Legislative news:

►  Today at SeattlePI.com -- UW to eliminate 1,000 jobs by May 1 -- The University of Washington will eliminate about 1,000 positions -- including a yet-to-be-determined number of layoffs, the school's president now says. The latest estimate is up from the 600 to 800 job cuts UW officials warned about in February, after Gov. Gregoire released her budget proposal.

►  In today's Olympian -- Bill gives state leeway to cut BHP rolls -- The state has been trying to reduce spending on the Basic Health Plan for the working poor by allowing fewer people to sign up than are leaving the program. But that has not dropped enrollment quickly enough. So HB 2341 would let the state push people off its BHP rolls. It was heard Tuesday. 

►  At TheOlympian.com -- OFM: Massive "administrative" cuts mislead public -- Saying $322 million can be taken out of state agency administration without significantly limiting service to the public is misleading, says state budget director Victor Moore. In a letter to legislative budget writers, he also asks them to back off demand to cut the WMS ranks by 8% a year.

►  In today's Walla Walla U-B -- Prison staffing can't be reduced to unsafe levels (editorial) -- Proposed budget cuts to the Department of Corrections threaten to reduce staffing and compromise the officers' safety. The inmates, as well as the public, could also be put in jeopardy.

►  At TheNewsTribune.com -- What if Boeing left Washington? (Who said, "Again?") -- The WA Research Council (a conservative think tank funded by Boeing and other large corporations) has issued a report that says every Boeing job supports another three jobs. So if all 72,000 Boeing jobs here were to disappear, Washington would lose 285,000 total jobs. (Next study: How many peripheral jobs does each government employee job support? How many jobs will be lost by ongoing school, university, corrections, state and municipal employee layoffs?)

More unemployment news:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- 9.2% unemployment "troubling" for state (Ya think?) -- The state likely will recover along with the national economy, which has shown some signs of bottoming out, the forecast council said. But, it added, "employment is a lagging indicator, and it is normal for the economy to shed jobs even after a recovery is underway."

►  Regional reports from Clark (12.5%), Cowlitz (15%), King (8%), Kitsap (8.7%), Pierce (10.6%), Snohomish (9.7%), Spokane (10.6%), Thurston (8.5%), Walla Walla (8.2%)

►  In today's Olympian -- Thurston County OKs next budget cuts -- They will eliminate the jobs of prosecutors, public defenders, sheriff's deputies and health professionals who serve the county's low-income and most vulnerable residents, as well as close the parks department.

►  In today's Kitsap Sun -- Bremerton-based hospital eliminating 91 jobs -- About 4% of Harrison Hospital's workforce of about 2,300 positions will be laid-off by the end of the month. 

►  In today's Spokesman-review -- Deaconess cuts jobs as fewer seek treatment -- The hospital is eliminating about 90 jobs. Even as layoff notices are being delivered this week, hospital executives announce plans to invest $10 million on new medical equipment and technology.

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Spokane firefighter layoffs possible -- Calls for fire service in Spokane have gone up, but the number of firefighters may be going down. Officials say it would take 15 positions to trim nearly $1.3 million from the department’s budget.

►  In The Onion -- Boss gets into groove after 3rd round of layoffs -- Manager Hank Strauss quickly established a natural firing rhythm Friday afternoon, smoothly easing his workers into unemployment without stumbling once. Strauss said that at one point he was so in the zone that he deviated from his standard layoff routine and started ad-libbing conciliatory gestures.

Tax Day news:

►  In today's -- Views of income taxes among most positive since 1956 -- A new Gallup Poll finds 48% of Americans saying the amount of federal income taxes they pay is "about right." Typically, a greater majority says their taxes are too high.

►  At Huffington Post -- Offshore tax havens: A state-by-state breakdown on costs to taxpayers -- A Senate report estimated in 2008 that the United States loses up to $100 billion a year in tax revenue to offshore tax havens. A new U.S. Public Interest Research Group report offers a state-by-state breakdown of the cost to taxpayers of tax revenue lost to "shell companies and sham headquarters" in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. (The report says the amount of the tax burden shifted taxpayers in Washington state: more than $2.45 billion.)

►  Today's tea-bagging news -- Get live coverage of the anti-tax protests at www.teablogging.net

Local news:

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Need for new jail questioned as number of inmates drops -- A shrinking number of inmates in the King County Jail is bucking prior forecasts and raising new questions about whether Seattle and its suburbs will need to build their own jail in 2013.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Alaska Airlines, pilots reach tentative agreement -- The ALPA will announce results of a vote in May. The contract has been in negotiation for more than two years.

National news:

►  In today's Washington Post -- Retirement confidence at record low, survey says -- Just 13% of Americans say they are very confident they can live well in retirement, the lowest since the Employee Benefit Research Institute started tracking worker sentiment in 1993. It was the second consecutive year that worker confidence has dropped, but it is striking because it represents a 14-point decline since 2007.

►  In today's LA Times -- Obama says changes needed for recovery to take hold -- He keeps the nation focused on a still-troubled economy as he pushes an ambitious plan to to revamp healthcare, energy, education and financial regulation.

►  From Reuters-- More CEOs got pay raises than pay cuts in 2008 -- This in a year when billions in taxpayer dollars went to prop up struggling companies and millions of workers lost jobs.

►  From AP -- Labor leaders united over immigration overhaul plan -- Union leaders have set aside differences to agree on a unified immigration overhaul plan they hope will win passage this year.

►  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Labor set to fight over guest workers -- Unions embark on what could be a protracted fight with business over immigrants entering the country for temporary work.

►  In today's Wash. Post -- Federal labor-management partnerships poised to revive -- Under Obama's guidance, federal employee unions are working to get back together in the form of the partnerships, which were created in 1993 by Clinton but withered during the Bush years.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Ensure timely, best care at VA hospitals, clinics (op-ed) -- The president has proposed a strong, $5.4 billion increase for veterans' health, which should be enough to meet the expected health-care needs of America's veterans next year -- including almost 650,000 who live in Washington. However, an adequate budget only goes so far. Congress also must enact legislation to reform the agency's health-care funding system.