Budget news: 

►  In today's Seattle P-I -- State budget woe widens to $8.3 billion -- That's $2.5 billion less revenue than the governor figured on in December when she put forth her all-cuts biennial budget -- a proposal that cut some $3 billion from current levels and that Gregoire herself said she hated. In the next week, the leaders of the House and Senate fiscal committees say they will outline a budget that includes no new revenues. "We're going to look at what a (balanced) budget made completely of cuts looks like," says Rep. Kelli Linville (D-Bellingham). They also say they are considering drawing up a list of desirable programs that are on the chopping block and asking voters to approve new taxes to save them. 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- $8 billion shortfall forecast for state government -- As a proportion of the state's general fund, the predicted shortfall is now as bad as the mess in California. Washington now ranks among the top 10 states in terms of the size of its budget shortfall.

►  In today's Oregonian -- Oregon's governor offers to cut own pay, asks teachers to work for free -- Teachers should work some days without pay this spring to avoid early school closures, Gov. Ted Kulongoski says. "The only way we're going to get out of this is if everybody contributes." 

►  In today's NY Times -- In budget deal, California shuts $41 billion gap -- Economists say their budget foreshadows the difficult choices other state legislatures will soon face. Take-home pay for Californians is about to shrink. Jeans, hammers, burgers and fries will cost more. School children will make do with old textbooks and have more students in their classrooms. Parents will receive fewer tax benefits, and state university students will pay 9% more in tuition.

Local news: 

►  In today's Everett Herald -- 1,100 pink slips at Boeing -- The company will hand out layoff notices to 1,100 employees today, including 700 in the Puget Sound region. It's part of Boeing's plan to cut its work force worldwide by 6%, or 10,000 positions, by the end of 2009. Overhead positions are the focus of the cuts. With a backlog of 3,700 orders, the company hasn't cut jet production rates yet.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford spending could create 12,400 jobs -- The DOE plans to spend enough money from the economic stimulus bill to pay wages for more than 4,000 workers, Sen. Cantwell says at the Richland Labor Temple. That will pump enough money into the Tri-City area economy to create 12,400 jobs in total, she says. The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council plans to start hiring about 1,000 workers as soon as April.

►  In today's Columbian -- Bonneville project may create 700 jobs -- BPA will start a $246 million project this spring on a 79-mile transmission line that will help Clark Public Utilities and other area utilities to provide renewable energy to their customers. Financed from the federal stimulus bill, BPA estimates it will employ 700 people during the peak of construction.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- White firefighter to get a trial on bias claim -- A Seattle firefighter who was the top scorer on a promotional test but was denied promotion, while a lower-scoring African-American co-worker was promoted, wins his appeal and will have a trial in his case.

More legislative news: 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Porn-tax plan dealt quick death -- The public reaction was swift and severe. Opponents -- some of whom claimed the tax would violate constitutional rights and destroy their sex lives -- jammed Rep. Miloscia's phone lines before he finally ordered his staff to shut off the phones last week. House Democrats quickly killed the measure this week.

►  In today's Seattle P-I -- Full state House to consider cap on greenhouse gas emissions -- While Washington, Oregon and other states in the Western Climate initiative wait for the bill's fate, a cap and trade system has already been established on the East Coast since September.

►  In today's Daily News --  Bill is Democrats' attempt to silence BIAW (editorial) -- SB 6035 opens the door to eliminating BIAW's political voice. It is simply the latest attempt to muzzle them.

National news:  

►  In today's NY times -- Health care industry in talks to shape policy -- Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Easterling elected president of Alliance for Retired Americans -- The former CWA secretary-treasurer succeeds George Kourpias, who retired earlier this month.

►  In today's Washington Post -- NAFTA renegotiation must wait, Obama says -- Warning against a "strong impulse" toward protectionism while the world suffers an economic recession, Obama says his promise to renegotiate the NAFTA on behalf of unions and environmentalists will have to wait. Some labor supporters say they'll give him more time to make good on his promise.

►  Today from AP -- Clinton questions utility of China's rights debate -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the debate with China over human rights cannot be allowed to interfere with attempts to reach consensus on other broader issues. (And there, in a nutshell, is what has led to the decimation of the American manufacturing base and the loss of millions of jobs in this country. Politicians who are unwilling to use the United States' once-enormous -- and now rapidly waning -- economic clout to compel other nations to adopt basic standards on human and worker rights. Instead, we get the politically expedient "race to the bottom" -- supported by corporations that only care about cheap labor and deregulated markets.)