►  In today's Spokesman-Review -- Gregoire considers options for budget -- Gov. Gregoire could decide by next week whether to call a special session to cut the state general fund budget or order across-the-board cuts of as much as 4% to many programs and departments.

►  In today's Columbian -- Truth leads to consequences in health budget -- When Clark County Commissioners Marc Boldt and Tom Mielke were in the Legislature a decade ago, both Republicans supported repeal of the motor vehicle excise tax and shrugged off concerns about the impact on revenues. Now, as Clark County Public Health faces a $4 million shortfall, caused not by recession but by the loss of the MVET revenue, Boldt says, "It's a long way from Olympia to this job. At that time, I didn't think it would hurt. It did hurt and it still does."

Election news:

►  At Politico -- Trumka calls 2010 election a choice between "wrecking crew" and "cleanup crew"

►  In today's Daily News -- 3rd CD: What to do with Bush tax cuts? -- Democrat Denny Heck: "I would not allow the tax cuts to expire for the middle class and small businesses. In fact the original tax cuts clearly did not go far enough in this regard. Middle-class families and small businesses clearly needed more tax relief back then, and certainly they need relief right now. Too many of the tax cuts went to the very rich in this country, and those cuts should expire." Republicans Jaime Herrera and David Castillo both want to extend them (but not pay for them).

►  At Politico -- New business plan: Crushing Democrats -- Democrats may be going out of their way to say they aren't anti-business, but business is gearing up to demonstrate that it's anti-Democrats. The latest blatant signs of hostility come from coal executives (including Massey CEO Don Blankenship) who are considering starting up their own political operation to work against candidates they deem unfriendly to their interests. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already vowed to invest $75 million in the mid-term elections. And health insurers are also planning to play big in November, although the specifics remain in flux.

Local news:

►  From Bloomberg -- Boeing deliveries, profit descend -- It reduces profitability projections at its defense unit. Airlines are placing more orders as they recover from the recession more quickly than expected, but militaries are under budget pressure, said CEO Jim McNerney. He added "there will probably be some layoffs" as well as attrition in the defense-side work force.

►  In today's Tri-City Herald -- Federal safety board schedules vit plant hearings -- The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board plans to visit the Tri-Cities in October for two days of hearings focused on the safety of design and construction of the Hanford vitrification plant.

►  In today's Daily News -- Rainier teachers reach contract deal with district -- The tentative labor agreement ends a long and sometimes contentious bargaining effort that had the faculty work a whole school year without a new contract. Details of the deal will be released Monday, with a school board ratification vote scheduled Aug. 23 and a union vote expected Sept. 1.

National news:

►  In today's Washington Post -- Some senators expected to block proposed USPS cutbacks -- Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) says that senators who oversee the U.S. Postal Service's budget will block a proposal by the head of that agency to drop Saturday mail delivery. Postmaster General John E. Potter has urged the change to five-day mail delivery, saying that the cash-strapped post office won't survive without such a fundamental change to its operations.

►  In today's Washington Post -- Poll shows opposition to health care law declining -- Opposition to the overhaul declined over the past month, to 35% from 41%, and 50% hold a favorable view of the law, also up  from a month ago. The approval level was the highest for the legislation since it was enacted in March.

►  In today's Seattle Times -- Did Bush, Obama prevent depression? Influential economists say yes -- A new study by two distinguished economists finds that the federal response to the Great Recession almost certainly averted a second Great Depression. It's probably the most detailed and objective view we have so far of the response to the panic and recession. Among the findings are that the combined bailouts and stimulus saved 8.5 million jobs. 

►  In the Atlantic -- Obama insists on performance standards for teachers -- Today, Obama wades in to a controversy that threatens to split one of the Democratic Party's most generous source of donations and activists, the teacher unions, from the whole. The dispute is about teacher performance, narrowly, and about government's distribution of common goods more generally.

►  In today's NY Times -- Job subsidies also provide help to private sector -- States are putting hundreds of thousands directly into jobs through programs reminiscent of the more ambitious work projects of the Great Depression. But the new efforts have a twist: While the wages are being paid by the government, most of the participants are working for private companies.

►  In today's Washington Post -- In American politics, stupidity is the name of the game (E.J. Dionne column) -- Can a nation remain a superpower if its internal politics are incorrigibly stupid? We are letting stupid politics, irrational ideas on fiscal policy and an antiquated political structure undermine our power. We need a new conservatism in our country that is worthy of the name. We need liberals willing to speak out on the threat our daft politics poses to our influence in the world. We need moderates who do more than stick their fingers in the wind to calculate the halfway point between two political poles. And we need to reform a Senate that has become an embarrassment to our democratic claims.