Boeing news: 

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Boeing postpones 787's first flight -- Boeing announces the flight will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the jet's side-of-body section. It will be several weeks before new flight and delivery schedules are ready.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing again delays initial 787 test flight -- Though Boeing chief executive Scott Carson is quoted in the statement saying that "structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes," the issue appears serious. Adding to the impact of the delay is uncertainty: Boeing said it will be "several weeks" before it will even come up with a new schedule.

Stimulating news: 

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- Shovel-ready, set, go! Poulsbo stimulus project gets under way --  Work began Monday on the Hwy 305 project, which received $3.8 million in federal stimulus money. It is the fourth-largest municipal project in the state paid for with stimulus money. It is also one of the first stimulus-funded infrastructure projects in the state to begin construction.

►  In today's Olympian -- Stimulus makes local impact -- Rep. Brian Baird drops by a home-weatherization project on Olympia’s northeast side, getting a first-hand look at how a sliver of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package is beginning to work.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Public confidence in stimulus package ebbs, poll finds -- Barely half of Americans are now confident that President Obama's $787 billion stimulus measure will boost the economy, and the rapid rise in optimism about the state of the nation that followed the 2008 election has abated, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Local news: 

►  In today's News Tribune -- Shortfall grows in Tacoma coffers -- In early May, Tacoma’s general fund was $7.1 million lower than what was budgeted. By this month that shortfall had grown to $11.1 million, threatening to eclipse nearly $12 million in already-planned cuts.

►  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Firefighters agree to pay freeze; could save Bellingham $1 million -- IAFF Locals 106 and 106S, which represent the city's firefighters/medics and fire department supervisors, respectively, have reached a tentative one-year agreement for next year. 

►  In the Daily World -- Funds scarce for alternative energy projects -- At one point last year, the president of Grays Harbor Ocean Energy envisioned 90 wind turbines and wave energy converters up and down the coast from Ocean Shores to Grayland. On Saturday, he told a public forum that he’ll be lucky if he gets one 5 Megawatt turbine and wave energy device.

National news: 

►  From AP -- Unions, Catholic hospitals to end conflict -- Labor unions and Catholic leaders have reached an agreement designed to end years of bitter hostilities that often surrounded union efforts to organize workers at Catholic hospitals. The accord, announced Monday, seeks to apply Catholic teachings that recognize the right of workers to "freely and fairly" decide whether to join a union. One of the key principles directs both employers and unions to refrain from harassing, threatening, intimidating or coercing workers.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Performance pay for federal employees still a matter of dispute -- A letter from the Obama administration, which took office with heavy backing from federal unions that fervently object to the government's pay-for-performance systems, tells Congress the administration "strongly supports the concept of rewarding excellence with additional pay." Despite pleas from key members of Congress, the Pentagon announces it will continue moving employees into a pay-for-performance system known as the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System.

►  In today's LA Times -- 3 acquitted in Ralphs lockout case -- A federal jury finds the supermarket executives not guilty in a scheme to rehire locked-out workers using false Social Security numbers. The chain and other managers have previously pleaded guilty.

►  In today's LA Times -- In the Coachella valley, hope withers on the vine -- Picking grapes in the Coachella Valley is still dirty and dangerous. In the region where the UFW's first table grape contract was signed, the pay is $8 to $9 an hour, less than it was 40 years ago when adjusted for inflation. "Nothing changes," says one observer. "It's the same harvest of shame."

Employee Free Choice Act: 

►  In today's Kansas City S-T -- EFCA supporters clash with Home Depot -- The EFCA rally outside a Home Depot in Kansas City was "a raucous affair." Said one: “Home Depot was picked because Bernie Marcus, its founder, was responsible for organizing the high-dollar opposition to EFCA. Home Depot’s current CEO Frank Blake also has been an enthusiastic opponent.”