Health care news: 

►  From AP-- Obama wants Senate bill quickly -- Moving forcefully on his top domestic priority, Obama told Sen. Max Baucus he wants legislation ready by week's end in the Finance Committee that Baucus chairs. The virtual deadline underscores Obama's determination to push legislation through Congress before lawmakers go home for their August summer break.

►  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Discord among Democrats hinders health reform -- Divisions exist on a wide range of issues, from how to pay for the measure to its impacts on small business and rural areas. A House bill is expected to be released today, but concerns voiced by moderate Democrats prompted party leaders to delay release of details over the weekend and have spurred a round of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill to corral the restive members. 

►  In today's NY Times -- Obama prods lawmakers on health care bill -- The president summoned top Democrats to the White House to urge them to stick to his legislative timetable -- he wants the House and the Senate to pass bills before the August recess -- and appeared in the Rose Garden to cast himself as a kind of sheriff who had just come back to town.

► MUST-SEE Bill Moyers interview -- With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform. (This clip is the first of 4 of the entire 30 minute interview.)
 

Legislative news:

►  From AP -- More than $827 million of stimulus spent in state -- Transportation projects are the most visible indication of the money spent so far this year, but more significant, says Gregoire's stimulus adviser Jill Satran is the money still working its way through the economy: “It has made a huge impact on Washington state in light of the budget situation that we have. It has allowed us to provide services and to keep teachers employed, and all of those kind of things well beyond what we would have had the stimulus money not been available.”

►  At TheNewsTribune.com -- Finally, some good news on state budget -- Gov. Chris Gregoire says state tax collections for June were right on forecast. Yes, they were abysmal -- much lower than past years. But they were what state economists expected them to be.

►  At Spokesman.com -- R-71 signature-gathering: Halfway there, with 2 weeks to go -- The Faith & Freedom PAC, one of several groups trying to get a referendum on the ballot to repeal the state’s “everything but marriage” law for domestic partners, says that it has more than half the signatures it needs.

►  In today's News Tribune -- State employees finding out how the other half lives (editorial) -- Public unions best be careful. Crying poor me over having to pay $25 to see the family doc while the unemployed queue up around the block to get into a job fair is not just bad form. It’s also an invitation to taxpayer backlash.

Local news: 

►  In the Daily News -- Longview Fibre looking to hire 16 to 20 for entry-level positions -- In its first call to fill new jobs in more than two years, the company expects some of the positions to be filled by former Fibre workers who were laid off over the last 18 months.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Instructor pilots sue Boeing over possible layoffs -- The union representing Boeing's pilots who teach customers how to use the aircraft has sued the company in advance of pilot layoffs on July 24, saying the job cuts are a violation of the pilots' union contract.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- A freeze on wage talks for Union Gap city employees -- A discussion on enacting a wage freeze among Union Gap city employees comes to an abrupt halt after union representatives voiced their protest, saying the topic should be reviewed during contract talks.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Father-to-be, 21, dies after construction accident on Harbor Island -- Spencer Clark Harrington died on his fifth day on the job at Seattle Bulk Rail when a 30-foot steel beam slid off a forklift and struck him in the head and stomach. L&I is investigating.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- King County Council cuts own staff to fund human services -- They cut positions from their own staff and from the executive branch to preserve most human services.

National news: 

►  From AP -- Union leaders: Obama still firm on EFCA -- President Barack Obama told labor leaders Monday he remains committed to passage of legislation making it easier to form unions, but he did not offer any timeline. Although the union organizing bill is labor's top priority this year, leaders appreciate that passage of health care reform sits atop Obama's agenda.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Education chief asks AFT to join reform effort -- In an unusual town hall-style appearance before the teachers' group, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged the union to join the Obama administration's push to build support for a new wave of school reform as Congress prepares to reauthorize the 2002 No Child Left Behind law.

►  In today's NY Times -- Airlines, already suffering, brace for more woes -- The airline industry is in the midst of one of its most wrenching summers ever. And the fall and winter may be even worse -- unless people, especially business and international travelers, start to fly again.

►  In the Journal of Commerce -- Rail labor chief calls union merger plan "dead" -- A 2007 plan to merge two the United Transportation Union of train conductors and other rail workers with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association is now “dead,” the top UTU official says.