State of the Union news: 

►  In today's NY Times -- Obama to offer aid to families in State of the Union address -- Focusing on “the sandwich generation” -- struggling families squeezed between sending their children to college and caring for elderly parents -- Obama hopes to use his speech on Wednesday to demonstrate he understands the economic pain of ordinary Americans.

►  From AP -- Obama to announce aid to middle class -- The proposals include a doubling of the child care tax credit for families earning under $85,000; an increase in federal funding for child care programs; capping student loan payments; expanding tax credits to match retirement savings; and increasing aid for families taking care of elderly relatives. The plan would also require all employers to provide the option of a workplace-based retirement savings plan.

►  At Huffington Post -- Obama's approval ratings deeply polarized -- Over the course of this past year, Obama has averaged a job approval rating of 88% among Democrats and just 23% among Republicans, according to a new Gallup study. That year-one 65-point margin is the largest that the public opinion research firm has ever recorded.

Health care reform news:

►  At NYTimes.com  -- Poll: Americans support aspects of health reform legislation -- Americans are evenly divided over the “health reform proposals being discussed in Congress,” but when questioned about specific aspects of the legislation, a poll finds a different impression: many people became more supportive. A significant majority of the respondents said they supported tax credits for small businesses that want to offer coverage to their employees, health insurance exchanges, the elimination of insurance denials based on pre-existing conditions, help in closing the Medicare “doughnut hole,” and a tax increase on couples making more than $1 million a year to pay for the changes in health care.

►  At WashingtonPost.com -- Democrats vow to move forward with health care reform -- Asserting that the White House will not walk away from reform, senior political adviser David Axelrod said those who believe one GOP victory in Massachusetts means the death of reform are wrong.

Legislative news:

►  From AP -- State lawmakers advance furlough, wage freeze and job cut measures -- The Senate approved a measure that directs agencies to trim about $70 million in payroll costs through furloughs and other steps. SB 6503 passed on a 27-17 vote and now heads to the House for further consideration.

►  In the (Everett) Herald -- Worker pay is one of state's first cuts -- Lawmakers agree to rub out some of the red ink in the budget by shutting down government each month and freezing pay for thousands of workers for another year. 

►  In the (Longview) Daily News -- Prison savings could mean greater burden for DNR -- Gov. Gregoire plans to close three minimum-security prisons, including Larch Mountain Correctional Facility near Vancouver, as part of a plan to save money. But critics say it could actually end up costing more money. For example, the Department of Natural Resources, which trains and uses Larch inmates to fight fires, plant trees and maintain forests, may have to contract out these services when Larch closes.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Republicans' allies eye state legislatures as redistricting nears -- Two independent groups focused on helping the party regain state legislative majorities before next year's nationwide redistricting are significantly ramping up their efforts.

►  In today's Bellingham Herald -- U.S. Senate Dems ready to send more stimulus funds to states -- Stung by a Republican win in the Massachusetts election and the loss of their 60-seat majority, Democrats are putting a new stimulus and jobs bill on the front burner, temporarily bumping health care reform aside. They are expected to unveil their $170 billion package this week.

►  In today's Olympian -- State workers' glass half-full -- Their wages are frozen, their health care benefits cost more out of pocket and their workloads are up in agencies slimmed by layoffs. But a Department of Personnel survey finds that employees were slightly more satisfied with their jobs last year than in 2007, a year when some got double-digit pay increases and government was adding thousands of jobs. The WFSE questions the survey's methodology.

►  In Saturday's Seattle Times -- Seattle Symphony resumes talks over expired contract -- After eight months of talks, symphony musicians haven't accepted management's offer of a new contract, and the old one expired Dec. 31. Across the country, orchestras are seeing endowments tanking and donations plunging as the recession drags on.

►  In Sunday's (Aberdeen) Daily World -- Bassett "cautiously optimistic" about Cosmopolis mill -- Richard Bassett says he’s still optimistic he can meet Weyerhaeuser's mid-February deadline to get all of his ducks in a row and get $100 million from investors to re-start the pulp mill.

►  In Sunday's Tri-City Herald -- Hanford employment records verified for ill worker program -- Since the federal government approved a program to compensate ill Hanford workers in 2000, a staff that now numbers more than 10 has been assigned to help compile Hanford information. 

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- Battle won, Wal-Mart gets to work in Arlington -- After overcoming years of public opposition to its permits, construction of a 154,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter is scheduled to begin today in the city's Smokey Point neighborhood.

►  In today's (Everett) Herald -- Aerospace Alliance's conference features Boeing, Airbus speakers -- The Feb. 9-10 event features speakers from Airbus, Boeing, EADS and Bombardier.  

►  In today's Olympian -- Candidates at forum aim to replace Baird -- A candidate forum is set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Phillip Wickstrom Theater at Centralia College.

►  In Sunday's Oregonian -- Oregon's rich getting richer and all others falling behind, study shows -- Inflation-adjusted annual wages for Oregon's top 2% of earners hit $153,480 on average in 2008, a 29.5% increase from 1990. Workers at the 50 percentile, meanwhile, earned $32,659 in 2008, an increase of just 2.4% over 1990 after adjusting for inflation. The analysis considers only wages. The disparity would be far greater if the numbers included investment income.

National news:

►  In The Nation -- Unions can't compete with corporate campaign cash -- The reality is that corporations will be buying so much more television time when it matters -- in the run-up to key elections -- that the voices of working Americans will drowned out with the same regularity that they are on Capitol Hill -- where, it should be noted, overwhelming Democratic majorities have yet to deliver on even the most basic demands of the labor movement. To think otherwise is to neglect the reality that one corporation -- Goldman Sachs -- spends more annually to pay just its top employees than the combined assets of all the nation's major unions.

►  In today's -- Wal-Mart outsources sampling, cuts 11,200 jobs -- It is the jobs at its Sam's Club warehouse division as it outsources in-store sampling.

►  In the Seattle Times -- Democratic corporatism brings Reagan back from the grave (David Sirota column) -- In 2009, Democrats made clear that their idea of government is radically different from the one embedded in their legacy and campaign promises. Their agenda fuses public and private sectors, replacing Rooseveltian regulations and LBJ-esque social safety nets with taxpayer-funded bribes of rapacious business interests. America sees their betrayal as an unseemly attempt to feign concern for voters while enriching the party's corporate donors.