls -- More voters trust Obama to deal with the economy, and he currently has a big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans face. He also has a double-digit advantage on handling the problems on Wall Street. As a result, his overall support has risen. A new poll finds that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52% to 43%. Two weeks ago, in the days immediately following the Republican National Convention, the race was essentially even, with McCain at 49% and Obama at 47%.
▪  At HorsesAss -- Gregoire back on top in latest poll -- Gov. Chris Gregoire (Democrat) has re-taken the lead from Dino Rossi (”G.O.P. Party”), 50% to 48%.
▪  In today's Longview Daily News -- Gregoire campaigns in Kelso -- The governor praises advancements by Cowlitz PUD in construction of its White Creek wind farm in Eastern Washington, and she said she supports the creation of more jobs manufacturing clean energy. "This is an opportunity for us to create a green economy right in your backyard," Gregoire said.
▪  In today's Seattle Times -- Tim Eyman warns DOT: Prepare to open up car-pool lanes -- Before a single vote has been cast on his I- 985 to open car-pool lanes during nonpeak hours and make other changes in state transportation policy, Eyman is telling officials: Get ready to enforce it.
▪  In today's Oregonian -- Sizemore's latest measure again takes on Oregon's public-employee unions -- When voters see their Nov. 4 ballot, Measure 64 will look familiar. It will be the third vote in 10 years on Bill Sizemore's proposal to stymie public-employee unions' political activities.
▪  In today's NY Times -- McCain aide's firm was paid by FreddieMac -- McCain erroneously claimed that his campaign manager had had no involvement with the company for the last several years.

Local news: 
▪  In today's News Tribune -- State workers should skip the pity party (editorial) -- Some unions are complaining that collective bargaining is not living up to its promise. What it really boils down to is that some unions object to a Walla Walla prison guard being treated the same as a Capitol custodian – especially when that custodian is getting a measly 2% raise. This is not the year to be grousing about inequities or how much money is or is not on the table. 
▪  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford begins waste retrieval -- Workers began retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from Tank C-110 this week. They're hoping it marks the first sustained effort to retrieve waste from leak-prone tanks since late July 2007 when a waste spill stopped work.
▪  In today's Tri-City Herald -- L&I looks to raise workers' compensation rates -- The state wants to increase the workers' compensation rates for 2009 by 3% to keep up with wage inflation.
▪  In today's News tribune-- Pierce County executive offers 2009 budget -- County would cut vacant positions, raise fees and delay capital projects to balance its 2009 budget under the plan.
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Everett Shipyard wins $9 million Navy contract -- The Todd Shipyards subsidiary will build a huge reinforced steel gate used to keep water out of a PSNS drydock.
▪  In today's Everett Herald -- Factory-built Marysville schools get attention from other districts -- Except for the gymnasium, the three schools on the Marysville Secondary Campus were all constructed in a factory and trucked to their home on the Tulalip Reservation.