Legislative news:

►  In today's Olympian -- Jobs bill hinges on fall vote -- The centerpiece of state legislators’ jobs efforts during the special session was aid for the beleaguered construction industry, via a November ballot measure to borrow $505 million for school renovation, paid for in part by a tax on bottled water.

►  In today's Olympian -- Taxes praised, attacked -- "(Legislators) made tough choices; they took tough votes. And so my hat goes off to them for a job well done,” Gregoire said. "The people of the state of Washington need to know we did right by them. The work begins now. The budget will be hard to implement and require some very unpopular and very difficult decisions.” 

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Eyman initiatives seek to block new taxes -- Initiative profiteer Tim Eyman wasted no time in challenging the Legislature's decision to raise $757 million in taxes to close the $2.8 billion budget gap. Even before the Legislature adjourned, he faxed eight proposed initiatives to the Secretary of State's office seeking to overturn the tax increases.

►  At Publicola -- Tim Eyman rushes in to rescue banks -- Banks were saving about $4 million a year by labeling mortgage fees as interest. This year’s budget fixes that. Now, mortgage fees can’t hide under the “interest” tax shelter -- that is, unless Tim Eyman gets his way.

►  In the Vashon-Maury Is. Beachcomber -- Legislature approves buyout of Glacier NW gravel mine -- The state, King County and a conservation organization are working to purchase the 236-acre gravel mine on Maury Island and put the land into public ownership -- a remarkable denouement, should it come to pass, to one of the region’s biggest environmental battles.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- State budget forces CWU to consider layoffs -- Facing an additional $4.9 million cut in state funding, CWU President James Gaudino says layoffs may be coming.

►  In the (Aberdeen) Daily World -- Lynn Kessler leaving Legislature -- She said health issues made the occasional 15-hour days difficult and she felt now was a good time to slow down and reconnect with her community: “I just thought that it was probably time to give myself a rest.”

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- Legislature's tax package will help ease pain overall (John Burbank column) -- The Legislature did not do a perfect job. It didn’t close some big tax loopholes that specifically favor out-of-state banks and encourage corporations to put their retained earnings in Wall Street rather than invest in Washington. But, by standing up to the endless drumbeat to just cut government services, the Legislature performed a partial rescue of K-12 education, public health and community colleges. It is not enough, but it is a lot better than nothing.

Local news:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire seeks attorney to fight lawsuit backed by McKenna -- The governor said she informed McKenna last week she wants a lawyer of her choosing instead of relying on one from his office. McKenna agreed. Gregoire plans to team up with fellow Democratic Govs. Bill Ritter of Colorado, Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, who also find themselves at odds with Republican attorneys general over the case.

►  In the NW Labor Press -- Oregon judge expresses doubts about Worker Freedom Act lawsuit -- The Worker Freedom Act, which took effect Jan. 1, makes it illegal for Oregon employers to fire or otherwise penalize workers for refusing to take part in employer-led anti-union meetings. In other words, workplace anti-union meetings must be voluntary. At a court appearance last week, the business group plaintiff's lead attorney seemed hard-pressed to show that the law has concretely harmed any employer, or that the harm was coming from the defendants it sued. 

►  At SeattlePI.com -- Labor group: Chinese teens "like prisoners" in Microsoft tech factory -- Thousands of Chinese teens and young adults work 15 hours a day at 65 cents per hour, prohibited from talking or listening to music, in abysmal conditions at the KYE Systems factory where they assemble Microsoft hardware to be exported to the U.S., Europe and Japan.

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- 15 Snohomish County workers told jobs may be eliminated -- The disappearing jobs could include eight spots at the superior and juvenile courts; four probation officers and two clerks at the district courts; and one animal-control position.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- Audit hits hard at Radio KDNA -- The station misspent nearly $59,000 in public funds and did not file accurate financial reports, according to a new audit.

►  In the NW Labor Press -- Oregon's Working Families Party aims to ramp up in 2010 -- The union-supported political party hasn’t yet won “fusion” voting, but starting this fall, candidates’ names in partisan races will list the names of all parties that endorse them. The party hopes to use the carrot of its endorsement to get other parties’ candidates to support its agenda.

Unemployment news:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Grads confront rockey job market in state -- Employers statewide added about 1,600 jobs last month, suggesting Washington is back on the road to recovery after a tumble in February. But March's job gain wasn't enough to accommodate an increase in people looking for work, and the unemployment rate edged up a notch to 9.5%.

►  Local coverage -- Clark (14.8%▲), Cowlitz (13.5%▼), Kitsap (8.5%▼), Pierce (10.8%▼), Seattle metro (8.5%▼), Snohomish (9.7%▼), Spokane (10.5%▼), Thurston (8.6%▼), (Whatcom 9.5%▼)

The Fleecing of America:

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- 2010 Executive PayWatch exposes corporate lobbying against financial reform -- The nation’s biggest banks helped create the current financial crisis that required a $700 billion taxpayer bailout. In return, the banks cut back on lending to consumers and small businesses but paid out a record $145 billion in total compensation in 2009. The 2010 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website, which launched Tuesday, also shows these big banks are spending millions of dollars lobbying against financial regulations, including limits on executive pay and risky actions like the ones that caused the current crisis.

►  At MarketWatch.com -- AFL-CIO slams bankers' pay on new website -- Tapping into anger about the bank bailouts, labor leaders unveiled a website that's devoted to criticizing multimillion-dollar pay packages for big bank executives.

►  At NYTimes.com -- Union brandishes banker pay in fight with Wall Street -- “Big banks helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression by trading financial derivatives that went sour when the real estate market declined,” the AFL-CIO web site reports. “As the financial system started to recover, banks went back to business as usual -- by paying their executives big pay packages.”

►  In today's LA Times -- JP Morgan Chase reports profits of $3.33 billion in 1st quarter -- The single largest source of JP Morgan Chase profits was the trading and underwriting of bonds at its investment bank, where profits were $2.47 billion, up from what were already good quarters last year.

►  In today's NY Times -- Big banks draw profits from microloans to poor -- Despite its saintly aura, microfinancing is dominated by larger banks that often charge high interest rates.

National news:

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Obama project labor order implemented today -- During his first month in office, President Obama issued an executive order encouraging agencies to require the use of project labor agreements on large-scale construction projects. Today, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council issued the final rule that implements the order.

►  In today's LA Times -- Arizona passes strict illegal immigration act -- The bill directs police to determine the immigration status of noncriminals if there is a 'reasonable suspicion' they are undocumented. Immigrant rights groups say it amounts to a police state.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Union official turned mine safety chief shoulders a burden -- Joseph Main now runs the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, whose investigators he used to criticize when he was with the United Mine Workers. And in a twist that perplexes his many friends in the close-knit industry, it is Main's stewardship that is now under scrutiny as his investigators try to untangle why the agency did not take stronger action against West Virginia's Upper Big Branch coal mine, where an explosion last week killed 29 workers.

►  At WashingtonPost.com -- Contracts are only sacred when rich people are getting paid (by Ezra Klein) -- J.P. Morgan plans to go hard against policies to modify underwater mortgages because contracts are sacred documents premised on the borrowers' "promise to repay." This struck one union employee as a bit odd: After all, the business community is constantly demanding that autoworkers and steelworkers and other well-compensated laborers change their contracts to remain more in sync with the times. In those cases, contracts don't appear to be all that sacred, and employers' aren't seen as having some cosmic "promise to repay."