Boeing news: 

►  At Publicola -- Boeing Boeing -- Like software, it’s impossible to predict what the outcome of the 787 project will be. Boeing assumes that problems will be solved, and planes will ship. But it’s possible that unraveling one thread leads to another and another. Some of that happened already. You can ship buggy code, but you can’t launch a buggy plane. (Make sure you also read the comment thread postings by "LaborGoon" and the author's response.)

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Could 787 cancellations be good news? Actually, yes -- Wall St. Journal: "The jet maker now has a little more breathing room it can use to fill remaining orders more quickly, thereby avoiding some penalties."

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing is the best company to build the Air Force tanker (op-ed by Port of Everett Commissioner Connie Niva) -- Washington business leaders are mounting a coordinated approach to create a manufacturing environment that is even more attractive to the aerospace industry. We are going to aggressively market our region to make sure the Pentagon knows that Washington is the premier place in the world to build airplanes.

News from Olympia: 

►  In today's Olympian -- Agencies don't need merger, director says -- The state Department of Retirement Systems and the Health Care Authority don’t need to merge, said Steve Hill, who has been the director of both agencies for four months. Cooperation and having the same boss are enough to get the agencies to work together, Hill said.

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Community closer to gaining jobs at airport (editorial) -- At stake are some 270 jobs maintaining and painting commercial airliners. Several hurdles remain to be cleared, but a $300,000 state grant announced last week will allow design and engineering work to get under way for two hangars. .. The state’s constitution imposes notoriously severe restrictions on recruiting business and jobs, and many people believe the state has put itself at a competitive disadvantage. Perhaps, but agencies, organizations and individual enterprises working together have learned to pursue job growth by focusing on assets that the area can claim, such as a high-caliber work force and carefully tailored training resources.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Report: State wrong to stiff Seattle on stimulus dollars -- Washington and other states are spending too much federal stimulus money on building new roads and infrastructure and neglecting much-needed repairs to existing roads and transit, says groups.

►  In today's News Tribune -- Pierce Transit forced to cut service -- Squeezed by the recession, it will cut its bus schedule on July 12 by 33,000 service hours -- about 5% of total fixed-route bus service hours. Pierce Transit already eliminated 51 positions before making the route changes.

►  In today's Peninsula Daily News -- Rep. Kessler says she's likely to seek 10th term in 2010 -- "I really like being involved, and I think there has been a certain value to my leadership role."

Local news: 

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Seattle's population grows faster; state's slows -- While the state economy has held up better than those of its southern neighbors, population gains due to people moving here dropped from 81,000 in 2006 to 58,000 in 2008 and 39,000 for 2009.

►  In today's Daily News -- BPA lowers proposed fall rate increase to 6.4% -- The sharply lowered wholesale power increase means that rate hikes for Cowlitz PUD also will be smaller. 

National news:

►  Today at AFL-CIO Now -- New plan closure bill: FOREWARNED is better armed -- The WARN Act, passed in 1988, was supposed to require employers to give workers and the surrounding community a 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs, providing workers a head start in preparing to find another job and communities a chance to brace for the economic impact. But loopholes, exceptions and weak enforcement have undermined the act, say a group of lawmakers who have introduced new legislation to strengthen the WARN Act -- the Federal Oversight, Reform and Enforcement of the WARN Act (FOREWARN).

►  In today's NY Times -- Supreme Court ruling offers little guidance on hiring -- In ruling for the group of white firefighters, the justices tried to address a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t quandary for many cities and other employers: what they should do when an employment test yields results that overwhelmingly favor whites. But legal experts say the court's decision left things as muddled as ever and will ensure much more litigation over employment discrimination.

►  In today's Wash. Post -- Supreme Court to review corporate campaign finance restrictions -- It will consider whether to uphold a ban on corporate spending in federal elections, a move that experts said could have a dramatic effect on the 2010 and 2012 federal elections. 

►  Today from Reuters -- Obama voices support for Colombia trade deal -- The president expresses hope that Congress would eventually approve a long-delayed free trade agreement with Colombia, but said that country needed to make more progress on human rights first.

►  In today's LA Times -- Bank of America accused of exploiting Latino immigrant customers -- Ex-employees, backed by SEIU, say working-class and immigrant clients are urged to sign up for multiple services that carry high interest rates and fees. BofA denies any wrongdoing.

Employee Free Choice Act: 

►  In today's Wash. Post -- Solis hopes to "level the playing field" for unions -- The Labor Secretary: "I don't think that (the EFCA) takes away power from businesses. I think it helps to level the playing field because, in many cases, workers have been disadvantaged. They've been intimidated, they've been harassed, and we have case after case after case that we can look at."

►  In today's (Longview) Daily News -- Union rift highlights problems with the EFCA (editorial) -- SEIU maintains that the nearly 100,000 California members who signed cards indicating their wish to be represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers may have been subject to intimidation by NUHW organizers. This is the same reasoning used by opponents of the EFCA.