Reunification news:

►  In today's Washington Post -- Unifying unions (Harold Meyerson column) -- Four years ago the American labor movement split asunder. Today, it has proclaimed its intention to come back together. After meetings in Maryland this week, the presidents of the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and 12 of the nation's largest unions -- including the NEA, which heretofore has not belonged to any labor federation -- announced the formation of the National Labor Coordinating Committee, an interim body that could pave the way for labor's reunification by forming a new federation.

Today's coordinated media campaign:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire proposes college tuition spike -- Saying that the state cannot dismantle its colleges and expect to emerge from the recession strong, Gregoire proposes letting 4-year schools hike tuition by 14% in each of the next two years. Community colleges could boost their tuition by 7% a year.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Tuition fees, books could jump to $10,000 -- Dropping her proposal of last month for a temporary tuition surcharge, the governor now wants to let universities increase tuition by 30% over the next two years to offset deep higher-education budget cuts.  The proposal is welcomed by university leaders and appears to have some support from key lawmakers.  Students, however, are not so happy. 

►  In today's News Tribune -- Facing cuts, schools must have freedom to act (WSU prez's op-ed) -- The depths of the proposed budget cuts would be devastating to our public baccalaureate institutions. Washington cannot aspire to compete globally if it decimates higher education. We need to use every means possible to bring down the level of cuts proposed. 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Keep the "higher" in higher education (UW prez's op-ed) -- The proposed legislative cuts to higher education would cripple the state's ability to build our economy.

Local news:

►  At TheOlympian.com -- TESC, community colleges complete no-raises contract -- In addition to general agency workers, the WFSE represents about 3,000 employees at community colleges, The Evergreen State College, Central and Western. That coalition bargaining team reached a new, no-raises deal with the governor over the weekend.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford receives first of stimulus money -- The DOE Hanford offices receives $1.57 billion to start additional cleanup work. "This will allow us to initiate a number of projects and allow contractors to begin hiring in the coming days," says a spokesman.

►  From AP -- Tanker rematch set for summer -- But many of the factors that hobbled previous tries persist: heavy influence from members of Congress worried about jobs in their districts and a fierce rivalry between Northrop Grumman and Boeing over the $35 billion contract.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Darrington mill laying off 80 workers -- In this economically battered town, the news that 90 workers at the Hampton sawmill are about to lose their jobs hits hard.

►  In the (Aberdeen) Daily World -- Grays Harbor County OKs more layoffs -- The layoff count at county offices could be as high as 11. Commissioners are not yet done with all of their cuts.

►  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Ferndale mayor announces layoffs, furloughs, reduced hours -- Four employees will be laid off due to a $452,000 budget hole the city faces.

Legislative news:

►  In today's Olympian -- House advances budget said to be "responsible" -- House Democrats move their two-year budget plan out of committee on a party-line vote amid complaints from Republicans that they were not doing enough to put the state on a sustainable financial footing. HB 1244, the budget measure, now moves to the House floor, but no vote is yet scheduled as the Senate and House carry on talks to bridge their differences on spending.

►  In today's Olympian -- Cap could be lifted on tax money for schools -- Gov. Gregoire has asked lawmakers to temporarily lift the cap on the amount of local tax money school districts can collect, a move that could bring in $6.7 million for Thurston County schools in 2010.

►  At TheNewsTribune.com -- House budget tells parks commission to keep all parks open -- What the Legislature really telling the parks commission is this: "Don't threaten us with park closures just because we're not giving you all the money you want."

National news:

►  In the NY Times -- Report envisions shortage of teachers as retirements escalate -- Over the next four years, more than a third of the nation’s 3.2 million teachers could retire, depriving classrooms of experienced instructors and straining retirement systems.

►  From AP -- Big Business has friend in Gary Locke -- He's new to the Commerce Department but already known to Corporate America, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help re-elect him as governor. Donors included Microsoft and Boeing, two companies Locke tried hard to please and whose issues he will almost certainly encounter as a Cabinet secretary.

►  In The Onion -- 2008 tax records reveal Sasha Obama made $136 in allowance -- At a Senate Finance Committee hearing,  Chairman Sen. Max Baucus said he was disgusted by the second-grader's "ruthless greed, especially at a time when so many honest Americans have to go without." The chairman repeatedly demanded that Sasha respond to the charges before her and refrain from trying to dodge questions by playing with her pigtails, leaving to use the bathroom, and asking what "personable accountafrility" means.