Legislative news:

►  At Olympia Newswire -- Unemployment and roadkill: Democrats take up business groups' UI concerns -- “Unemployment insurance is going to be ground zero in the debate over the business climate,” says state Senate Majority Whip Chris Marr. He and other Democratic legislators who call themselves the Roadkill Caucus are uncomfortable raising taxes to help close the budget deficit. Marr says their “constituents indicate that anything that relies on revenue is unacceptable.” But acknowledging they are likely to lose that debate, Marr hopes that in exchange for their votes on difficult revenue issues,  Democratic leaders will cut UI taxes for employers and scuttle bills to strengthen UI benefits.

►  In today's Olympian -- House set to consider tax restriction -- The political fight over the Legislature's authority to raise taxes on a simple majority vote moves from the Senate to the House. A floor vote could come this weekend after a House hearing Saturday morning.

►  In the Kitsap Sun -- Some Dems support 1% sales tax increase -- Fifteen House Democrats introduce a bill to raise sales taxes across the state by 1% until the economy improves.

►  In today's Olympian -- Why I-960 is unworkable in this grim reality (editorial) -- That initiative, which requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate to raise taxes, was approved by 51% of the voters. The simple truth is this: The bottom has fallen out of the economy since voters approved the tax-limiting initiative more than two years ago. The landscape has shifted. The state already has cut billions of dollars in state spending, and an all-cuts budget would have devastating consequences for education, health, social services and public safety in this state.

►  Editorials in today's Spokesman-Review, Tri-City Herald and Yakima H-R criticize the suspension of I-960.

►  In today's News Tribune -- State can't cut its way out of all its financial problems (guest column by David Flentge and Kirk Reese) -- As state lawmakers consider more cuts in response to the recession, we have to remember the pain caused by the $3.6 billion slashed last year.

►  At Publicola -- No reprieve for unemployed: Protections against foreclosure gutted in Olympia -- A bill to stop banks from foreclosing on people who have good histories of making payments, but were suddenly unemployed in this Great Recession, is still alive but in a “neutered” form.

►  At HA Seattle -- Signature gatherer's suicide threatens to reveal hidden world of petition fraud -- Spokane-based Dennis O’Shea had worked for years supervising crews of paid signature gatherers for a number of contractors, including Citizens Solutions, the Lacey firm that gathers signatures for Tim Eyman’s initiatives. Documented back in 2003 making false statements to signers about the initiative he was hawking, O’Shea had years to learn the ins and outs of the sometimes shady business. So when detectives reportedly found his body along with a box of documents labeled to the attention of the police, they had reason to take notice... There are two bills still alive in the current legislative session that attempt to address the issue of petition fraud. Both represent prudent reforms that have been successfully implemented in other states with a history of signature fraud and other abuses.

Local news:

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- Decisions on 777 loom for Boeing -- Last year, Boeing announced that it would slow production rates for the twin-aisle Everett-built aircraft beginning in June 2010. That’s a decision Boeing will reconsider come mid-year, says CEO Jim McNerney. 

►  In today's News Tribune -- Boeing considers 737 update -- Expect a decision by midsummer on a new version of the world’s most popular jetliner, the 737, CEO Jim McNerney says.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- King County sales tax increase discussed for justice system --  Criminal-justice leaders, warning of a public-safety "catastrophe" unless police and courts get more money, are testing the waters for a sales-tax increase of up to 3 cents on a $10.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Armed sheriff's deputies assigned to transit tunnel -- Two weeks after a 15-year-old girl stomped another teen girl in the transit tunnel as unarmed private security guards and bystanders watched, the tunnel could well become the safest place in Seattle.

Health care profits:

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Record profits don't stop health insurer's record rate hikes -- Anthem Blue Cross -- whose parent company WellPoint posted a record $4.7 billion profit in 2009 -- announced it is gouging even more money from its 800,000 California customers by raising premiums as much as 39%. Deborah Burger, RN, and co-president of the National Nurses United, says Anthem’s ”disgraceful behavior may be particularly offensive, but it is not out of character for an industry engages systemically in price gouging and denial of care."

►  In today's LA Times -- Insurer defends 39% rate hike -- WellPoint says the major rate increases reflect soaring medical costs and an exodus of healthy consumers from its ranks. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ain't buying it: "It remains difficult to understand how a company that made $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009 alone can justify massive increases that will leave consumers with nothing but bad options."

►  In today's NY Times -- Health insurers take heat for rise in profits -- The five biggest companies covered 2.7 million fewer people last year but earned 56% more, says a new HCAN report.

►  In today's NY Times -- Republicans and Medicare (Paul Krugman column) -- Even as they denounce modest proposals to rein in its rising costs, they are seeking to dismantle the whole program.

National news:

►  In today's LA Times -- $85 billion jobs bill slashed -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid abruptly scaled back the size of a job-creation bill from $85 billion to $15 billion, fearing that even with emerging bipartisan support the larger bill could be undercut by costly special-interest provisions that would have little effect on unemployment. He says this stripped-down proposal will be the first in a series of employment measures.

►  In today's NY Times -- Deal on jobs shows limits in push for bipartisanship -- Reid's decision to embrace only portions of the bipartisan plan caught some lawmakers by surprise and threatened to undermine Republican support for it even as Congress and the White House sought ways of working together across party lines after months of deep partisan division.

►  In today's NY Times -- How not to write a jobs bill (editorial) -- With 14.8 million unemployed, the proposal put forth in the Senate to respond to joblessness is so puny as to be meaningless.

►  In today's LA Times -- Hiring foreign farmworkers to get tougher under new rule -- In a move that has the agriculture industry grimacing and labor advocates cheering, the DOL is reversing a Bush-era rule allowing farmers an easier path to hiring temporary or seasonal foreign workers.

►  In today's NY Times -- Poll finds edge for Obama over GOP -- Both parties face a toxic environment, but Americans say Obama better understands their problems than Republicans.