Legislative news:

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Medical officials decry plans to cut Basic Health Plan -- Area health care executives say looming state budget cuts threaten to push thousands more people into the ranks of the uninsured and further strain the region’s clinics and hospitals. The worries about gutting the state’s Basic Health Plan echo a common refrain: Deep cuts are unacceptable and should be partly offset by state tax and fee increases.

►  In today's Yakima H-R -- Basic Health cuts would hit hard locally -- In Yakima County, 8,389 people face the prospect of losing coverage under Basic Health, the state's pioneering plan that provides insurance to low-income working people on a sliding fee scale. As the Legislature looks for ways to close a budget shortfall, Basic Health is on the chopping block along with the General Assistance-Unemployable program for 20,000 people with disabilities, roll backs in children's insurance coverage and cuts in funding for community clinics for the uninsured.

►  At Olympia Newswire -- Parents, legislators seek ways to save residential care facilities -- The state has proposed downsizing and eventually closing Rainier School by 2014. And with that possibility, residents of both the Rainier School, and the tiny town of Buckley where it sits, could find that a weak economic reality may usher in times of woe.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire calls for review of adult family homes -- The Times uncovered accounts of elderly victims who were imprisoned in their rooms, roped into their beds at night, strapped to chairs during the day so they wouldn't wander off, drugged into submission or left without proper medical treatment for weeks. Now Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered DSHS to review its oversight of the adult-family-home industry.

►  In the NW Labor Press -- Oregon Attorney General vows to fight to defend Worker Freedom Act -- He says the AG’s office will do everything in its power to defend the State of Oregon against a lawsuit filed by corporate groups that would rescind the Worker Freedom Act, a law approved last year to prevent employers from punishing workers who opt-out of mandatory meetings on topics such as politics, religion and union organizing. 

(Contrast this to Washington's Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna who actively campaigned against such a law here, arguing it is preempted by federal law. Of course, now that there's a Democratic president, Republicans are teabagging their base about state sovereignty against such federal tyranny.)

Political news:

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Group will try again for initiative to curb illegal immigrants' benefits -- Undaunted by a string of past failures, a group will try for the fifth straight year to collect signatures for an initiative intended to make the state less attractive to illegal immigrants. I-1056, would require all public and private employers to use a federal employment-verification system to weed out those ineligible to work legally in the U.S.

►  In the (Longview) Daily News -- Campaign finance numbers released for 3rd District race -- Democratic candidate Denny Heck and Republican David Castillo are the leading campaign fundraisers in the crowded race to replace Southwest Washington Congressman Brian Baird.

►  At Horses Ass -- Dino Rossi wins again! -- Nobody wins elections they’re not running for like Dino Rossi. A Republican pollster has again released a survey saying we would win an election -- this time against Sen. Patty Murray. Of course, these Republican pollsters had him winning elections in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, including several 2005 match-ups with Sen. Maria Cantwell. But when the polls are actual elections, he somehow manages to lose.

Local news:

Alliance for Retired Americans seeks WA staff

The ARA is hiring a part-time staff member to work with national field staff and Washington State Alliance for Retired Americans leadership to grow the State Alliance membership and financial base and organize the state leadership around advocacy efforts. See the posting.

Boeing news:

►  At HeraldNet.com -- Why Northrop could ditch Air Force tanker contest -- Analyst: “The key virtues of (Airbus/Northrop's) plane are nullified by the proposed selection criteria; its ability to offer a competitive price has been minimized; and even if it did somehow win, the fixed pricing features of the resulting contract would expose it to heavy financial risk.”

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Boeing will likely scrap 787-3 -- Boeing will likely scrap the planned 787-3 after Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways switched orders to alternate versions.

National news:

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Union membership benefits workers in every state, report finds -- “The Unions of the States,” released today by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, studied union membership rates, size of the union workforce and wage-and-benefit advantages for union workers in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report found that no matter what the size of the union workforce, the union difference is clear in every state. The report says that in a typical state, union members are likely to earn 15% more an hour, have a 19% likelihood of having employer-provided health insurance and are 24% more likely to have an employer-sponsored retirement plan. 

►  Today from AP -- Obama to Democrats: We must lead -- The president implored Senate Democrats today to stay aggressive in pushing their agenda despite the loss of one vital seat. "We've got to finish the job on health care. We've got to finish the job on financial regulatory reform. We've got to finish the job, even though it's hard." 

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Republican health care stall means higher health costs -- The longer that congressional Republicans roadblock reform, the more it is going cost the American people -- and the bigger the bite health care costs will take out of a reeling economy. A new poll shows that costs for all types of plans will jump by 10% to 11% this year. 

►  At Huffington Post -- AIG bonuses in 2010 total $100 million -- American International Group Inc. is set to pay out about $100 million in a fresh round of bonuses to employees of its financial products division, the unit whose risky bets helped sink the company leading to a $180 billion government bailout.

(AIG also happens to be the largest private workers' compensation insurer in the U.S. The BIAW may run an initiative this fall to allow AIG and other private insurers to come to Washington and take over our public non-profit workers' compensation system. If they succeed, we will all be pitching in (again) to pay for AIG bonuses, plus the profit margins that account for 40% of the cost of private premiums.) 

►  In The Hill -- NLRB nominee gets contentious hearing -- Senate Republicans grilled Obama’s nominee for the NLRB on Tuesday in a rare hearing for a nominee. Craig Becker, a labor lawyer who has served as associate general counsel to both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, has seen his nomination to the labor board stalled by Republicans at the urging of business groups.

►  At Talking Points Memo -- GOP's key anti-union witness underpaid workers, violated wage laws -- House Republicans held a forum last month to slam Obama's alliance with organized labor, charging, among other things, that government favoritism toward unions was unfairly preventing non-union companies from getting contracts. But GOP lawmakers declined to mention that a key witness at the event had in fact agreed to be temporarily barred from receiving government contracts after being found to have violated state wage laws by underpaying workers. (Doh!)

►  In the Denver Post -- Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many -- This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric. More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops, etc.