Local news:

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Proposed Hanford budget up slightly -- Obama administration proposes a modest increase for Hanford's fiscal 2010 budget above the current budget. The proposal before Congress includes $2.09 billion for Hanford cleanup, an increase of $24 million.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Unemployment hotline has cooled off (op-ed by Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee) -- In just a few months, we had gone from historically low unemployment to a record number of unemployment claims. We added more staff, made technology improvements, and opened our call centers on Saturdays in an effort to improve access for laid-off workers. I'm proud to say that it has all paid off: call-center wait times have dramatically decreased, even as the number of people receiving unemployment benefits has grown. There are a few things that people can do to make the process go smoothly.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- 25 more orders cancelled for Boeing 787 -- With weeks to go before its first flight, the 787 program has now lost a total 57 orders since the beginning of the year and has taken in only one new 8-jet order. The plane still has a hefty 861 orders on the books.

►  At HeraldNet.com -- Sen. Murray pushes "industrial base" concerns as tanker deal looms -- She adds an amendment to a weapons acquisitions bill, forcing the Pentagon to notify Congress if pulling a weapons program will adversely affect the nation’s industrial base.

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Free health care ride over for some King County workers? -- County employees who aren't in unions and who make more than about $60,000 a year would have to pay for part of their health coverage under a plan introduced Thursday.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- Unpaid Wal-Mart construction workers find legal help -- After a masonry subcontractor said he wouldn't pay employees who were here illegally for their work at a local  Wal-Mart construction site, federal investigators and a nonprofit law firm got involved. Their stance? Employers must pay for hours employees already worked, regardless of their status.

►  In today's Peninsula Daily News -- Crews tow away Hood Canal bridge "bulge" -- With its draw-span tower still attached, the largest of four east-half Hood Canal Bridge sections -- the 928-foot flanking pontoons known as "the bulge" -- was detached and towed north toward Canada late Thursday. (Click here to check out the State DOT's comprehensive project description and status report, including construction cameras.) 

►  In today's bankrupt (Vancouver) Columbian -- Coddling unions (editorial) -- Obama's DOL says it will delay and review implementing a Bush administration requirement that union managers and employees fully disclose how dues are managed. Obama has also embraced the controversial and blatantly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. (Bad president. Bad president!) 

Layoffs... for the kids:

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- Pink slips will soon wallpaper school districts around Kitsap -- About three dozen teachers from area districts will be laid off this spring. Boards in Bainbridge Island, Bremerton and North Kitsap have moved to issue layoff notices by the May 15 deadline.

►  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Lynden School District cuts staff in trimming $1.2 million -- The cuts, which include six teachers and one administrative staff, were decided Thursday.

►  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Layoffs expected at Mount Baker schools -- Five Mount Baker School District teachers and counselors likely will be laid off before next school year.

►  In today's Columbian -- Child care rules regulators cut -- Positions for five employees who would have been charged with improving enforcement of child care regulations have been axed.

Legislative session redux:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- No special legislative session -- Some public schools will get more money than they expected, now that state lawmakers have decided not to hold a special legislative session. The governor said she now plans to fully fund levy equalization, which provides money to "property-poor" school districts.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- No tears over lack of special session -- In a joint statement, Speaker Frank Chopp and Majority Leader Lisa Brown say, "The few issues left on the table in the education and corrections budgets can be taken up when the Legislature next convenes."

►  At TheOlympian.com -- No special session means cuts at Dept. of Corrections -- The DOC is going to have to cut another $9 million from its budget, or least enough to make it to January.

►  In today's Everett Herald -- Gregoire: Use veto to restore funding for State Auditor (editorial) 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire: Use veto to restore funding for State Auditor (editorial) 

►  Today from AP -- Tough session for environmentalists -- They won some victories, such as getting a permanent tug stationed at Neah Bay to help prevent oil spills. They also fended off proposed changes to a citizens' initiative requiring utilities to seek new clean energy sources such as wind and solar power. But environmental groups passed only one of their priority bills, a measure requiring new buildings to drastically reduce energy use by 2031.

National news:

►  In today's NY Times -- U.S. jobless rate hits 8.9%, but pace of job losses slows -- The relentless pace of job losses is starting to level off slightly but is still nowhere near ending. A year ago, the loss of more than half a million jobs in a single month would have seemed like a disaster for the economy. On Friday, experts were calling it an improvement.

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- 539,000 jobs lost in April; don't let them tell you this is good news -- More worrisome, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 498,000 to 3.7 million and has risen by 2.4 million since the start of the recession in December 2007. The official unemployment rate is bad. But the real unemployment rate is far worse. If those who are underemployed or who want a job but have given up looking are counted, the rate stands at 15.8% -- more than 25 million Americans.

►  From AP -- Obama asks states to broaden help for unemployed -- The president asks states and colleges to help them pursue education and training without having to give up their benefits.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Under restructuring, GM likely to build more cars overseas -- The U.S. government is pouring billions into GM to revive the domestic economy, but when the company completes its restructuring, many of the company's new jobs will be filled by workers overseas. An outline the company has been sharing privately with lawmakers says the number of cars that GM sells in the U.S. and builds in Mexico, China and South Korea will double.

►  In today's NY Times -- Taxing those with health insurance to pay for those without -- It is an alluring way to pay for the ambitious plan to expand health coverage to the nearly 50 million people who are now uninsured. And although the candidate Barack Obama criticized the notion last year when Senator John McCain promoted it, the concept now has some support in his administration as part of an overhaul of the health care system. But If the plan is not designed carefully, they say, the additional taxes could affect many workers who are far from affluent and put the cost of adequate coverage further beyond the reach of many Americans.

►  At Huffington Post -- Words designed to kill health care reform (op-ed by Sen. Jeff Merkley) -- Republican strategist Dr. Frank Luntz, the man who developed language designed to promote preemptive war in Iraq and distract from the severity of global warming, is at it again -- this time with a messaging strategy designed to sink our historic opportunity for health care reform.