More Boeing news:

►  At SPEEA.org -- Wichita engineers reject contract offer for 2nd time; strike authorization falls short -- With a second rejection now in hand, negotiators for the 700 engineers will request the company return to negotiations and settle the unresolved issues. 

►  In today's Everett Herald -- No Boeing strike in Wichita -- Boeing engineers in Kansas rejected the company's contract offer Thursday but voted down a move to go on strike.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing airplane orders take nosedive in 2009 -- So far, it has more cancellations than it has new jet requests, even after winning orders for three 777s this week.

Other legislative news:

►  At TheOlympian.com -- Basic Health Plan could shed 42,000 people -- The HCA says it could meet the governor's goal of $252 million in savings by dropping enrollment by 42,000 in the next budget cycle. That's on top of the 7,700 slots it plans to eliminate by the end of April.

►  From AP -- Court rejects case over tax limits -- The state Supreme Court unanimously dismisses a case brought by Sen. Lisa Brown seeking to throw out voter-approved laws requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise taxes. Brown had argued that Washington's "supermajority" tax-vote rule is unconstitutional because it effectively alters the state constitution's provision that lawmakers need a simple majority to pass laws.

►  In today's Seattle P-I -- State stimulus aimed at roads -- Gov. Chris Gregoire signs a bill allocating $341 million in federal money to fix state roads and highways, saying the stimulus package will help create and continue thousands of jobs in the state within two years.

►  At KOMOnews.com -- UW staff: Forget the raise, and forget layoffs, too -- Some 6,500 staff members at the University of Washington (SEIU 925) have voted to forego pay raises to help mitigate the impacts of potential layoffs from upcoming budget cuts.

►  From AP -- SEIU 925 drops contract lawsuit against governor -- Three other unions for nurses, state employees and state-paid home health care aides have also sued over Gregoire's decision to skip agreed-to raises and benefits. Those three lawsuits are still active.

►  At TheOlympian.com -- SEIU 925 gives up raises, wants savings spent on parents -- Unionized childcare providers say they will give up $8 million in rate increases awarded in arbitration last year, but they want the savings to be used to prevent cost increases for working parents. 

►  In today's Daily News --- Make up pay raises for state employees would be irresponsible (editorial) -- The "liberal media" at the Daily News not only argues that state employees should not get raises in this budget, they also argue that workers shouldn't in 2011-13 either. WTF?

Unemployment news:

►  In today's NY Times -- 651,000 jobs reported lost in February -- In a stark measure of the recession’s toll, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today that the national unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent last month, its highest in 25 years.

►  In today's Wall St. Journal -- Recession job losses top 4 million -- The U.S. economy continues to hemorrhage jobs at rates not seen in six decades, signaling that there's still no end in sight to the severe recession that has already cost the U.S. over four million jobs.

►  In today's Columbian -- 500 local jobs lost to outsourcing in 2008 -- Nearly 500 Vancouver workers have lost their jobs in the past year because of increased imports from, or shifts in production to, foreign countries, according to U.S. Department of Labor documents.

►  In today's Daily World -- Raymond mill cuts 50 jobs -- Weyerhaeuser will lay them off in May. Unions officials say everybody who had 10 years or less with the company will lose their job.

►  In today's NY Times -- Piecemeal layoffs avoid warning laws -- Unannounced job cuts, labor experts say, raise issues of disclosure and the treatment of workers. They argue that the federal law requiring warning of certain kinds of layoffs should be overhauled to cover smaller job cuts. That would give people more time to seek new jobs, career counseling and retraining.

National news: 

►  Today from AP -- Biden supports bill to make unionizing easier -- The vice president presses the White House's agenda for the Employee Free Choice Act... The AFL-CIO "brought me to the dance a long time ago. And it's time we start dancing, man," he told the group, one of his biggest supporters during the election.

►  In today's NY Times -- Humbled, the UAW appeals for support -- The UAW has quietly turned to other labor unions to help make the case for a bailout of GM and Chrysler, and to respond to charges that auto workers are pampered and overpaid and have gold-plated benefits.

►  In today's LA Times -- GM bankruptcy fears rise on auditor's finding -- Without bankruptcy, its issues may never be resolved. But if it does, its sales may dry up, threatening its existence.

►  In today's NY Times -- In Senate, Republicans block spending measure -- Senate Republicans block a $410 billion omnibus spending measure, forcing Congressional Democrats to prepare a stopgap budget resolution to keep the federal government from shutting down.

►  In today's NY Times -- Obama says he is open to altering health plan -- The president vows to end a decades-long stalemate on overhauling the health care system, and he indicates for the first time that he is open to compromise on details of the plan he put forth in the campaign.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Truck stop (editorial) -- The omnibus spending bill has a provision that would pretty much kill any chance that long-haul freight trucks from Mexico could operate in the U.S., as had been promised under NAFTA. To a world looking for signs that Democratic rule in Washington would not mean revived protectionism, this can only be a disappointment.