Health care news: 

►  In today's NY Times -- Democrats may seek to push health bill through House -- The White House and Congressional leaders, scrambling for a backup plan to rescue their health care legislation if Republicans win the special election in Massachusetts today, have begun laying the groundwork to ask House Democrats to approve the Senate version of the bill and send it directly to Obama.

►  At AFL-CIO Now -- Working families getting out the vote in Massachusetts -- Massachusetts working families are going to the polls today to help put Martha Coakley in the U.S. Senate. The get-out-the-vote drive follows a long MLK Day weekend that saw thousands of union members working at phone banks in local union halls, knocking on doors of other union members and talking with their co-workers at job sites.

►  In today's NY Times -- Massachusetts Senate candidates push to finish line -- With the weight of the political universe on their shoulders, the two candidates running for the Senate seat long held by Edward M. Kennedy embarked on a frenzied last day of campaigning.

►  In Monday's Seattle P-I -- High noon for health care: Will pass, McDermott says -- Rep. Jim McDermott urges support even as he warns that a Senate-House compromise will contain provisions that "we don't like." He spoke Sunday at a Healthy Washington Coalition gathering that drew nearly 400 to the United Food and Commercial Workers hall in Seattle.

►  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Washington state lawmakers fight for Medicare changes -- Lawmakers -- including Reps. Dicks and Inslee and Sen. Cantwell -- have told congressional leaders they won't support a health care bill unless it overhauls a complex Medicare reimbursement formula that for years has shortchanged doctors and hospitals in Washington.

►  In the L.A. Times -- The "Cadillac" compromise (editorial) -- Unionized workers will have far more time to adjust to the new tax than nonunion employees. That isn't fair, but in the long run the deal preserves an important piece of the bill's approach to controlling healthcare costs.

Boeing news:

►  In Sunday's Charleston (S.C.) P&C -- Boeing's whopping incentives -- South Carolina officials who lured Boeing to the Charleston area say they still don't know what all the incentives they offered are worth. And they don't necessarily care. An analysis has found that the incentive package to build the $750 million plant is worth more than $900 million, at least double the highest estimate circulated by state officials.

►  In the (Everett) Herald -- Dull report no way to keep aerospace jobs thriving (Jerry Cornfield column) -- The Washington Council on Aerospace report landed with a thud and left state lawmakers with an impression that nothing significant got done by the council. No one from Boeing, no one from the Machinists and no one from either university showed up, and everyone on the legislative panel noticed.

Legislative news:

►  In Saturday's Olympian -- Monthly layoffs bill in the works -- Senate Democrats have proposed a bill to shut down many agency offices one day each month to save money on salaries, following the lead of other states that have taken similar steps, and Gregoire said she's interested in the idea. It might save up to $100 million through June 2011 by temporarily laying off workers, but it sets up a fight with state employee unions, which are skeptical if not opposed.

►  In today's Olympian -- State Library faces cuts -- A big round of cuts is coming to the Washington State Library, and officials say it means 31 lost jobs and elimination of work to preserve many of the state's oldest historic documents

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- Federal help for state? Maybe -- As Congress begins its 2010 session today and 48 states, including Washington are hemorrhaging red ink, many governors are pressing federal lawmakers and the president to provide a second bailout.

►  In Sunday's (Everett) Herald -- State’s future depends on education, well-trained teachers (Stephanie Salzman column) -- To ensure academic success and readiness for college and the work force, we must provide adequate long-term funding for education and highly qualified teachers.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- State should relinquish its monopoly on hard spirits (editorial) 

►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Privatized liquor sales an idea worth considering (editorial) 

►  In Saturday's (Everett) Herald -- Immigrants march in support of reform legislation -- About 250 demonstrators chanting slogans in Spanish marched by Democratic U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen's downtown office Friday as part of a national campaign supporting an immigration bill.

►  In the (Aberdeen) Daily World -- Workers vote no confidence in department head -- Grays Harbor County’s Public Works union (AFSCME Local 275) issued a “solid vote of no confidence” against Road Engineer Russ Esses, who is in charge of the county’s road department.

►  In Monday's (Everett) Herald -- Riders dread Community Transit cuts -- ATU Local 1576, which represents CT drivers, opposes the cuts because of their effects on riders and layoffs among drivers. It's not certain yet, but the plan for cuts presumes 55 layoffs among CT's 375 drivers.

►  In the Bellingham Herald -- Lynden digs into reserves to avoid staff cuts in 2010 -- A 1% property tax increase and cuts in spending have allowed Lynden to avoid layoffs for 2010. The city has gone into its reserves, cut travel spending and has frozen non-union wages to maintain its staff.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Vit plant mixing hazards raise worries -- Inadequate mixing of some radioactive wastes at the Hanford plant could cause a criticality or a build-up of flammable gas that could cause an explosion. But the DOE believes the problem can be resolved.

►  In today's WSJ -- NASA urged not to outsource -- The Obama administration has been devising a plan to outsource a chunk of its manned space program to private companies in order to speed up rocket development, save money and focus federal dollars on longer-term expeditions. But a report released last week by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, an outside safety watchdog for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, cautioned that the private space companies rely on "unsubstantiated claims" and need to overcome major technical hurdles before they can safely carry astronauts into orbit. It urged NASA to stick with its current government-run manned space ventures, and said that switching to private alternatives now would be "unwise and probably not cost-effective."

►  In today's NY times -- Strike in Cleveland points to classical music woes -- One of the first high-profile labor tussles of 2010 is brewing at the Cleveland Orchestra, and it points to troubled times for the nation’s elite classical musical ensembles amid the Great Recession.

►  From AP -- Another strike vote planned at British Airways -- A union representing the cabin crews says it will hold a strike vote in a dispute over pay, job security and working conditions.