Local news:

►  In the Spokesman-Review -- Grocery workers approve contract -- Safeway and Albertsons workers this week approved a contract that includes slight increases in wages and benefits. The agreement also ends an advertising and yard sign campaign that compared the two chains and Fred Meyer unfavorably with Rosauers, which signed with UFCW Local 1439 in November.

►  In the Bellingham Herald -- Intalco: BPA offer not good enough to keep Ferndale smelter running -- The grim prospects for the Alcoa Intalco Works aluminum smelter and its 500 jobs got a bit grimmer Friday. The BPA offer accepts the notion of a power price linked to aluminum prices in world markets. But the BPA proposal offers half the quantity of power that Alcoa is seeking.

►  In the Daily World -- Weyco could cut 145 more jobs -- Weyerhaeuser woods crews in Pe Ell, Aberdeen and Raymond are notified of pending layoffs as regional timber harvests are reduced.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Stimulus money aimed for Forest Service in Northwest -- The U.S. Forest Service will spend more than $1.1 billion to thin timber stands at risk of wildfires, repair roads, maintain trails and tackle other work in the forests. A sizable chunk of the money will be spent in the Northwest. The grants are weighted toward areas hit hardest by the recession.

►  In the Tri-City Herald -- State budget forces WSU to slash 370 jobs -- Washington State University will cut more than $54 million from its budget over the next two years, including eliminating 370 jobs and several academic programs and reorganizing its administration.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Has budget-cutting Legislature hurt a great state university? (Joel Connelly column) -- Gregoire says the Legislature has laid the groundwork for Washington's 21st century economy, while UW's president feels the ground has been cut out from under higher education.

►  Today from AP -- State's two largest district avoid teacher layoffs -- Seattle and Tacoma say cash reserves and other cost savings may be enough to balance the budget for next year.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Bellevue eyes train tunnel; Microsoft wants surface route -- Bellevue is asking Sound Transit to build a light-rail tunnel under the city's downtown, adding $600 million to the cost. Microsoft is fighting the effort, telling ST it should put the tracks on the surface, so money can be saved to extend the tracks farther east -- perhaps to downtown Redmond.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Accept Hanford contract now, fix bid process soon (editorial) -- Prolonging the uncertainty surrounding the Hanford Mission Support Contract is bad for the cleanup program. It's bad for the community. It's particularly bad for the 1,700 workers and their families who have been waiting for two years to learn their fates.

Legislative session redux:

►  In the PS Business Journal -- Business lobby on Washington state 2009 session: "Whew!" -- In the end, few of the bills business strongly opposed made it through the Democratic-controlled House and Senate. And lawmakers did act on a couple of the business community’s highest priorities, such making a decision on replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Worker Memorial Day:

National news:

►  From AP -- Obama to crack down on business taxes -- Obama plans changes to tax policy certain to be unpopular with corporations with international divisions and individuals who use tax havens. His two-part plan calls for 800 new federal tax agents to enforce the system.

►  In today's NY Times -- Social Security benefits not expected to rise in '10 -- For the first time in more than three decades, recipients will not get any increase next year. The absence of a cost-of-living adjustment, calculated under a formula set by law, will be a shock to older Americans already hit by plummeting home values, investment losses and rising health costs.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Buying time on immigration (E.J. Dionne column) -- The Obama administration is slowly building consensus rather than moving fast.

►  In today's NY Times -- Fall wages syndrome (Paul Krugman column) -- Even if the recession is declared over, there still are not enough jobs -- which is a recipe for continuing wage cuts, which will in turn keep the economy weak. To break that vicious circle, we basically need more: more stimulus, more decisive action on the banks, more job creation.

►  From The Onion -- Nation ready to be lied to again about economy -- "All I ever hear about now is how my retirement has been pushed back 15 years and how I won't be able to afford my daughter's tuition when she grows up," said Ohio resident Nathan Pletcher. "From now on, just tell me the bullshit I want to hear. Tell me my savings are okay, everybody has a job, and we're No. 1 again. Please, just lie to my face."

Happy Birthday, Pete!

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Happy Birthday to Pete Seeger -- The legendary folk singer, union activist, environmental champion and jolly hell-raiser turned 90 on Sunday. Take a moment to  hum or sing a few lines from “This Land Is Your Land,” “Turn, Turn, Turn,” “If I had a Hammer,” “We Shall Overcome,” “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” or any other Seeger tune and give a birthday wish to a man who has walked the walk, talked the talk and sung the songs for 90 years.